Short answers, pulled from the story.
The term conservatism was first used in a political context on the 1st of January 1818 by François-René de Chateaubriand during the Bourbon Restoration. This period was dedicated to rolling back the radical policies of the French Revolution. Before this date, there was no word for the philosophy, only the instinct to defend the old ways against the new.
Edmund Burke is widely regarded as the father of modern conservatism and served as the private secretary to the Marquess of Rockingham. He supported the American Revolution of 1775 to 1783 but abhorred the violence of the French Revolution of 1789 to 1799. Burke accepted the conservative ideals of private property and the economics of Adam Smith while insisting that capitalism should remain subordinate to the conservative social ethic.
Examples of authoritarian conservative dictators included Marshal Philippe Pétain in France, Regent Miklós Horthy in Hungary, and General Ioannis Metaxas in Greece. These movements showed strong devotion towards religion, tradition, and culture while expressing fervent nationalism. The hostility between authoritarian conservatism and fascism is highlighted by the struggle for power in Austria, which was marked by the assassination of the ultra-Catholic dictator Engelbert Dollfuss by Austrian Nazis.
Conservatism in Asia differs according to regions, with East Asia and some Southeast Asian regions deeply linked to Confucian traditions. Chinese conservatism can be traced back to Confucius, whose philosophy is based on the values of loyalty, duty, and respect. In India, the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, represents conservative politics with over 170 million members as of October 2022.
Social conservatives believe that society is built upon a fragile network of relationships which need to be upheld through duty, traditional values, and established institutions. They support a traditional definition of marriage as being one man and one woman and oppose the destruction of human life at any stage, including abortion, embryonic stem cells research, and euthanasia. In Ireland, during the presidency of Éamon de Valera, a broad array of Catholic social policies were enacted, mostly with the goals of winning devout, rural, conservative voters.
In Poland, the dominant conservative party is Law and Justice, which is characterized by social and cultural conservatism, patriotism, adherence to Catholic social teaching, and cooperation with the Catholic Church. In Japan, the right-wing conservative Liberal Democratic Party has been the dominant ruling party since 1955, often referred to as the 1955 System. In Israel, right-wing parties received 75 percent of the popular vote in the 2022 election, making conservatism the dominant ideology.