RISE OF THE

TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIPS

Essential Questions:–Who were the major totalitarian

leaders in the 1920s and 1930s?–What were the basic ideologies of

Fascists, Nazis, and Communists?

After WWI, many nations were struggling to rebuild

A global depression in the 1930s led to high

unemployment and a sense of desperation in Europe

The Treaty of Versailles created bitterness among

many nations

In this climate of post-war uncertainty, nationalism increased; more and more,

citizens turned to strong totalitarian dictators to rule their nations

Totalitarian leaders are dictators who control all aspects of government and the lives of the citizens

Totalitarian leaders gained

support by promising jobs,

promoting nationalism, and

using propaganda Dictators held on to their power by using censorship,

secret police, denying liberties, and eliminating

opposing rivals or political parties

Among the first totalitarian dictators was Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union

Stalin was Communist andseized all property, farms, and factories in order to control the economy and

create equality

He used a secret police and the Great Purge

to eliminate rivals

Stalin’s Five Year Plans and collective farms improved the Soviet Union’s industrial and

agricultural output, but at great cost in Russian lives

Not all totalitarian dictators were Communists

In Italy, Germany, and Spain, people turned to an extremely nationalist type of government

called fascism

Fascist governments were controlled by

dictators who demanded loyalty

from citizens Fascists did not offer democracy and used one political party to

rule the nation But unlike

Communists, fascists believed people could keep their

property

Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler believed in fascism: the idea that nations need strong dictators,

total authority by one party, but that people can keep private property (as long as they remain loyal)

Joseph Stalin was a Communist who believed that the government should control all property and business

In Italy, Benito Mussolini formed the

Fascist Party

Mussolini gained popularity by promising to revive the economy, rebuild the military, and expand Italy to create a new Roman Empire

Mussolini named his Fascist Party after the fasces, a Roman symbol of authority and

power

Mussolini created the Blackshirts (his own private army) to enforce

the goals of his Fascist Party

By 1922, Mussolini was popular and powerful enough to lead a “March on Rome”, forcing the Italian king to name him prime minister of Italy

As prime minister, Benito Mussolini was known as “IL DUCE” (the chief)

Mussolini ended democracy and all opposition parties

Mussolini built up the military to

create new jobs

He planned to conquer new territories in North Africa for Italy,

creating a new Roman Empire

The Nazis were a fascist group in Germany that

wanted to overthrow the weak Weimar Republic

Adolf Hitler was an early Nazi

recruit and quickly rose to power in

the party

Hitler was impressed by Mussolini and

used many of his ideas to make the Nazi Party strong

in Germany

For example, the Nazis

created their own militia called the

Brownshirts

The Nazis attempted a violent takeover of the local government in Munich, but Hitler

was arrested and jailed for 9 months

While in jail, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf

(My Struggle) which outlined his plans for Germany

Hitler wrote that Germans were members of a

master race called Aryans and all

non-Aryans were inferior

subhumans

He called the Versailles Treaty an outrage and vowed to regain land taken from Germany after

World War I

Hitler also declared that Germans needed

lebensraum (living space) and should get it by conquering Eastern

Europe and Russia

When Hitler was released from jail in 1924, he spent years organizing the Nazis into

Germany’s most powerful political party

In 1933, Hitler was named chancellor (prime minister)

of Germany

As chancellor, Hitler used his power to name himself dictator

He called his government the Third Reich (3rd

German empire) to promote pride and

nationalism

Hitler put Germans to work by building factories, highways, weapons, and

increasing the military

He created a new private army called the SS (Schutzstaffel, or “protective squad”) and a

secret police called the Gestapo to eliminate rivals and control all aspects of Germany

In 1935, Hitler began a series of anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) laws called the Nuremburg Laws that

deprived Jews in Germany of the rights of citizens, forbade mixed German-Jewish marriages, and

required Jews to always wear a yellow star

In 1938, Hitler ordered Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), an organized series of attacks on Jewish people, their synagogues, and their businesses

After WWI, Japan was the strongest nation in Asia and was ready to conquer new lands in Asia and the Pacific to provide resources for Japanese industry

Emperor Hirohito gave full control of the Japanese military to Hideki Tojo, who served as a military dictator

In the 1930s, Japan, Italy, and Germany began aggressively expanding into new territories;

these actions led to World War II in 1939

Japan invaded Manchuria and northern China, then

invaded Indochina and the East Indies

Italy invaded Ethiopia and Albania

Germany annexed

Austria and Czechoslovakia

In the 1930s, Japan, Italy, and Germany began aggressively expanding into new territories; these actions led to World War II in 1939

Revamped and redone by

Christopher Jaskowiak

Originally created byBrooks Baggett