Inherent damage zone model is presented to explain the fatigue properties near the fatigue limit and the crack growth threshold consistently Inherent damage zone model assumes that the stress at a point which is located at a small distance, $r_0$, an inherent length of the material that represents the size of effective damage zone, from the crack initiation position governs the fatigue characteristics regardless of the geometric configuration of the specimen; smooth specimen, notched specimen or cracked specimens with short and long crack length. A special feature of the paper is using the exact stress distributions of notched and cracked specimens at the strength evaluations. Analytical elastic solutions by Neuber and Westergaard are employed for this purpose Relationship between fatigue limit of smooth specimen and threshold stress of cracked specimen, occurrence condition of non-propagating crack at the root of elliptic notch and circular hole and relationship between stress concentration factor and fatigue notch factor are discussed quantitatively based on the proposed model.