Transcript u2_2 - misssnghumanities

What factors led to the rise of the
authoritarian regimes?
Political factors
• Redistribution of land and resources after World War I
caused political shifts and discontentment
• New nations felt threatened by the larger nations and
uncertain that the League of Nations would be able to
protect them
• New nations had to set up a government, and establish an
economy
• Several countries had a democratic government that was
ineffective
• Authoritarian regimes promised a strong government
Social factors
• War had caused social upheaval
• During the war, rigid gender and class divisions were
blurred
• After the war, tensions arose between those who wanted
to return to the old ways and those who wanted to keep
their new-found status
• Authoritarian regimes tended to offer order in society
Economic factors
• Economies of many countries suffered badly during and
after the war
• War damage was great; costs of rebuilding were extremely
high
• Trade was disrupted; various currencies were hit by
inflation
• Unemployment was high
• Authoritarian regimes offered stability and hope
Effects of the Wall Street Crash
• US stock market collapsed in the Wall Street Crash in 1929
• Rest of the world was affected, except USSR and countries
that were too poor to trade
• Authoritarian regimes used the discontent arising from
economic problems to seize power
• They offered stability and security with confidence
Communist Russia:
How did Stalin come to power and
what was life like under the
Stalinist regime?
How did Stalin come to power and what was
life like under the Stalinist regime?
• February 1917 revolution overthrew the Tsar and threw
Russia into chaos
• A Provisional Government took over, but was very weak:
 Faced tough opposition from Soviets (those who organised
the revolution) and those who wanted to put the Tsar back
in power
 Did not solve critical issues like food and fuel shortages that
had sparked the revolution
 Instead, it made liberal reforms (freeing political
prisoners, allowing free speech), allowing critics the
chance to attack
How did Stalin come to power and what was
life like under the Stalinist regime?
• The Bolsheviks, one of the most popular opposing parties,
campaigned against the government
• Led a second revolution in October 1917, seizing power
from the government
• Signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, taking Russia
out of the war
• Renamed themselves the Communist Party (CP) and Russia
became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
How did Stalin come to power and what was
life like under the Stalinist regime?
• Russia was out of World War I but was swept into a Civil
War
• Red Army (Bolsheviks) had to fight off many opponents
before winning the Civil War in 1921
• War communism imposed during the Civil War – everything
owned by the state
• After the war, people allowed more freedom – they could
own land and small businesses
How did Stalin come to power and what was
life like under the Stalinist regime?
• The Russian economy
gradually improved
• However, Lenin’s
health worsened and
he died in 1924
• Main contenders to
take over: Trotsky
and Stalin
Why did Stalin win the leadership contest?
• Stalin focused on consolidating his power more than the
running of the country
• His post as General Secretary helped – it was a sign of
Lenin’s favour
How did the Five-Year Plans build up USSR’s
industry?
• Five-Year Plans introduced to make USSR an autarky – self
sufficient, not relying on trade with other countries
• Stalin’s economic committee, GOSPLAN
 Drew up the plans
 Set targets for industrial and agricultural growth
• Created a command economy – the state told factories
what to produce and farmers what to grow
Three Five-Year Plans
• First plan (1928 to 1932)
 Concentrated on expanding industry, transport and the
power supply
• Second plan (1933 to 1938)
 Focused on more manufactured goods, in addition to first
plan
• Third plan (began in 1939 but interrupted by outbreak of
war)
 Production of ‘luxuries’ like bicycles and radios
Controlling the workers
• Local party workers set up committees and supervised all
levels of industry
• Food was rationed by the state. Ration cards, wages and
housing were allocated by committee
• Workers who met targets were rewarded in the form of
extra rations. Those who were thought to not be working
hard enough had their rations cut
• Food was in very short supply – an effective way to control
workers
Problems with the Five-Year Plans
• Problem 1: the quality of goods suffered
 Rapid production led to poor quality of goods
 Workers were not trained properly
 Stalin desperately sought help from Western experts
• Problem 2: human cost
 People were crowded into new industrial towns to live
and work in appalling conditions
 Living conditions were cramped with little running water or
sanitation
How did collectivisation change farming life?
Collectivisation
• Stalin took all farmland and set up huge state-run farms
called collectives (kolkhozy)
• Peasants kept enough for themselves and sold the rest to
the state
• Could not own land or sell food privately
• Had fixed hours and wages
• State provided homes, food, fuel, and clothing for the
peasants
Resistance
• Many peasants resisted collectivisation
 As a result, food production went down, leading to another
famine in 1932.
• Stalin sent soldiers to force collectivisation on the people
• Land was taken from the kulaks (people with the biggest
farms) and millions were sent to labour camps.
• By 1930, the kolkhozy had been changed
 No longer huge state-run farms, but smaller collectives run
by the local CP.
Did collectivisation work?
• By 1940,almost all farms were collectives
• Some collectives had good production figures and were
used as model examples
• However, some peasants reverted to traditional,
inefficient farming methods when their tractors broke
down.
• On the whole, collectives were producing enough food to
feed peasants and workers in the industrial towns
• Thus, Stalin’s main aim of keeping the industry going was
met
How did Stalin use propaganda to control
people?
• Propaganda: the deliberate spreading of ideas and
information for the purpose of promoting a specific cause
 The Bolsheviks used propaganda to start the Revolution
 Stalin used propaganda to convince people he was a
closer friend of Lenin than he really was
• Stalin increasingly used extreme propaganda and
censorship to control the people
False information
• In his rise to power, Stalin lied to make Trotsky look like a
bad person
• During the Five-Year Plans, published statistics were made
up to make the economic situation look good
• Newspapers, radios and posters gave out state-controlled
information
• There was state censorship of everything
 Writing, art, music and plays were censored
• School textbooks were changed on a regular basis
How did propaganda increase industrial production?
• The Five-Year Plans encouraged everyone to exceed their
targets
• Alexei Stakhanov
 A coalminer who mined 102 tons of coal with his work gang
in one shift in 1935
 Posters, newspapers and radio reports presented him as a
hero, urging Russians to follow his example
• Later, Stalin admitted that Stakhanov had been working
on an easy seam of coal with the best equipment
How did Stalin use fear to control people?
• Stalin’s policies were hard on the people
• Despite state propaganda convincing people to make
sacrifices, opposition grew in the 1930s
• Hardships due to his policies were worsened by the 1932
famine, increasing opposition
• Stalin stamped out opposition ruthlessly through the use
of fear
Finding the opposition
• Opponents of Stalin
 Arrested, tried, sent off to labour camps (gulags) or just
‘disappeared’
• Stalin used the secret police to hunt down his opposition
 Arrested, questioned and shot people to order
• People were encouraged to inform against friends,
neighbours and family.
• People were arrested for even trivial examples of
opposition.
 E.g. telling anti-Stalin jokes warranted an arrest
Show trials
• Stalin put his political rivals in public ‘show trials’
• Many, including former allies Kaminev and Zinoviev) were
accused of plotting against Trotsky
• Many of those on trial confessed to crimes they had not
committed, often after torture or threats to their families
Purges
• Stalin’s purges were supposed to clean out enemies of
communism in USSR
• However, Stalin used them to get rid of his opponents
• People were arrested and sent to labour camps without
anyone knowing what had happened to them
• Many arrested were members of the CP – some were even
loyal supporters of Stalin
Effects of Stalin’s purges
Nazi Germany:
How did Hitler come to power and
what was life like under the Nazi
regime?
The rise of Hitler and the Nazis
• Hitler
 Leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party
 Tried to take over Germany by force in the Munich putsch in
1923 but failed
 Arrested, tried and sent to prison for five years
 Released only nine months later
Hitler’s ideas about empire and race
Political takeover
How did the Nazis rebuild the German
economy?
• To build the Third Reich’s empire, Hitler needed a large,
well-provisioned army
• He also wanted Germany to be as self-sufficient in raw
materials and food as possible
• A radical Four-Year Plan was drawn up by Hermann
Goering to meet Hitler’s objectives
The Four-Year Plan
• Geared towards being ready for war in four years, but
presented instead as a way of revitalising the economy
• Most important aims:
 Rearmament
 Autarky
• Provided work for the unemployed by hiring them in
factories
• Introduced agricultural reforms to increase production to
meet the needs of a growing population
Working for Germany
• The Nazis took control of the workforce
 Unemployed had little choice about the work provided
 Factories were told what to produce
• Banned trade unions as they were seen as threats to Nazi
control
 Everyone had to join the German Labour Front (DAF)
• DAF’s aim:
 To indoctrinate the Germans in the Nazi state mentality so
they would support the state
Children and Schooldays
• The Nazis wanted hardworking, obedient, healthy Aryan
citizens for their empire
• They controlled children’s lives from the moment they
were born so they would grow up believing in Nazi ideals
• Nazi control tightened in school
 Curriculum was determined by Nazis
• When not in school, children were expected to join a
youth group and to spend as little time as possible on
their own
How did the Nazis use propaganda to control
the people?
The Nazis act against Jewish people
• Used propaganda against Jewish people and also acted
against them
• Laws were passed to increasingly isolate them and make
them less part of the community – this made them easier
targets
• The SA attacked Jewish people, broke up their shops and
arrested them for no reason
• All people were encouraged to do the same
How did the Nazis use fear to control the
people?
• Hitler used fear through:
 The SA (Sturmabteilung or ‘stormtroopers’)
 The SS (Schutzstaffel or ‘protective squadron’)
 Gestapo (secret police force)
• Night of the Long Knives
 By 1934, SA had three million members
 SA seen as a threat to the regular army
 Hitler needed the army’s support
 Ernst Rohm, leader of SA criticised Hitler’s policies
 Hitler had Rohm and other SA leaders arrested and shot
How did the Nazis use fear to control the
people?
• The Nazis used party officials to watch and report on the
people
• Neighbours, even family members, were encouraged to
report on ‘suspicious’ behaviour
• Prison camps were used to ‘re-educate’ prisoners to
accept Nazi ideas
Effects of Nazism
Fascist Japan:
How did the fascists come to
power in Japan and what was life
like under their regime?
How did the fascists come to power in Japan
and what was life like under their regime?
• Japan
 Small country with little land and no raw materials
 To expand, it had to take over land elsewhere
 Government that took power in 1868 focused on economic
and territorial expansion
 Determined not to become part of Western colonisation
 Looked to the West for trade and ideas for modernisation
 Went to war with China (1894) and Russia (1904) and won
both wars
World War I
• Japan’s alliance with Britain meant that it was pulled into
World War I
• Japanese industries took over trade from Europe as
Europe was preoccupied with war
• However, wartime economic growth benefitted only the
rich industrialists
• Rapid industralisation led to growing towns
 Demand for food rose but fewer people in agricultural to
grow the food
• Widespread discontentment due to:
 Food shortages
 Rising prices
 Bad working conditions and wages
• Workers formed unions and went on strike on a large scale
• Ordinary people formed political groups to express their
discontentment with the government
Japan and the Treaty of Versailles
• Japan was allowed to keep German possessions it had
captured during the war
• However, the League of Nations did not have a clause
about racial equality
 1921 Washington Naval Conference limited size of Japanese
fleet to no more than 60% of the smallest US or British
fleets
 Japanese felt they were unfairly treated
• However, Japan still traded with Western powers which
enabled its industries to flourish
The Japanese economy
• Japanese industry worked on a two-tier system
 Top-level industrial firms called zaibatsu: favoured by the
government and had connections with banks
 Smaller firms: survived by providing services for zaibatsu on
their terms
• Most trade with the West, and therefore the greatest
profits, went to the zaibatsu
• Japanese control of trade gave Japan a large income:
 Controlled trade routes in Pacific and Indian Oceans
 Controlled much trade in and out of China
• This made USA uneasy of Japan’s intentions in China
• USA hoped that the threat of losing valuable imports from
them would make Japan reluctant to do anything to upset
them
Economic disaster
• Japan was deeply affected by the Wall Street Crash in
1929
• Economic depression meant other countries could no
longer afford Japanese goods
• The silk industry was badly hit
 By 1932, silk prices fell to less than 20% of their 1923 prices
• Many businesses collapsed; unemployment rose
• Contact with the West was no longer seen as a good thing
 Nationalist politicians argued that dependence on the West
for trade and an adoption of their ways had damaged Japan
economically and culturally
Why did nationalism become so powerful in
Japan?
• Since 1868, Japan had been governed by a constitutional
monarchy
• However, the government was very disorganised and
unstable:
 Many different parties meant the government changed often
 Emperor only a figurehead
 Real power held by a cabinet of ministers
 Politicians more interested in building power than
governing
• A single powerful party did not emerge, unlike in USSR
and Germany
• However, the most influential groups had a similar
nationalistic outlook
• Most important party:
 The Seiyukai, a militaristic and nationalistic party
Nationalist ideas in Japan
Anti-imperialism
• The Nationalists believed that
 Anglo-American values and needs dominated the world
 Capitalist ways were decadent and morally wrong
 Japan’s policy of keeping peace with the West was weak
 Japan needed to become an autarky by trading with strong
nation-states such as Germany and Italy
 Japan needed to take over land that had raw materials
What were the effects of militarism on the
Japanese people?
• Militarism in Japan brought both benefits and problems
similar to those in USSR and Germany
Providing work
• Cut unemployment by providing jobs through building
projects
• Encouraged women to work in the industries
 Provided housing for women in the towns and cities
Controlling the workers
• Government did not ban trade unions
• But, the government implemented various worker groups,
all of which stressed the need for self-sacrifice,
traditional values, etc.
Controlling the opposition
• The Peace Preservation Law (1925) allowed the
government to arrest and imprison anyone they thought
was a danger to the government
• At first, it was to be used only as an emergency measure
against communists or groups about to take violent action
• From 1928, it was increasingly used to suppress political
opposition
• People who criticized the government lost their jobs
Controlling education
• Government provided children six years of free
compulsory education since 1907
• Schools were seen as a good place to spread government
values
• Time was spent teaching traditional skills and values
• Boys had to begin military training exercises in school
• Government also broadened military training to include
university and college students
Why did the military develop such a hold on
Japan?
• Military leaders had strong links with nationalist parties –
thus the growth of power of the military was tied tightly
to the growth of nationalism
• Policy of a ‘co-prosperity’ sphere evolved
 Involved Japan extending control over neighbouring
countries
 Sounded as if Japan wanted to strengthen trade links
 In actual fact, it aimed at taking over land and resources to
benefit Japan
The Manchurian ‘Incident’ (18 September 1931)
• What happened?
 Japanese soldiers patrolling the Japanese-owned railway
line near Mukden heard an explosion and gunfire
 Believing they were under attack by Chinese, they called for
backup and began firing back
 Large scale fighting broke out
• Many people believed that the explosion in the
Manchurian ‘Incident’ was deliberately set by the
Japanese to give them an excuse to ‘fight back’ and seize
control of Manchuria
Manchukuo
• By end of January 1932, Japan was in control of south
Manchuria and large parts of northern China – renamed
Manchukuo
• Announced as an ‘independent’ state
 Not belonging to China, USSR or Japan
 However, its leader Pu Yi was chosen by the Japanese
• Only Italy and Germany recognised Japan’s control of
Manchukuo
 Pushed Japan into closer ties with these fascist countries
Political power
• In 1932, Prime Minister Inukai was assassinated for openly
disagreeing with the army
• From this point on, the military was more open in its
control of the government
• More assassinations took place to remove undesirable
threats to military power
• The army, with the emperor at the head as a puppet, was
in charge
Effects of Japanese Fascism
Summary