NOTES
Leaders: Hitler-Germany, Mussolini-Italy, Churchill-Britain, Stalin-Russia, FDR-US, Tojo-Japan
*The Treaty of Versailles was the root cause of WWII
*The goal of this document was to bring worldwide peace
*Wilson had 14 points, Germany thought that this was the treaty
*A lot of land was taken from Germany and Austria-Hungary--Hitler tried to undo this during the war
*The treaty's terms were:
*Germany loses land to France, Belgium, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Poland
*The League of Nations took control of Germany's overseas colonies
*Some military terms were:
*Germany's army was reduced to 100k men, no tanks allowed
*Germany was not allowed an air force
*Only 6 naval ships were built-no submarines
*The west of the Rhineland and 50 km east of the Rhine was demilitarized-the Allies were to keep an army occupation on the west bank of the Rhine for 15 years
*Some financial terms were:
*The loss of industrial areas was a severe blow to German economy-also had to pay $33 billion to the Allies
*Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria to form a superstate
*Some general terms were:
*Germany had to admit full responsibility for starting the war-"War Guilt Clause"
*Germany had to pay all reparations
*The League of Nations was set up to keep world peace
Germany's reaction to the treaty
*There was anger throughout Germany
*It was called a Diktat-forced on them, they had no choice to sign it
*Many Germans didn't want this treaty to be signed
*German reps knew that they had no choice as Germany was incapable of restarting the war
Allies reaction to the treaty
*At first, it satisfied the big three (US, GB, France)
*Allies believed it was just to keep Germany weak but strong enough to stop the spread of communism
*Thought it kept the French border with Germany safe from another German attack and created the League of Nations that would end warfare throughout the world
*When Wilson brought the treaty back to the Senate for ratification, the Senate refused to sign it because of isolationism
*Most countries were ultimately unhappy with the treaty and the results of the war
*US was unhappy because we felt forced into WWI-we chose to isolate ourselves
*France thought we needed to be tougher on Germany
*Britain wanted to be lenient on Germany because they wanted to be trade partners
*Russia was unhappy because they lost land and were not invited to the treaty signing
*Japan's involvement in WWI reinforced the fact that they were the dominant Asian power
*Weimar Republic was set up after WWI as a democratic gov't with general public voting in mind
*League of Nations-worldwide peacekeeping organization
*Weaknesses-they had no military force, USA didn't join, required unanimous approval on all proposals
Three Great WW II Dictators
- 1. Adolph Hitler-Germany
- 2. Benito Mussolini-Italy
- 3. Iosif Dzhugashvili(Josef Stalin)
Define totalitarianism.-one person having total power over the people, gov't controls everything
Why did totalitarianism come about in the 1920’s and 1930’s?
*Because people were in the Depression and wanted to have the gov't do something about it
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
- 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 paintings
Benito Mussolini’sItaly
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 Emmanuel
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-nothing above, nothing against, nothing outside
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 needed 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
What did countries do in 1920s to ensure that WWI was the war to end all wars?
1. League of Nations
2. Kellog-Briand Pact
3. Washington Naval Conference, which brought about these:
4 Power Pact-reduce navy-G.B, US, France, Japan
5 Power Pact-respect possessions in the Pacific-G.B, US, France, Japan, China
9 Power Pact-Open Door Policy-G.B, US, France, Japan, China, and 5 others
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-promised better times
2. Former soldiers-could join to fight for a "good" cause
3. Adventurers and misfits-gave people a sense of power and belonging
- 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-during court he was his own lawyer, preached about the Weimar Republic being full of problems-his term was cut
- 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-because he thought free public thought was weak
- 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”
*Hitler's first goal was to rebuild the military
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