mr bruns ww2 presentation
The Rise of the Dictators
Three Great WW II Dictators
- 1. Adolph Hitler-Germany
- 2. Benito Mussolini-Italy
- 3. Iosif Dzhugashvili(Josef Stalin)
Define totalitarianism.
the government controlls everything
Why did totalitarianism come about in the 1920’s and 1930’s?
- 1. Post-war depression
-high inflation
-1923 420 trillion marks to one US dollar
-high unemployment
-democratic governments struggled to end depression
- 2. New nations had no experience with democratic governments
- 3. Democracy brought about a lot of political parties
too many parties
- 4. Unhappy with the results of WW I
-wanted revenge
Characteristics of Totalitarian Regimes
- 1. Tried to control people of country through fear and intimidation
-secret police force and military
- 2. Propaganda campaigns promoting the party
-press censorship and control of media
- 3. Educating the young in the ways of totalitarianism
-militarism, nationalism, imperialism, history of country
- 4. Government controlled the economy
-USSR completely
-Germany and Italy partially
- 5. All preached about the unfairness of WW I
6. Leader became iconized
-statues and painting
Benito Mussolini’s Italy
Fascism
Fascist movement began right after WW I
-people were unhappy with the results and the economy
was terrible
-people were scared that the socialists might come to power so many turned to fascism
-including King Victor Emmaneul
Benito Mussolini( Il Duce)
-hated the wealthy and catholic church
-mother forced him to go to catholic school
-expelled for stabbing a rich student
-unsuccessful elementary teaching career
-joined the socialist movement before during WWI
-fought for Italy in WWI-injured
-got involved in Fascist movement after the war
-became the leader of the Fascist movement
-King Victor Emmanuel asked him to be premier in 1922
-by 1926 was complete dictator of Italy
-killed political opponents
Fascist Ideas
- 1. Hated communism and democracy
- 2. Government’s role is to protect the people of the country
- 3. Nationalism
- 4. Militarism
- 5. Imperialism
- 6. Corporativism
-industrial leaders and workers must work well together
-detested capitalist’s greedy ways
- 7. Made Catholicism the national religion
-Mussolini hated religion but realized he nneded an alliance with the Catholic Church
-brought many Catholics to support Mussolini
- 8. Efficiency and order were very important
-Mussolini “made the trains run on time”
Mussolini’s fascism was not as strict as Nazism
-allowed monarchy to continue
-allowed the Catholic Church to continue
-allowed capitalism and large landowners to exist
Adolf Hitler
- born in 1889 in Austria
- dropped out of school at 16
- wanted to be and artist and architect
- failed to get into art school
- moved to Germany in 1913
- joined German Army when WWI broke out
- was wounded twice (once by gas)
- won numerous medals
- accepted the “stab in the back” theory
- hated Weimer Republic
- joined the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi) after WWI
- voted Fuhrer (Leader) of the Nazi Party in 1921
- Nazi party attracted the following groups of people:
1. Manual laborers
2. Former soldiers
3. Adventurers and misfits
- The Nazi Party:
1. was violently nationalistic
2. was anti-Semitic (anti-Jew)
3. Hated the democratic Weimer Republic
4. talked of the Volk (German common people) superiority
Beer Hall Putsch (1923)
- Hitler and the Nazis tried to take over the German Gov’t
- Failed miserably
- Hitler was arrested for treason
- Got five years but only served 9 months
- While in prison he wrote his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
- Outlined Hitler’s ideas:
1. Aryans were the superior race
- Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Scandinavians and English
- No interbreeding
2. Anti-Semitic beliefs
- Hated Jews, inferior race
- Hitler associated them with the Weimer Republic and
Communism
3. Hated democracy
- Believed one person had to have the power to keep order
Russia/Soviet Union/USSR
Russia dropped out of WW I due to the Bolshevik Revolution
Economically, it was in terrible shape
Vladimir Ulyanov(Lenin)
Lenin emerged as the leader of the communists.
Lenin was a big Marxist supporter
-Marx never outlined how exactly to reach a classless society so Lenin and the government took control of the economy and farms with a promise to eventually give it back to the peasants.
Lenin organized the country into a federation of republics
- The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Lenin died in 1924
Power struggled ensued between Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin.
Stalin would win.
Josef Stalin
Wanted to focus on building up the Soviet Union’s economy
Eliminated political opponents in great purges(800,000)
Wanted nationalization and collectivization of the economy
-gov’t took control of industry(nationalization)
-abolished private ownership(upset Kulaks)
-forced peasants to merge their land into large collective
farms(collectivization)
The Kulaks resisted and Stalin used the secret police to kill them
Stalin admitted that at least 10 million people died due to collectivization and famine
Five Year Plans
-Stalin’s idea of economic growth for industry and
agriculture
-Goals were to be met in a five year time frame
-Wasn’t until the third 5 Year Plan did the economy start
to improve
Discipline
4. Undo the Treaty of Versailles
5. Re-unite German speaking peoples
- Austria, Sudetenland, Danzig, Poland
6. Lebensraum
- “Living space” in Russia for the German People
- Hitler also learned that he would have to come to power legally
- January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany
- Within 18 months Hitler had total power and created “The Third Reich”
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