rise of the totalitarian dictatorships essential questions: – who were the major totalitarian...
TRANSCRIPT
RISE OF THE
TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIPS
Essential Questions:–Who were the major totalitarian
leaders in the 1920s and 1930s?–What were the basic ideologies of
Fascists, Nazis, and Communists?
After WWI, many nations were struggling to rebuild
A global depression in the 1930s led to high
unemployment and a sense of desperation in Europe
The Treaty of Versailles created bitterness among
many nations
In this climate of post-war uncertainty, nationalism increased; more and more,
citizens turned to strong totalitarian dictators to rule their nations
Totalitarian leaders are dictators who control all aspects of government and the lives of the citizens
Totalitarian leaders gained
support by promising jobs,
promoting nationalism, and
using propaganda Dictators held on to their power by using censorship,
secret police, denying liberties, and eliminating
opposing rivals or political parties
Among the first totalitarian dictators was Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union
Stalin was Communist andseized all property, farms, and factories in order to control the economy and
create equality
He used a secret police and the Great Purge
to eliminate rivals
Stalin’s Five Year Plans and collective farms improved the Soviet Union’s industrial and
agricultural output, but at great cost in Russian lives
Not all totalitarian dictators were Communists
In Italy, Germany, and Spain, people turned to an extremely nationalist type of government
called fascism
Fascist governments were controlled by
dictators who demanded loyalty
from citizens Fascists did not offer democracy and used one political party to
rule the nation But unlike
Communists, fascists believed people could keep their
property
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler believed in fascism: the idea that nations need strong dictators,
total authority by one party, but that people can keep private property (as long as they remain loyal)
Joseph Stalin was a Communist who believed that the government should control all property and business
In Italy, Benito Mussolini formed the
Fascist Party
Mussolini gained popularity by promising to revive the economy, rebuild the military, and expand Italy to create a new Roman Empire
Mussolini named his Fascist Party after the fasces, a Roman symbol of authority and
power
Mussolini created the Blackshirts (his own private army) to enforce
the goals of his Fascist Party
By 1922, Mussolini was popular and powerful enough to lead a “March on Rome”, forcing the Italian king to name him prime minister of Italy
As prime minister, Benito Mussolini was known as “IL DUCE” (the chief)
Mussolini ended democracy and all opposition parties
Mussolini built up the military to
create new jobs
He planned to conquer new territories in North Africa for Italy,
creating a new Roman Empire
The Nazis were a fascist group in Germany that
wanted to overthrow the weak Weimar Republic
Adolf Hitler was an early Nazi
recruit and quickly rose to power in
the party
Hitler was impressed by Mussolini and
used many of his ideas to make the Nazi Party strong
in Germany
For example, the Nazis
created their own militia called the
Brownshirts
The Nazis attempted a violent takeover of the local government in Munich, but Hitler
was arrested and jailed for 9 months
While in jail, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf
(My Struggle) which outlined his plans for Germany
Hitler wrote that Germans were members of a
master race called Aryans and all
non-Aryans were inferior
subhumans
He called the Versailles Treaty an outrage and vowed to regain land taken from Germany after
World War I
Hitler also declared that Germans needed
lebensraum (living space) and should get it by conquering Eastern
Europe and Russia
When Hitler was released from jail in 1924, he spent years organizing the Nazis into
Germany’s most powerful political party
In 1933, Hitler was named chancellor (prime minister)
of Germany
As chancellor, Hitler used his power to name himself dictator
He called his government the Third Reich (3rd
German empire) to promote pride and
nationalism
Hitler put Germans to work by building factories, highways, weapons, and
increasing the military
He created a new private army called the SS (Schutzstaffel, or “protective squad”) and a
secret police called the Gestapo to eliminate rivals and control all aspects of Germany
In 1935, Hitler began a series of anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) laws called the Nuremburg Laws that
deprived Jews in Germany of the rights of citizens, forbade mixed German-Jewish marriages, and
required Jews to always wear a yellow star
In 1938, Hitler ordered Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), an organized series of attacks on Jewish people, their synagogues, and their businesses
After WWI, Japan was the strongest nation in Asia and was ready to conquer new lands in Asia and the Pacific to provide resources for Japanese industry
Emperor Hirohito gave full control of the Japanese military to Hideki Tojo, who served as a military dictator
In the 1930s, Japan, Italy, and Germany began aggressively expanding into new territories;
these actions led to World War II in 1939
Japan invaded Manchuria and northern China, then
invaded Indochina and the East Indies
Italy invaded Ethiopia and Albania
Germany annexed
Austria and Czechoslovakia
In the 1930s, Japan, Italy, and Germany began aggressively expanding into new territories; these actions led to World War II in 1939
Revamped and redone by
Christopher Jaskowiak
Originally created byBrooks Baggett