Dictators Threaten World Peace

Failures of the World War I Peace Settlement

• Treaty of Versailles did not create a “just and secure peace”

• Germans didn’t think it was fair-blamed them for 100% of war

Failures of the World War I Peace Settlement

• Soviets lose some territories to create Poland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia

Failures of the World War I Peace Settlement

• Did not make world safe for democracy

• Democracies in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece were weak

• No democratic tradition

Failures of the World War I Peace Settlement

• Some democracies collapsed and dictators seized power

Joseph Stalin Transforms the Soviet Union

• Takes power in Soviet Union in 1924

• Iron willed-nothing would stand in his way

Joseph Stalin Transforms the Soviet Union

• Began industrial and agricultural restructuring

Joseph Stalin Transforms the Soviet Union

• Began reforming Russia in 1927

• Stamped out private enterprise

Joseph Stalin Transforms the Soviet Union

• Human cost to plan amazing

• Soviet Union turned into a massive police state

• Anyone who criticized was arrested/sent to a forced labor camp/killed

Now You See Him…

Joseph Stalin Transforms the Soviet Union

• 1930’s-Stalin purged his own party

• Labeled “enemies of the state” and executed

• Stalin responsible for the deaths of approximately 8 to 13 million people

Rise of Fascism in Italy

• Benito Mussolini establishing a totalitarian regime in Italy

• Wanted to make Italy a great power in the world

Rise of Fascism in Italy

• Unlike Stalin– Did not try to control

farms and factories

Many in Italy feared Communism

So they supported Fascism instead

Rise of Fascism in Italy

• 1921-Mussolini created Fascist party

• 1922- Mussolini stages march on Rome with many of his Blackshirt followers

Rise of Fascism in Italy

• Called himself Il Duce or The Chief

• Extended Fascist control over every aspect of Italian life

The Nazis Take Over Germany

• Adolf Hitler-rise to power similar to Mussolini

The Nazis Take Over Germany

• Hitler soon became the party’s leader…or fuhrer

• Laid out beliefs of Nazism in Mein Kampf

The Nazis Take Over Germany

• Born in Austria-dreamed of uniting all German speaking people

The Nazis Take Over Germany

• Inferior races-Jews, Slavs, and nonwhites, were fit only to serve the Aryans

The Nazis Take Over Germany

• Nazis sought national expansion

• Hitler believed Germany needed more lebensraum

The Nazis Take Over Germany

• Great Depression helped Nazis come to power

• 1932-6 million Germans unemployed

• Many saw Hitler as their last hope

The Nazis Take Over Germany

• Quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic

Militarists Gain Control in Japan

• Military leaders attempting to gain control of Japan

Militarists Gain Control in Japan

• Japanese controlled Manchuria within months– Resource rich area– Size of Alaska

Militarists Gain Control in Japan

• League of Nations investigated the situation

• Report condemned Japan

Aggression in Europe

• European Dictators noticed League of Nation’s failure to act

Aggression in Europe

• 1936-Hitler re-militarizes Rhineland

• Signs Rome-Berlin Pact- creates formal alliance between Germany and Italy

Aggression in Europe

• Mussolini begins building new Roman Empire

• 1935-Italy conquers Ethiopia

Aggression in Europe

• Haile Selassie-ousted Ethiopian Emperor– Appealed to League

for help– Nothing was done– He tells League “It is

us today, it will be you tomorrow.”

U.S. Clings to Isolationism

• America determined to avoid war

U.S. Clings to Isolationism

• 1935- Congress passes Neutrality Act- to keep U.S. out of wars

Neutrality Breaks Down

• Spanish Civil War• Fascists led by

Francisco Franco vs. elected govmt.

Neutrality Breaks Down

• Hitler and Mussolini saw Spanish Civil War as practice for their military

Neutrality Breaks Down

• Japan launches new attacks against China in 1937

• Japan had never declared war on China

• FDR refused to enforce neutrality legislation

• U.S. sent aid to China• FDR against

isolationism