World War II: The Road to War

1931 - 1941

The Rise of Dictators

Section 1

Totalitarian• Govt. dominates every

aspect of life

• Uses terror to suppress every aspect of individual rights

• Silenced all forms of opposition

Fascism• Emphasizes the importance

of the nation or an ethnic group

• This is a form of totalitarian govt.

Stalin’s Soviet Union

• Farm Collectivization – Small farms to combine into big farms– Those who resisted were sent to camps– People starved or fled to cities

• Industrialization– By 1940 Stalin had made Russia a modern industrial

power– This caused severe shortages of essential goods

Joseph Stalin

The Great Purge (Stalin) 1934

• Removed all enemies of the communist party

• 7 million arrested

• 1 million executed

• “The Purge” ended all threats of opposition

Weird but true!

• Stalin originally wanted to be a priest but was thrown out of the seminary for his drinking and aggressive behavior

Fascism in Italy

• Benito Mussolini a.k.a “il duce” (the leader)

• Forms fascist party in Italy in 1919 (after WWI)

• Controlled gangs of fascist thugs called Black Shirts

• Suspend elections and ends all other political parties in order to restore stability to Italy

Benito Mussolini “Il Duce”

Hitler’s Rise to Power

• Wounded in WWI

• Enraged by the Treaty of Versailles:

• Pay reparations to the Allies• Took German territories• Accepted blame for the war

Adolf Hitler “Der Fuhrer”

Nazi Party• 1919 Hitler joins the

National Socialist Party

• Fascism shaped by Hitler’s belief about German racial superiority

Takes Power• Arrested for a failed revolt

against the govt. in 1923

• Writes “Mein Kampf” (my struggle) in jail

• Promised to stabilize the country through purification of the Aryan race

Nazi Party Expands

Germany Rearms• 1936 Begins massive build

up of weapons (violation of Treaty of Versailles)

• Invades the Rhineland

• Allies do nothing to stop Hitler (makes them seem weak)

Germany Expands• 1938 Hitler orders German troops

to enter Austria

• 2 months later Hitler invades the Sudetenland (Western Czechoslovakia)

• Allied leaders allow this to happen to preserve peace

• They though it would please Hitler’s appetite

Long Live Germany!

Be true to Der Fuhrer

Spanish Civil War

• 1936 Spain holds last free elections

• General Francisco Franco leads rebels known as nationalists against the republican party

• Form a military dictatorship under Franco as they were aided by Mussolini and Hitler