Transcript World War II

The Rise of Fascism in Italy
and Germany
Europe Recovered Slowly From
WWI
• Allied and Central Powers had spent about $200
billion on the war; every European country was
nearly bankrupt.
• The USA and Japan came out of it better off
financially
– No fighting took place on home soil
– Increased trade opportunities
• The last royal families that ruled in absolute
fashion fell – Habsburgs (Austria), Romanovs
(Russia), Hohenzollerns (Germany)
Mussolini Launched a Fascist State
• Italians felt betrayed by the
Treaty
• Unemployment and inflation
spiraled out of control during
and after the war.
• Fear of Communist Revolution
was strong.
• Newspaper editor Benito
Mussolini promised to rescue
Italy.
• Fasces were symbols of
authority in ancient Rome
What are those things in the arms
of Lincoln’s chair?
• And in the US Capitol?
Ancient symbols of Rome were popular
in early American history, too.
Mussolini’s Takeover
• Blackshirts roamed the streets,
beating and killing enemies of the
Fascist party
– 3000 were killed 1920-22
• Middle class and aristocrats
supported him
• King Victor Emmanuel capitulated to
30,000 Fascists in the streets of
Rome and made Mussolini prime
minister.
• Mussolini received emergency
powers
Italy Becomes a Model
•
•
Democracy was abolished
Mussolini set up 22 corporations
to own and run the economy
– Wages, and prices were controlled
•
•
•
•
A great orator, people loved him.
Billboards read “Mussolini is
Always Right”
“He made the trains run on time”
Other fascist governments learned
from “the leader”, or Il Duce:
– Franco (Spain)
– Hitler (Germany)
Weimar Republic
Germany attempted a liberal democracy between
1919 and 1933. Weimar refers to the city where the
convention was held that wrote the new constitution,
although the Germans never called it the Weimar
Republic, a name which is the invention of
HISTORIANS!
The Germans continued to call their country the
“Deutsches Reich” or German Empire, although this
was not the 2nd Reich.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, he would call
the German Empire under him the 3rd Reich…
Q?? By Hitler’s calculation, what or when were the
1st and 2nd Reichs?
Postwar Germany Can’t Pay
• The Weimar Republic greeted with horror the
Versailles Treaty’s demands. Nevertheless,
Germany made its first payment in 1921.
Germany was allowed to pay off much of the
reparations in commodities such as coal, wood,
and iron ore.
• In 1922, Germany could not make its payment
so Belgian and French soldiers occupied the
Ruhr, Germany’s most industrialized area. This
violated League of Nations’ law.
Germany in Chaos…
• The Weimar Republic told its people of the Ruhr
region to go on strike and not cooperate with the
occupying French and Belgians.
• During 8 months of occupation:
– 132 Germans killed and 15,000 expelled from their
homes.
• Weimar went on to suffer many revolts and
attempted takeovers by German communists as
well as conservative groups – the small German
army had a hard time keeping peace.
Hyperinflation
• German government funded the strikers in
the Ruhr by printing more paper money
• This began a cycle of rapid inflation
• Soon 1 trillion of the new
marks = 1 old mark!!!
Denominations will range anywhere from 1 to 20 Million Mark or more! During the
hyper-inflation, prices were so high that suitcases and wheelbarrows were used to
carry money around.
The Great Depression Struck
• To prop up its economy and to pay
reparations Germany had received cheap
loans from the US
– (Dawes Plan 1924 & Young Plan 1929)
– Austria too received US loans
• The Weimar Republic of Germany was
devastated by the Crash on Wall Street
(Black Tuesday Oct. 1929)
• Now the US needed those loans paid back
Desperation spread
• Millions lost their jobs
• Shantytowns of evicted people sprang up
• Schools saw a drop in enrollment
– Children were too hungry or shoeless or were trying to
work to help out
Germany was desperate for help…
• Adolf Hitler, an
Austrian who had
fought for Germany in
WWI, had a plan.
• He had attempted a
coup d’etat in 1923
and went to jail.
• Where he wrote My
Struggle (Mein
Kampf) to influence
others
Hitler with supporters in Munich. Where is Munich?
Hitler as a Boy
• “Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn on the
Austro-German border on 20th April 1889. His
family background has given rise to much
psychological speculation. His father, a customs
official who died when Hitler was 13, was cold
and strict, while his mother was gentle and
loving and pampered her son, who adored her.
Hitler was clearly intelligent but bored by much
of his formal education, except for history, which
was taught with a strong German nationalist
bias.” (Noakes)
Hitler the Teenager
• As a teenager, Hitler came to see himself as an
artist superior to others and unwilling to find a
stable job. He drifted from job to job and tried to
sell his paintings of famous sites to tourists.
• In school Hitler was exposed to teachers who
urged Pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism and racist
views.
• Ironically, he was friends with several young
Jewish men who helped him sell his pictures.
Mein Kampf
• During 9 months in
prison, 1923-24.
• Germans were a
master race
• Inferior races- Jews,
Poles, gypsies –
should be destroyed.
• Lands lost should be
regained, east & west
• Lebensraum needed
Hitler seizes his opportunity
• After prison, the Nazi
Party was in decline as
the economy improved.
• Then the Wall Street
crash…and Germany’s
economy sank…
• By 1931, Germans were
in the street demanding
bread from their
government.
• Like moths to light, the
people flocked to Hitler’s
message…
Time Magazine observed then…
•
“Fighting every inch of the way,
three men stood out against the
advance of Fascism in Germany
last week: pale, bespectacled
Chancellor Heinrich Bruning;
white-haired Paul von Hindenburg;
and their faithful lieutenant,
Minister of the Interior and of War
Wilhelm Groener. Each morning
foreign correspondents in Berlin
expected the Bruning Government
to fall and Fascist Adolf Hitler, who
only fortnight ago pounded a
platform and shouted in his best
Mussolini manner ‘ Right goes
hand in hand with Might!’ , to seize
the Government.”
Dec. 21, 1931
Hitler was named Chancellor and
given absolute power.
• 1932 Nazis became largest party
• January 1933 – An old, tired President von Hindenburg
named him chancellor according to the constitution.
• Then, just before parliamentary elections, a fire broke
out in the Reichstag building. Who set it is a mystery, but
• Hitler used this to blame the
communists, which helped the
Nazis gain a majority in the
parliament elections.
• With this majority, Hitler got what
he wanted: a law which gave him
absolute power for 4 years.
Political and Economic Control
• Political : The SS – A security service loyal to
Hitler sets out to execute Hitler’s political
enemies on the Night of the Long Knives in June
1934.
• Economy is supervised
– Employers and workers alike have to
join the National Labor Front
– Millions are put to work building
factories, weapons of war, and
highways.
Cultural Control Reflected
Propaganda & Hitler’s Tastes
"With the
exception of
Richard
Wagner",
Hitler wrote, "I
have no
forerunner."
(Solomon)
• The press, broadcasting, music,
literature, drama, paintings, film
are placed under control of
Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister
of Propaganda.
• Music: Wagner
• Films such as Triumph
of the Will are propaganda to reinforce Nazi
ideology
Nazis Persecuted Jews
• Nuremberg Laws 1935:
– Forbade Jews to hold
public office, deprived them
of citizenship, of
publication, of teaching or
working at banks or
hospitals. Had to wear
yellow stars of David.
• Kristallnacht, Nov 9-10
1938
Nazi mobs (Brownshirts)
– Broke glass windows.
– Destroyed 7500 shops
– 275 synagogues
Nazi “documentary” film: The Eternal Jew
Works Consulted/Cited
• Bytwerk, Randall. Nazi posters 1933-1945.
Calvin College. (May 29, 2006)
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters
2.htm
• Noakes, Jeremy. “The Rise of Adolph Hitler.”
Wars and Conflict: World War II. British
Broadcasting Corp. (May 26, 2006)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/hitler_0
2.shtml
• Solomon, Larry. “Wagner and Hitler.” 2002. (May
28, 2006) http://solomonsmusic.net/WagHit.htm