Transcript Totalitarianism, Fascism, & Nazism

The Rise of
Totalitarianism
and the Path to
WWII
Totalitarianism
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Single party
dictatorship
Full state control of the
economy
Uses police and spies to
enforce state policy
Strict censorship of
media
Requires unquestioning
obedience to a single
leader or authority
Regulates every aspect
of its citizens’ lives
The Soviet Union
Josef Stalin
1878 – 1953 (life)
 1922 – 1953 (reign)
 Communist
 Ruthless Soviet leader
who may have killed
as many as 60 million
of his own people as
part of his campaign to
install a totalitarian
regime and
industrialize the
Russian economy
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Italy
Fascism
Extreme nationalism
which glorifies
militarism and the law
and order brought by
a strong dictator
 Teaches that the
state is more
important than the
rights of the individual
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Benito Mussolini
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1883 – 1945 (life)
1922 – 1943 (reign)
Nicknamed “Il Duce”
Head of the Italian
Fascist Party
Used his “Blackshirts”
to suppress political
opposition to his party’s
leadership and created
the “Young Fascists” to
indoctrinate children
into the party’s
militaristic beliefs
Japan
Japanese militarism
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Between WWI & WWII,
Japan’s military gained
increasing influence
over the government,
especially after the
Manchurian Incident
Japanese politicians
who objected to
imperial militarism
started to have
“accidents” leading to
fear to voice opposition
Hirohito
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1901 – 1989 (life)
1926 – 1989 (reign)
Emperor of Japan
Declared that his reign
would be dedicated to
Showa (enlightened
peace)
Historians remain divided
on how large a role
Hirohito had in the dayto-day running of Japan
in the years before WWII
The Manchurian Incident
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The Chinese province of
Manchuria had
abundant natural
resources which Japan
needed to fuel its
imperial ambitions
In 1931, the Japanese
military faked an attack
by Chinese troops on
its forces in Korea to
create an excuse for
invading Manchuria and
seizing these resources
The Rape of Nanjing
December 1937
 Angered by Chinese
resistance, Japanese
forces were given free
rein over the captured
city of Nanjing
 Japanese soldiers raped,
tortured, and killed over
200,000 civilians in one
of the worst war crimes
in modern history
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Hideki Tojo
1884 – 1948 (life)
 1941 – 1944 (Prime Minister
of Japan)
 Army General who was
appointed head of Japan’s
militarist government by
Hirohito and given the
responsibility of carrying out
Japan’s war effort
 Ordered the attack on Pearl
Harbor and approved of the
mistreatment of prisoners of
war in the Philippines &
Burma
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Germany
The Weimar Republic
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After WWI, the new German
government was burdened
with trying to pay off the war
reparations required by the
Treaty of Versailles
The US attempted to help by
extending Germany loans
through the Dawes Plan, but
after the Great Depression
struck in 1929 the German
economy collapsed once again
These economic problems,
coupled with German anger
over the other unfair
conditions of the Treaty (loss
of territory, forced
demilitarization) created an
opportunity for extremists to
seize power
Adolf Hitler
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1889 – 1945 (life)
1933 – 1945 (reign)
Austrian immigrant to
Germany
Head of the National
Socialist German Workers
(NAZI) Party
Had spent time in prison
for treason after
attempting to seize power
in 1923, but was elected
to the office of Chancellor
of Germany in democratic
elections in 1933
The Third Reich
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Hitler quickly moved
to eliminate all
political opposition,
cementing the Nazi
Party in power and
establishing himself
as “Fuhrer” (leader)
of the new German
empire (or Third
Reich) he intended to
build across Europe
The Nuremberg Laws
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29 laws signed into law in
1935 by Hitler
Legally defined Jews as a
separate “race”
Prohibited marriage or
sexual relations between
Jews and Germans
Denied Jews German
citizenship rights
Jews could not serve in
government, certain other
professions such as
medicine or teaching
The Night of Broken Glass
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Retaliation for the murder
of a German embassy
official by a Jewish
gunman
“Kristallnacht”: Hitler
allowed mob attacks
against Jewish
neighborhoods to go
unpunished
November 9 & 10 1938
91 Jews killed, 25000+
arrested
200 synagogues destroyed
Hitler Violates the Treaty of Versailles
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Began to rebuild the
German military, both by
increasing its size and by
developing new
weaponry
Moved troops back into
the demilitarized zone
along the Rhine River
France & Britain, while
disturbed by Hitler’s
moves, took no action
The Axis Powers
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September 1940
Created with the signing of the
Tripartite Pact, formally joining
Italy, Germany, and Japan in a
military alliance
Each power expected to
control its own sphere of
interest – Germany would
dominate Northern and Europe
and Russia, Italy would
dominate the Mediterranean
and Africa, while Japan would
have sway in East Asia and the
Pacific
German Expansionism
In March of 1938,
Hitler annexed his
homeland of Austria
into Germany,
thereby uniting most
Germanic peoples of
Europe
 His next goal was to
add German speaking
areas in Poland and
Czechoslovakia
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The Munich Conference
When Hitler demanded that
Czechoslovakia return
territory (the Sudetenland)
that it had been given as part
of the Treaty of Versailles,
the Czechs called on Britain
and France for protection
 Britain arranged for a
conference with Germany in
fall of 1938 (Czechoslovakia
was not invited to attend) to
reach a peaceful resolution to
the Sudetenland crisis
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Peace for Our Time
Britain and France
agreed to allow Hitler to
take the Sudetenland
from Czechoslovakia;
Hitler, in turn, promised
that he would engage in
no further territorial
aggression in Europe
 British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain
returned home declaring
to the British public that
“I believe it is peace for
our time” (it wasn’t!)
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Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
August 1939
 Germany and the Soviet
Union signed a nonaggression (agreement not
to fight – NOT an alliance)
 This was shocking to the
rest of the world because of
Hitler and Stalin’s mutual
dislike and distrust of one
another
 This removed the Soviet
Union as a potential ally for
Britain and France if a war
with Germany broke out
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American Isolationism
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Following WWI,
Americans began to
overwhelmingly
support isolationism,
or avoiding
involvement in
international disputes
by limiting non-trade
contact with foreign
states
The Kellogg-Briand Pact
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1928
International
agreement that
essentially banned war
Signed by nearly every
free nation in the world
Nations agreed to limit
the size of their navies
& other offensive arms
There was, however,
no way to enforce the
pact, so it wasn’t
effective
Europe Refuses to Pay
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In 1934, all European
nations in Europe
(except Finland) who
had war debts to the
US announced that
they were broke (due
to the Great
Depression) and
would not repay what
they owed
The Nye Committee
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Congressional committee
created in 1934 to
investigate the role that
arms manufacturers had
in involving US in WWI
The committee’s report
implied that certain
businesses had profited
from the war, leading
many American’s to
believe that they had
been tricked into getting
involved in WWI
Neutrality Acts
1935 Act: Made it illegal for
the US to sell weapons to
any nation at war
 1937 Act: “Cash and Carry”
– any non-military supplies
sold to nations at war had
to be paid for in cash and
carried away on their ships
 1939 Act: After WWII
started, policy was
amended to allow arms
sales to Britain, but still
under “cash & carry” terms
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Roosevelt’s Internationalism
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FDR wasn’t an isolationist
Supported the idea that
trade between nations
increases prosperity for
all and decreases the
chances of war
Not supported by the
American public
FDR had to be careful not
to push the idea too far
due to the popularity of
isolationism
The Quarantine Speech
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October 1937
FDR called for a
“quarantine” (political and
economic sanctions)
against any “aggressor”
nations who disregard
international law or
attack their neighbors
unprovoked
Angered many American
isolationists because it
involved the US in the
foreign affairs of others
US and European Jews
1933 – 39: 350,000
Jews left Germany,
most sought to flee
Europe altogether
 Many applied for visas
to emigrate to the US,
but were denied due
to US immigration
quota laws and rising
nativism in US
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Destroyers for Bases Deal
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Spring 1940: FDR
agreed to trade 50
surplus US Navy
destroyers to Britain
(who needed them to
protect shipping) in
exchange for allowing
the US to build naval
bases in Britishcontrolled territories
Isolationism Debate
Fight for Freedom
Committee: some people
wanted the US to take an
active role in the war
 Committee to Defend
America by Aiding the
Allies: some wanted the
US to increase aid to the
Allies but not get involved
in the fighting
 America First Committee:
some opposed ANY
involvement in the war
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FDR’s “Four Freedoms” Speech
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January 1941
Roosevelt argued that
the US & Britain were
natural allies because
they both stood for:
Freedom of speech
Freedom of worship
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear
Lend-Lease Act
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March 1941
US declared that it
would lend or lease
(since it couldn’t sell
due to the Neutrality
Acts) weapons to
nations considered
“vital to the defense of
the US”
US went on to send
$40 billion in weapons
to Allies over the course
of WWII
Hemispheric Defense Zone
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To help protect British
shipping, FDR declared
the entire Western
Atlantic to be part of the
Western Hemisphere and
thereby under the
protection of the US per
the Monroe Doctrine
FDR then ordered the US
Navy to patrol this part of
the Atlantic, leading to
several deadly encounters
between US destroyers
and German U-boats
The Atlantic Charter
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August 1941
FDR met with British
Prime Minister Winston
Churchill to lay out a
post-war plan for
economic prosperity
Many question whether
or not this is where FDR
promised Churchill that
he would find a way to
get the American people
to support the US
entering the war
US Embargo of Japan
US cut off Japan’s
access to critical war
materials such as steel
and oil (both of which
Japan bought almost
entirely from America)
to put pressure on Japan
to make peace with
China and Britain
 Japan considered this an
act of war and began to
plan an attack on US
military facilities in
Hawaii and the
Philippines
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