2060
Dictators frequently start wars to demonstrate their prestige, fulfill ideological visions of expansion, and consolidate domestic control through the projection of perceived power. The sources characterize war as an essential tool for dictators to "make a mark" on history and to satisfy an internal psychological or economic "propulsion" toward conquest.
War as a Proof of Prestige and National Greatness
For many dictators, military conflict is seen as the ultimate venue for demonstrating a nation's modernity and strength to the world.
- Mussolini and the "Lion's Claw": Benito Mussolini was famously "obsessed" with the desire to leave a "mark on my era" with his will, compared to a "lion with its claw". He believed that the "prestige of nations is determined absolutely by their military glories and armed power".
- The "Expand or Explode" Mandate: Mussolini argued that because Italy was overpopulated and resource-poor, the nation had to "expand or explode" (or "suffocate"), viewing imperialistic war as the only logical solution to maintain supremacy.
- Totalitarian Expansionism: Totalitarian experiments are defined by an "integralist conception of politics" that aims for a monopoly of power and a goal of creating a new civilization through "imperialistic policies" and expansion beyond the Nation-State.
Consolidation of Power and Internal Control
Dictators often initiate conflicts to secure their grip on their own populations by creating a state of perpetual need for a leader.
- Keeping Subjects Occupied: Drawing on Aristotle’s political science, the sources note that a tyrant is "obliged to make war in order to keep his subjects occupied and impose on them permanent need of a chief".
- Distraction from Domestic Despair: War can serve as a "media-created pseudo-event" to distract the "proles" from their own despair and keep them busy with ethnic or religious hostilities rather than challenging the ruling elite.
- Validation of the "New Man": In fascist regimes, imperial battlefields were treated as "laboratories" to forge a "new Italy" and "new Italians" through the cleansing and transformative experience of war.
Psychological Motives: Power as Secondary Strength
The sources suggest that the "insatiable lust for power" that drives dictators to war is often rooted in internal psychological weakness rather than genuine strength.
- Lust for Power as Weakness: Erich Fromm argues that the lust for power is not rooted in strength but in the "inability of the individual self to stand alone and live"; it is a desperate attempt to gain "secondary strength" where genuine strength is lacking.
- The Need for a Devil: Mass movements and dictatorships rarely rise without a "tangible enemy" to hate. Hitler claimed that if a devil (such as "the Jew") did not exist, he would have to invent one to concentrate the hatred of the masses and justify the movement’s existence.
- The Heroic Pose: Dictators like Mussolini utilized "Machiavellian opportunism" to exploit national hysteria and attempts on their lives to justify a "policy of force" and the abolition of democratic liberties.
Economic and Institutional Drivers
Beyond personal ego, the institutional structure of a dictatorship often makes war an "inevitable" outlet.
- Institutional Deadlock: Fascism can be seen as a "degenerative" solution to institutional deadlocks, offering an escape that leads toward war when home economies fail.
- Militarized Societies: The nation-state is described as a "militarily structured entity" whose nature is the "militarization of the entire society," making external warfare a consistent product of its existence.
- Financial Desperation: Like a "bankrupt business man," a dictator may gamble their last resources on the "game of war" rather than fulfill difficult social or economic reforms promised during their rise to power.
