Dictators Come to Power

Effects of World War I and the Great Depression

• Upheavals in countries led to the rise of dictators and totalitarian states

Government During the 1920s

• Many nations embraced oppressive dictatorships and totalitarianism• A theory of government in which a single party or leader controls

the economic, social, and cultural lives of its people.

• This was a 20th Century phenomenon

• It was more extreme than a simple dictatorship• Why do you think it was able to take hold in the years leading up to

WWII?

Repression in the Soviet Union

• 1917 Lenin establishes the first totalitarian state which results in starvation, famine, and death of millions

• Joseph Stalin becomes leader of the Communist Party in 1924• Suspicious, cruel, ruthless, tyrannical

• Great Terror- Stalin purged the Communist party of real and suspected traitors

• Propaganda kept Stalin in power

Repression in Italy

• Totalitarianism was a result of war and treaties

• Returning veterans could not find jobs, postwar economic depression, and a weak government allowed for the growth of the Communist Party.

• 1919 Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist party- it trumpeted nationalism and promised to make Italy great again.• Followers were known as Black Shirts• He outlawed political parties, took over the press, created secret

police, organized youth groups• Opposed liberalism and socialism

Germany

• Post WWI Germany= Democracy

• Weimar Republic (government) struggled during the 1920s

• Anger over the Treaty of Versailles and internal disunity plagued the new government

Germany

• National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) threated the Republic

• They opposed communism, socialism or anything that promoted class interests or workers’ rights above German ethnic solidarity

• Led by Adolf Hitler

• “Mein Kampf”- “My Struggle”- states Hitler’s explanations for the problems facing Germany• Communists and Jews • Hitler was anti-semitic- prejudice against Jews

Germany

• How the Nazi Party succeeded• Unemployment• Homelessness• Hunger

• Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933• Became President and ruled uncheck by the German Parliament

(Reichstag)• State controlled press• Secret police• State controlled education system• Political initiatives restricted freedoms

Japan

• 1920s was a period of increased Democracy and peaceful change• Reduced military power, all men the right to vote, trade unions,

political parties• Ended with the Great Depression

• Military leaders believed expansion would solve Japan’s problems and grant security

• Never became when totalitarian state• Constitutional Monarchy head by an aloof emperor

Japan- Expansion

• Aggressive military expansion

• 1931- attacked Manchuria• Northeastern China• Puppet State

• Japan controlled domestic and foreign policy and natural resources

• 1937- Gained control over Chinese railroads and coastal areas• Japanese soldiers acted with brutality• Rape of Nanjing- murdered residents and burned the city

Dictators Turn to Aggression

• Germany and Italy resorted to acts of aggression similar to Japan

• League of Nations- no real power to enforce the decrees• America never joined• Long on words, short on action

• Hitler enlarged his army, navy, and air force in direct defiance of the Treaty of Versailles• Goal of moving all people into one Reich (state)• Expand to gain Lebensraum (living space)• Sent troops to the Rhineland- direct challenge to the League- no response

• Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and succeeded

Appeasement

• Policy of granting concessions in order to keep the peace

• Why would France and Britain appease the fascist powers?• Didn’t want to start another war• Believed Soviet Union was a greater threat• Believed a strong Germany would be a buffer for Soviet Union

• U.S. maintained isolationist policy

• Anschluss- Hitler brought Austria into the Reich• Due to lack of commitment from U.S., France, and Britain

Munich Conference

• British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and France appeased Germany and sacrificed the Sudetenland

• Munich Pact- agreement reached at the conference • Chamberlain declared it had, preserved “peace for our time”• Postponed the war for 11 months