This chapter examines the crisis of liberal capitalism and the fascist cascade of the late interwar period. A wave of fascism that swept the world after 1933, which was the result of a growing disparity in relative power between the declining democratic powers—Britain, France, and especially the United States—and their vibrant nondemocratic rivals, led by Nazi Germany. During these years, fascist institutions penetrated the governments of many self-proclaimed authoritarians but also left a lasting legacy on the structure of modern democratic regimes. At its height in the summer of 1942, the fascist order—fascist states, their fellow travelers, occupied territories, colonies, satellites, and puppets—included nearly half the world's population, stretching from the Bay of Biscay to the Black Sea.