Today we watched our leader videos.
Benito Mussolini: Leader of Italy during WWII. Allies with Germany and Japan (AXIS Powers)
- Got into trouble as a kid
- was arrested multiple times
- in elementary school he stabbed a kid with a pen knife
- Became elementary school teacher
- Was an atheist because of his father
- Fought in WWI
How did he get to power?
- King appointed him to prevent communism
How did he change his country?
Fascism-the country controls all the people, and you can't discriminate the state. Believe in imperialism, militarism, and nationalism.
"nothing above the state, nothing against the state, nothing outside the state"-Mussolini (everything you did had to go with Italy)
Brought order to the country.
Hitler's "puppy dog"-always had Hitler bail him out
Was spat on, kicked, shot, hanged on meat hooks
Ruled Italy from 1922-1945
Joseph Stalin-Leader of Soviet Union, part of Allied Powers (common enemy of Germany)
- from poor family
- sick growing up
- was going to be a priest
- became atheist
- got involved in Bolshevik Revolution
How did he get to power? Lose Power
- killed his enemies
- got power after Lenin died
- power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky
- Stalin won and became leader 1927
- Died in 1953, cerebral hemorrhage
What did he do for his country? (prior to WWII)
- Nationalization-government takes over businesses, control all businesses in country
- Industrialization-changing country from agricultural to industrial
- Collectivization-government took farms and made them collective farms to form government farms
- 5 year plans-improve industrial, militia, and agricultural output, new goal every 5 years
- Great Purges-kill any military/government people who weren't trusted
What did he do for his country? (During/After WWII)
- Non-Aggression Pact with Germany-agreed not to fight each other
- Both invade Poland on 9-1-39
- wanted to get back land they lost in Treaty of Versailles
- Both invade Poland on 9-1-39
- Germany Breaking Pact
- Germany was going to attack Soviet Union
- soviets retreated
- Germany was going to attack Soviet Union
- Scorched Earth Policy
- while retreating, Soviets burned everything they left behind
- didn't want Germany to take it and use it
- Soviets go into Berlin, Hitler killed himself
- Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945
- Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad
Adolf Hitler: Leader of Germany
- 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: Blamed Weimer republic for the Treaty of Versailles, stabbed people in back for accepting treaty
- hated Weimer Republic:New Democratic government in Germany after WWI
- 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 and
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”
What Hitler did during WWII
- Holocaust
- non-Aggression Pact: Germany didn't want to fight a 2-sided war
- invading Poland
- Invading Belgium, Lux. Neth, Norway, Denmark, France:All are taken over by Hitler
- Battle of Britain:Britain attacked by Germany:RAF vs. Luftwaffe
- Invasion of USSR: June 1941:biggest mistake of war for Hitler
- The end:USSR pushed Germans back to Berlin:Hitler killed himself
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Background:
- born in New York
- rich family
- well educated
- assistant secretary of the navy
- Governor of New York
- Got polio when was a kid
- eventually was paralyzed due to disease
- was elected 4 times as president of US
Do before WWII?
- created New Deals and Programs
- Neutrality
- neutral/passed neutrality acts
- Dec. 7 1941 end of neutrality (Pearl Harbor)
- Pearl Harbor
- Dec. 7 1941
- Japan attacked Hawaii's Pearl Harbor
- Pacific War
- war between Japan and US
- Atomic Bomb ended the war.
- Africa
- invaded Africa
- Pushed Germans and Italians back.
- Italy-
- D-Day
- June 6, 1944
- Invaded France
- Yalta Conference
- Decided what would happen to Germany after the war
- Germany split into 4 areas.
- The End-Death
- Harry Truman takes over for FDR after death.
Japan
Dictatorship also came to Japan
-not through a political party but the military
-rich military tradition
-feudal clans fought each other for dominance in Japan
-The Emperor presided over the Japanese government
-came form divine origin
-descendant of the Sun Goddess
-played minor role in the government
-he was above politics
-shogun had the political power
-ruled in the name of the Emperor
Japanese society
Landowning clans dominated
-protected by the samurai
Wealthy merchant class
Peasants
-most of the people of Japan
Japan was very isolated until 1853 when US Commodore Matthew Perry sailed in to Japan and forced them to open their ports
In the late 1800’s many Japanese were tired of being controlled by foreign countries.
-adopted western ways in hopes to keep Western Powers out of their country
heavy industry
modern army
strong navy
Showed off new power in several wars
Sino-Japanese War
-1894-95
-Japan won
Russo-Japanese War
-1904-05
-Japan shocked the world by beating Russia
-gained partial control of Manchuria
World War I
-allied with the US
-gained German Islands in the Pacific after the war
1920’s
-gave all men the right to vote
-signed the 4, 5 and 9 Power Pacts
-joined the League of Nations
-signed the Kellog-Briand Pact
- outlawed war
1930’s
-Great Depression changed everything
-people blamed the government for tough times
-military leaders stepped in and took control
-said Japan had to expand in to Asia to help economy
-assassinated political leaders that opposed them
-took away people’s rights
Japanese Military Honor
fight to the death
commit suicide rather than surrender
- Fight till the death
-open defiance of superior officers by junior officers
-seen as a positive thing
-shows the spirit of the soldier
- Hirohito became emperor because father was emperor
- Tojo made decision to attack US at Pearl Harbor.
- Hirohito died.
- Tojo attempted suicide, failed, the was hanged.
- Japan surrendered after first bomb was dropped.
- Tojo made military decisions
-Hirohito was above politics, too dirty for the emperor
Winston Churchill-Prime minister of Great Britain
Background:
- Born 1874
- bad relationship with parents
- didn't do well in school
- nanny was mother figure
- very wealthy family
- got involved in British Parliament
How he came to power:
- part of conservative party
- this party was minority, so wasn't doing well
- conservative party became more popular after Germany invaded Poland
- became prime minister
- person who was originally PM, turned down offer, Churchill was then chosen
- Churchill had a lot of enemies within Parliament
- chosen to be prime minister by his party of Parliament
Lost power:
- enemies in parliament
- they didn't re-elect him
Once in power:
Role in WWII:
- Led fight against Nazi Germany (Battle of Britain)
- Anti-Appeasement-Munich Conf.
- Told Hitler that he could take Sudetenland area, but made him promise not to take anymore land
- Hitler kept invading more countries
- thought war would be avoided in they appeased Hitler
- Churchill was really against Anti-Appeasement
- Strong Anti Communist
- Battle of Britain
- Germany started bombing Great Britain every day and night
- Friends with FDR
- wrote 1700 letters back and forth
- No Armistice with Germany
- weren't going to let Nazis stay in power
- meant long war
- were going to have to invade Germany
- "Soft underbelly of Europe"
- Italy
- attack Italy, would cause Germany's power to weaken
- D-Day-June 6th, 1944
- British, Canadian, and US forces
- Defeated by Atlee
- 1945-lost Prime Ministership
Comments