Could anyone that has studied that era of history explain where “fascism” came from, how Hitler came to be called one, and how the term ‘fascist’ came to be considered “right-wing?”
That part is easy. Hitler = bad. Hitler = fascist. Therefore fascist = bad.
Right wing = bad. Therefore fascist = right wing. Didn't you ever take logic courses?
Hitler and Mussolini were nationalists, which was considered to right of international communists.
Well right off the bat I’d say I’ve been sold a bill of goods. If you had any public education in European history, you might have been too.
When I went to school, the far left was communism and the far right was fascism. This construct is TOTALLY off. First of all although we say right and left, it is based on where people sat in parliament and to a Brit a conservative isn’t what it is here. It is like Red State Blue State. If anything the libs should be RED. But what does matter is degree of totalitarianism.
At one end you have people who believe in no rules at all. This is anarchy. Pure democracy is pretty close because it is mob rule.
Then you have people who believe in limited government. This is representative government. This laissez-faire approach which came from France influenced Adam Smith “The Father of Economics” who wrote the “Wealth of Nations” in 1776.
Then you have degrees of more and more government. Remember NAZI stood for National SOCIALISTS so they are exactly the same as Communists which a ethnic group ruling the world vs. a political party ruling everyone. The idea that Nazi’s are somehow right wing or associated with conservatism is totally a lie, sort of like Schumer’s and Pelosi’s tears.
“and how the term ‘fascist’ came to be considered “right-wing?””
You can thank Committed Socialist William Shirer, and his book “History of the Third Reich” for that. National Socialism and Communism were two competing ideologies sharing the same space.
Shirer and other true-believer Socialist Journalists of the era couldn’t allow Communism to be compared to Nazism. In fact, US Journalists like Shirer were vehemently Anti-War. Right up until they got news of the Invasion of the Soviet Union, then they became the biggest war hawks in America.
“Fascism” was quite a popular political philosophy prior to WWII, having been defined by Mussolini decades before. There were a great many advocates of it even in the US in that era. The term comes from the fasces, the symbol of Roman Imperial authority, a bundle of sticks tied together. This ancient symbol even appears in the chambers of our Supreme Court, and a modified version still appears on the obverse of our dime coins, as it was a symbol for the authority of government, even before Mussolini appropriated it.
The fascists adopted it because their primary principle was to give more and more power to a centralized government, believing, like the “progressives”, that only a strong central government could solve social and economic problems. Such a philosophy is intrinsically opposed to ideas like free market capitalism, but naturally complements ideas like the command economy of socialism or communism, so fascists always lean to the left of the spectrum of economic policy.
The reason they became known as “right wing” was simply propaganda from the Soviets after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact broke down and Hitler invaded Russia. Technically, they were to the “right” of the Soviets, even though they are always to the “left” of capitalist, democratic countries. Yet, if you repeat propaganda loud enough and long enough, it becomes accepted as truth by most people too lazy to do their own research.
But for the pure and simple answers to your questions I would think a nice dig into Google might produce some decent info and possibly historic resources. As mentioned most everything now is tainted with liberalism. So be wary there.
Oops. Forgot to mention the HE I recommended was Bruno Bettleheim.