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The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès
A vivid biography of the nineteenth-century French-Italian aristocrat Marquis de Morès, the first political leader to master the blend of racialized hatred, cross-class solidarity, and paramilitary violence that Benito Mussolini would call “fascism.”
The Marquis de Morès was the first populist, white supremacist, and openly antisemitic leader in the Western world. A key figure behind the Dreyfus Affair, he took France by storm with his inflammatory rhetoric, media savvy, and violent stunts. Decades before Mussolini, Morès invoked the fasces—the ancient Roman bundle of wooden rods—to symbolize the society he wished to a union of all social classes against their enemy, the Jews.
Animated from his early years by personal ambition and the loss of aristocratic status in modern, democratic France, Morès embarked on an extraordinary career spanning four continents. He ventured to the American frontier and became a cattle rancher in the Dakotas; he set out to build a railway in the jungles of Indochina. But his efforts were dogged by failure—and he blamed Jewish machinations for his defeats. Embittered, he returned to France to pursue what he saw as the mission of an upper-class to fight Jews and other minorities on behalf of the white proletariat. Soon he controlled a large, violent militia of disgruntled workers.
As Sergio Luzzatto makes clear, Morès both anticipated and propelled the fascist politics that erupted in the twentieth century and still resonate powerfully in our own time. Morès’s rapid political rise was halted by financial scandal, but his shadow continued to loom. In Vichy France, as Jews were being deported to Auschwitz, officials would gather to celebrate Morès’s memory.
The Marquis de Morès was the first populist, white supremacist, and openly antisemitic leader in the Western world. A key figure behind the Dreyfus Affair, he took France by storm with his inflammatory rhetoric, media savvy, and violent stunts. Decades before Mussolini, Morès invoked the fasces—the ancient Roman bundle of wooden rods—to symbolize the society he wished to a union of all social classes against their enemy, the Jews.
Animated from his early years by personal ambition and the loss of aristocratic status in modern, democratic France, Morès embarked on an extraordinary career spanning four continents. He ventured to the American frontier and became a cattle rancher in the Dakotas; he set out to build a railway in the jungles of Indochina. But his efforts were dogged by failure—and he blamed Jewish machinations for his defeats. Embittered, he returned to France to pursue what he saw as the mission of an upper-class to fight Jews and other minorities on behalf of the white proletariat. Soon he controlled a large, violent militia of disgruntled workers.
As Sergio Luzzatto makes clear, Morès both anticipated and propelled the fascist politics that erupted in the twentieth century and still resonate powerfully in our own time. Morès’s rapid political rise was halted by financial scandal, but his shadow continued to loom. In Vichy France, as Jews were being deported to Auschwitz, officials would gather to celebrate Morès’s memory.
496 pages, Hardcover
Published February 10, 2026
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About the author
Sergio Luzzatto
51 books20 followersSergio Luzzatto is the author of Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age, which won the prestigious Cundill Prize in History, and of The Body of Il Duce: Mussolini's Corpse and the Fortunes of Italy. A professor of history at the University of Turin, Luzzatto is a regular contributor to Il Sole 24 Ore.
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February 22, 2026This is so, so good.
March 18, 2026
The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès von Sergio Luzzatto ist eine fesselnde und zugleich beklemmende Biografie, die den Marquis de Morès als eine frühe Schlüsselfigur faschistischer Ideologie sichtbar macht. Lange vor Benito Mussolini entwarf dieser französisch-italienische Aristokrat eine toxische Mischung aus rassistischem Ressentiment, paramilitärischer Gewalt und klassenübergreifender populistischer Mobilisierung.
Luzzatto arbeitet präzise heraus, wie Morès politische Krisen – insbesondere die Dreyfus-Affäre – gezielt instrumentalisierte und persönliche wie politische Misserfolge konsequent in antisemitische Verschwörungsnarrative übersetzte. Ob im amerikanischen Westen oder in kolonialen Kontexten: Scheitern wurde zur Projektionsfläche für ideologische Radikalisierung. Durch die bewusste Verwendung des Fasces-Symbols und die Mobilisierung gegen vermeintliche „innere Feinde“ schuf Morès ein ideologisches Repertoire, das die Katastrophen des 20. Jahrhunderts vorwegnahm.
Das Buch ist damit weit mehr als eine Biografie – es ist eine präzise Studie über die Genese des weißen Suprematismus und die Frühformen einer politischen Ästhetik, die Gewalt nicht nur legitimiert, sondern inszeniert.
Brücke zu Democracy and Beauty von Robert Gooding-Williams:
Luzzattos Darstellung bildet das erschütternde Gegenstück zu Gooding-Williams’ Analyse von W. E. B. Du Bois. Während Du Bois die Kategorie der Schönheit als Medium demokratischer Inklusion und kultureller Anerkennung zu rehabilitieren suchte, zeigt Luzzatto am Beispiel von Morès die dunkle Kehrseite: eine Ästhetik der Gewalt, der Symbole und der Masse, die gezielt auf Exklusion und Unterwerfung zielt. Wo Du Bois die „Color Line“ zu überwinden versuchte, radikalisierte Morès sie zur politischen Waffe – und trug so zur Formierung einer militanten Ideologie bei, die ihre Ordnung mit Gewalt erzwingt.
Luzzatto arbeitet präzise heraus, wie Morès politische Krisen – insbesondere die Dreyfus-Affäre – gezielt instrumentalisierte und persönliche wie politische Misserfolge konsequent in antisemitische Verschwörungsnarrative übersetzte. Ob im amerikanischen Westen oder in kolonialen Kontexten: Scheitern wurde zur Projektionsfläche für ideologische Radikalisierung. Durch die bewusste Verwendung des Fasces-Symbols und die Mobilisierung gegen vermeintliche „innere Feinde“ schuf Morès ein ideologisches Repertoire, das die Katastrophen des 20. Jahrhunderts vorwegnahm.
Das Buch ist damit weit mehr als eine Biografie – es ist eine präzise Studie über die Genese des weißen Suprematismus und die Frühformen einer politischen Ästhetik, die Gewalt nicht nur legitimiert, sondern inszeniert.
Brücke zu Democracy and Beauty von Robert Gooding-Williams:
Luzzattos Darstellung bildet das erschütternde Gegenstück zu Gooding-Williams’ Analyse von W. E. B. Du Bois. Während Du Bois die Kategorie der Schönheit als Medium demokratischer Inklusion und kultureller Anerkennung zu rehabilitieren suchte, zeigt Luzzatto am Beispiel von Morès die dunkle Kehrseite: eine Ästhetik der Gewalt, der Symbole und der Masse, die gezielt auf Exklusion und Unterwerfung zielt. Wo Du Bois die „Color Line“ zu überwinden versuchte, radikalisierte Morès sie zur politischen Waffe – und trug so zur Formierung einer militanten Ideologie bei, die ihre Ordnung mit Gewalt erzwingt.
April 2, 2026
When you talk about fascism, and who was the “first” to argue for it was, Benito Mussolini is often described as the “first fascist.” This book makes the argument that this is wrong, or that it should, more accurately, be “first elected fascist leader of a country”, because the French Marquis de Mores should be more accurately described as the “first fascist”.
This book traces de Mores’ life, from his mildly debauched upbringing (he grew up in a monied home, and knew how to spend it), to his training as a cavalry officer, marriage to a rich American, work in America as a rancher, train advocate in Vietnam, and antisemitism in France.
In many ways I’m reminded out a lot of things. He struck me as a mixture of Mussolini, Hitler, Oswald Mosley, and Joe McCarthy. He had someone to hate, his equivalent of the “brown/black shirts”, marched through the streets (a-la Mosley), while being brought low in the same way as McCarthy. Much of what he did could be viewed as a proto-dry-run for Mussolini.
I’m also reminded of Churchill’s description of a fanatic being someone who “who can’t change his mind, and won’t change the question” (in this case who’s to blame). This is coupled with Churchill’s description of success being “moving from idea to idea with no loss of enthusiasm.” de Mores was a mixture of both.
The biggest issue with the book (beyond the fact that it’s about an antisemitic fascist) is that de Mores never kept a diary, and never spoke about his inner thoughts, so the author can point at a turning point that demonstrates the moment he became a full blown antisemite. His first proper girlfriend was Jewish, but she broke up with him, but going from love to violent hate (because she broke up with you) isn’t something I can wrap my head around.
This book traces de Mores’ life, from his mildly debauched upbringing (he grew up in a monied home, and knew how to spend it), to his training as a cavalry officer, marriage to a rich American, work in America as a rancher, train advocate in Vietnam, and antisemitism in France.
In many ways I’m reminded out a lot of things. He struck me as a mixture of Mussolini, Hitler, Oswald Mosley, and Joe McCarthy. He had someone to hate, his equivalent of the “brown/black shirts”, marched through the streets (a-la Mosley), while being brought low in the same way as McCarthy. Much of what he did could be viewed as a proto-dry-run for Mussolini.
I’m also reminded of Churchill’s description of a fanatic being someone who “who can’t change his mind, and won’t change the question” (in this case who’s to blame). This is coupled with Churchill’s description of success being “moving from idea to idea with no loss of enthusiasm.” de Mores was a mixture of both.
The biggest issue with the book (beyond the fact that it’s about an antisemitic fascist) is that de Mores never kept a diary, and never spoke about his inner thoughts, so the author can point at a turning point that demonstrates the moment he became a full blown antisemite. His first proper girlfriend was Jewish, but she broke up with him, but going from love to violent hate (because she broke up with you) isn’t something I can wrap my head around.
Review of advance copy
The First Fascist is a chilling, meticulously researched biography that exposes the ideological DNA of modern fascism by tracing it to one man long before the term entered common use. Sergio Luzzatto masterfully reconstructs the life of the Marquis de Morès, revealing how racialized hatred, populist manipulation, and political violence were fused into a dangerous formula decades before Mussolini gave it a name.
What makes this book especially powerful is its relevance. Luzzatto does not present Morès as an isolated historical curiosity, but as a prototype whose methods, media spectacle, scapegoating, cross-class demagoguery, continue to echo in contemporary politics. Written with narrative force and moral clarity, The First Fascist is an essential work for readers seeking to understand how extremist ideologies are born, normalized, and sustained across generations.
What makes this book especially powerful is its relevance. Luzzatto does not present Morès as an isolated historical curiosity, but as a prototype whose methods, media spectacle, scapegoating, cross-class demagoguery, continue to echo in contemporary politics. Written with narrative force and moral clarity, The First Fascist is an essential work for readers seeking to understand how extremist ideologies are born, normalized, and sustained across generations.
February 4, 2026
Huge thanks to Penguin for the ARC copy of this book!
This is an incredibly written and very well researched biography on the Marquis de Mores, giving us an understanding of events and circumstances in his life that resulted in certain beliefs and ideologies. Throughout this book we also see ties and the relevance of it to both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
A must-read for those looking to understand the early days of fascism, before the term was properly used, and how certain ideologies come into power.
This is an incredibly written and very well researched biography on the Marquis de Mores, giving us an understanding of events and circumstances in his life that resulted in certain beliefs and ideologies. Throughout this book we also see ties and the relevance of it to both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
A must-read for those looking to understand the early days of fascism, before the term was properly used, and how certain ideologies come into power.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews