Fascism and National Socialism and the Beginnings of World War II

Theme: How Hitler gave rebirth to Germany

Lesson 17

Allied Political Leaders

Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin

Axis Political Leaders

HirohitoMussolini and Hitler

Fascism

• Fascism was a reaction against both liberal democracy and the spread of socialism and communism

• In fascism, the state was primary and individuals were subordinate to the service of the state

• Emphasized a belligerent form of nationalism (chauvinism) and fear of foreigners (xenophobia)

• Maintained large and expensive military establishments, tried to organize much of public life along military lines, and showed a fondness for uniforms, parades, and monumental architecture

Fascism

• Political and economic frustrations created opportunities for fascism

• Popular in many European countries, Japan, China, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, and several Arab nations

• Only in Italy and Germany did fascism overthrow a parliamentary system

• Common elements– Veneration of the state– Devotion to a strong

leader– Ultranationalism– Ethnocentrism– Militarism

Italy after World War I

• The conditions were right for fascism to take hold– Weak political

leadership and ineffective government

– Economic turmoil– Social discontent– Growing fear of

socialism– Disappointment over

Italy’s limited territorial gains from the Treaty of Versailles

Benito Mussolini• Began as a socialist

but came to think that World War I marked a turning point for Italy and something else was needed

• By 1921, had 35 fascists elected to the Italian parliament

• Used armed squads known as Blackshirts to threaten socialists Mussolini surrounded by

supporters

Benito Mussolini

• On Oct 28, 1922, Mussolini’s followers marched on Rome and the next day the King asked Mussolini to become Prime Minister and form a new government

• By 1926, Mussolini had seized total power as dictator and became Il Duce (“the leader”)

The Fascist State

• Mussolini– Eliminated all other political

parties– Curbed freedom of the

press– Outlawed free speech and

association– Crushed labor unions and

prohibited strikes– Allied himself with business

and landlord interests– Labeled Jews unpatriotic

and banned them from government employment

• Mussolini may have done many brutal and tyrannical things; he may have destroyed human freedom in Italy; he may have murdered and tortured citizens whose only crime was to oppose Mussolini; but one had to admit one thing about the Dictator: he “made the trains run on time.”– Ashley Montagu and

Edward Darling

Mussolini and Hitler

• Mussolini became friends with Adolf Hitler and in 1936 declared world history would revolve around a Rome-Berlin axis

• In May 1939, Mussolini and Hitler signed a ten-year Pact of Steel

Germany after World War I

• Treaty of Versailles imposed a harsh peace on Germany– Red areas represent

losses in German territory

• Hyperinflation wiped out the savings of the middle class

• Political infighting– In stepped Hitler

Rise of Hitler

• From 1919 to 1923, Hitler began advancing the agenda of a Nazi Party:– Germany suffered unbearably in WWI from losses of

territory, national shame, and casualties• Enemies from within (Jews, Bolshevists, Jewish Bolshevists,

and liberal republicans) helped bring Germany to defeat– The Treaty of Versailles was unfair and its enforcers

were criminals• Reparations are extortion• Disarmament terms are unequal• The new states, especially Poland, came from historic

German soil• A disarmed Germany is prey to her predatory neighbors

(Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, France)

Rise of Hitler

• Through emotional speeches, Hitler began to build a following

• On Nov 19, 1923 he felt strong enough for a coup (the Beer Hall Putsch), but he was unsuccessful and was sentenced to five years in jail– He served nine months– While in prison he wrote

Mein Kampf, his political manifesto

Rise of Hitler

• The world economic crisis of 1929 gave Hitler another chance to seize power– Unemployment :

1,320,000 in 1929 – 3 million in 1930 – 4.5 million in 1931– Over 6 million in

early 1932

Rise of Hitler

• In July 1932 the Nazi Party won 37.3% of the vote (230 parliamentary seats) and became the largest party in the Reichstag– The Communist Party

also did well and fear of them reinforced Hitler’s appeal

– On Jan 30, 1933, Hitler became chancellor

Dec 21, 1931

Rebirth of Germany

• Between Jan 1933 and July 1936, Hitler restored Germany’s prosperity, destroyed all opposition, recreated a spectacular army, and outmaneuvered the repressive treaty provisions

• When Paul von Hindenburg, the German President, died, Hitler combined the offices of President and Chancellor into Fuhrer and became both head of the government and head of state

Rebirth of Germany

• Hitler reinstituted conscription (after France doubled the length of its conscripts’ service) and in March 1936 was strong enough to reoccupy the Rhineland

• In June 1934, Hitler purged many of his paramilitary and the SS rose up to replace them

Germany under Hitler

• Declared a national state of emergency• Eliminated all opposition• Outlawed all other political parties and made the

National Socialist Party (Nazis) the only legal party

• Replaced the federal structure with a highly centralized state

• Eliminated trade unions and collective bargaining; prohibited strikes and lockouts

• Took control of all police forces

Germany under Hitler

• Launched a campaign to increase births of “racially valuable” children– Awarded the Honor Cross of

German Mother to mothers with more than four children

– Instituted compulsory sterilization for those with “hereditarily determined sicknesses”

• Aborted the “hereditary ill” and racial aliens and euthanized others considered racially impure

– Initiated the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 to systematically suppress the Jewish population (anti-Semitism)

Germany’s Increasingly Militaristic Approach

• In Nov 1937, Italy joined Germany in an alliance against the Soviet Union

• In Mar 1938, Hitler forced Anschluss (union) with Austria

• On Sept 29-30, the British and French foreign ministers attempted to appease Hitler by acquiescing to his demand for the Sudentenland under the understanding Hitler will make no more territorial demands– In March 1939 Hitler seized the

western part of CzechoslovakiaNeville Chamberlain

Continued Aggression

• Britain and France now knew appeasement wouldn’t stop Hitler and they pledged to defend Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Poland against German aggression

• On Aug 22, 1939, Russia and Germany signed a non-aggression pact– In the event of a German-

Polish war, Russia could annex eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania

• On Sept 1, Hitler invaded Poland

Russia and Finland

• On Nov 30, Russia attacked Finland and on Mar 12, 1940, the Finns finally surrendered– Russia’s army did not

perform particularly well which made Hitler think the Russians would not be much of a challenge if Germany invaded

Finnish infantry passing a destroyed Russian tank

French and German Plans forthe Battle of France 1940

• French anticipated the Germans attacking through the north as they did in World War I so they developed the Dye Plan to counter such an attack

• Built the Maginot Line in the south to protect the border

Maginot Line

• A line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, machine gun posts and other defenses which France constructed along her borders with Germany and Italy

• The fortifications did not extend through the Ardennes Forest which was considered “impassable”

Surprise in the Ardennes

• On May 12, 1940 Germany attacked through the weakly held Ardennes region

• Penetrated Allied defenses at Sedan and Dinant and then began to envelop them

The Panzer's Race To The ChannelBattle of France: May 14-24, 1940

Dunkirk was the last evacuation port available to the Allies.

Dunkirk

Moving in for the Kill

• German forces pressed the Allied armies trapped in the north, from south and east, into the English Channel.

• Meanwhile, German infantry divisions reinforced the southern flank of the German penetration.

• But…. Dunkirk Harbor ablaze from German bombing

Halt Order

• Hitler halted the German armor– German armor had suffered heavy losses and

would be needed to conquer the rest of France– Luftwaffe called upon to finish the job

• Luftwaffe was unable to destroy the British and French– Bases in western Germany were further away from

Dunkirk than British planes were from their bases on the British Isles

• 340,000 Allied troops were evacuated

The Weygand Line CollapsesBattle of France: June 4-14, 1940

Consolidation• On June 16 the French asked for an armistice• Battle of Britain began

– “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” (Winston Churchill)

Italy Joins the Axis

• On June 10, 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France and four months later invades Greece

• In many ways Mussolini would hinder rather than help Hitler

Greatest Extent of Axis Control

Auftragstaktik• German interwar doctrine emphasized:

– decentralized, mission-oriented orders (Auftragstaktik)

– speed and exploitation of enemy weaknesses maximized by troop commanders taking the initiative (understand commander’s intent)

– close integration and cooperation between combat branches (mobile warfare required armor, infantry, and artillery)

– leadership from the front

North Africa

Italian Presence in North Africa

• Since before World War II, Italy had been occupying Libya and had over a million soldiers based there

• In neighboring Egypt, the British Army had only 36,000 men guarding the Suez Canal and the Arabian oilfields

• On Sept 13, 1940, the Italians advanced into Egypt but halted in front of the main British defenses at Mersa Matruh

• On Dec 9, the British counterattacked and pushed the Italians back more than 500 miles, inflicting heavy casualties

• British troops then moved along the coast and on Jan 22, 1941, they captured the port of Tobruk in Libya

Germany to the Rescue

• In the meantime, Germany sent forces across the Mediterranean to Tripoli– The Afrika Corps

commanded by Erwin Rommel

• Italy’s disasters in North Africa and elsewhere (i.e., Greece) were threatening to undermine the Axis position in the Balkans and the Mediterranean

Rommel

• Characteristically Rommel attacked and drove the British Commonwealth forces out of Libya except for Tobruk, which continued to complicate his logistics

• With the situation in North Africa stabilized, Hitler turned his attention to shoring up Italy, leaving Rommel to deal with North Africa

• One of Rommel’s biggest challenges would be his long, tenuous supply line– Between Oct and Nov the Allies sank nearly 80% of

Axis supply ships crossing the Mediterranean

Rommel

• Rommel pushed the British deep into Egypt but Montgomery stopped Rommel at the first Battle of El Alamein in July 1942

Operation Torch

• While this was going on in Egypt and Libya, Americans acquiesced to British pressure and began planning Operation Torch– landings to occupy Algeria and Morocco and co-opt the Vichy French– The “Vichy French” had reached an agreement with

the Germans allowing a French government headed by Marshall Henri Pétain to govern the French colonies and those parts of France not occupied by the Germans

– The “Free French” established their own government in exile led by Charles de Gaulle

Operation Torch

• The Anglo-American forces landed at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in Nov 1942 and then advanced by land and sea to Tunisia

Operation Torch• At first the Vichy French

resisted, but eventually surrendered

• Hitler began rushing troops to Tunis before the Allies could get there

• Hitler was successful in winning “the race to Tunis” and therefore denying the Mediterranean to Allied shipping but he did so at a great price, committing Italian and German troops to an ultimately hopeless fight when they could have been better used elsewhere

Kasserine Pass

• In Nov 1942, Rommel began a rapid retreat across Egypt into Libya and eventually to Tunisia – He developed a plan to sweep up

from southern Tunisia and destroy the Allied supply dumps in eastern Algiers

• Rommel attacked on February 14, 1943 and punched his way through the Kasserine Pass

• It was a tactical victory, but Rommel was unable to continue with his larger plan and began withdrawing on Feb 22

American soldiers enter Kasserine Pass in west central Tunisia. At this

point in the war, the Americans were

performing poorly.

Germans Defeated

• Rommel then turned south against the British who were arriving from Egypt

• British General Bernard Montgomery dealt Rommel a stunning defeat and Rommel personally left Africa

• The Axis position in North Africa steadily deteriorated and in early May the Allies controlled Tunisia

First Battle

• The Americans did not perform very well in their first combat experience and senior leadership was horrible– General Eisenhower

was forced to relieve Lloyd Fredendall of command and replace him with George Patton

Lloyd Fredendall, commander of the American II Corps

Results of North Africa

• The Germans had wasted valuable resources in an indecisive theater

• Mussolini was severely weakened domestically

• The Americans learned from their poor performance and made the necessary changes

• The British and American coalition weathered a potentially threatening storm

The Eastern Front

• On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa

• The operation encompassed a total troop strength of about 4 million men, making it the biggest single land operation ever

• Benefiting from initial surprise, by the end of July Hitler had occupied a portion of Russia twice the size of France

• However, by the time the Germans reached the outskirts of Moscow in December, the Russian winter had set in– Remember what we talked about in Lesson 9 about Napoleon’s

invasion of Russia

Operation Barbarossa

The Eastern Front

• In the total four years of fighting on the Eastern Front, an estimated 4 million Axis and 9 million Russians were killed in battle

• 20 million Soviet civilians were killed as a result of extermination campaigns against Jews, communists and partisans, casual massacres, reprisal killings, diseases, and (sometimes planned) starvation.

Stalingrad (Aug 1942-Feb 1943)

Stalingrad

Stalingrad

Stalingrad

Casablanca Conference

• After the Axis surrendered in Tunisia, the Allies began planning the next phase of the war

• Roosevelt and Churchill met in Casablanca, Morocco in January 1943– Stalin had been

invited, but declined to attend because of Stalingrad

Strategic Differences

• US advocated a cross channel invasion to directly attack Germany

• Churchill preferred an indirect approach, attacking through the “soft underbelly of Europe”– Reflected the preference

for peripheral operations he had shown in World War I

British Approach

American Approach

What They Agreed On

• Forces from Operation Torch could continue on to Sicily once the North African Campaign was terminated– Churchill knew this would preclude a cross-channel

invasion in 1943

• At the end of the conference, Roosevelt announced that “peace can come to the world only by the total elimination of German and Japanese military power . . . (which) means unconditional surrender.”

Next

• World War II (continued)