The word fascism comes from the Latin fasces, which denotes a bundle of wooden rods that typically included a protruding axe blade. In ancient Rome, lictors (attendants to magistrates) would hold the fasces as a symbol of the penal power of their magistrate. The first European fascist, Benito Mussolini, adopted this symbol both to recall the greatness of the Roman Empire and to reinforce his authority as the eventual dictator of Italy. Fascist regimes like his required their citizens to be as unified as the tightly bound fasces.
Fasces as symbols of power and authority were also present throughout the United States and republican France in the 18th and 19th centuries. Similar to Mussolini’s government, the U.S. and France aimed to align themselves with the legacy of Rome. However, the fasces came to be almost exclusively associated with fascism by the middle of the 20th century.