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The international courts tasked with trying war crimes or atrocities committed in times of war shine a unique light on the motivations of the accused. Even a partial analysis of the accounts of those who fought in some of the twentieth century's conflicts could help us to understand the origins and rise of fanaticism. It is clear that the majority of justifications given by the perpetrators of these crimes are invariably based on three concepts: an ideology based on the survival of a cultural system, the often mistaken belief in an imminent danger, and submission or obedience to an authority that is recognized as legitimate. In this article, we will try to illustrate this analysis by examining the accounts of Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg trials, as well as the testimonies of French army officers during the Algerian conflict.