World War II

Part 1:

The Rise Of Nazi Germany

Benito Mussolini

• Mussolini fought in World War I.• In March 1919, he formed the

Fascist Party .• On October 28, 1922, the Fascists

undertook their famous “March on Rome.”

• Mussolini’s followers occupied the capital.

• Fascists achieved their first parliamentary majority by using violent tactics of intimidation to secure votes.

• Mussolini destroyed political parties and made Italy into a one-party dictatorship.

Adolf Hitler

• Adolf Hitler was born in Austria.

• Joined the German army in World War I.

• Believed in the racial superiority of the Aryan (German) people and was committed to providing Lebensraum (living space) for his “master race.”

Nazi Party

• After WW1, Hitler entered politics by joining the National Socialists Party (Nazi), and soon took over the party.

• In 1923, Hitler and the Nazi’s tried to overthrow government, but failed and Hitler sent to jail.

• Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) while in jail.

Mein Kampf Quotes

• “The worst danger is that we are interrupting the natural selection process ourselves (by caring for the sick and the weak).”

• “The [Nazi party] should not become a constable of public opinion, but must dominate it. It must not become a servant of the masses, but their master!”

• “...the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew.”

Chancellor Adolf Hitler

• Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 through legal means.

• Hitler claimed Germany was on verge of Communist revolution and persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg and the Reichstag (Parliament) to consent to a series of emergency laws, which Nazis used to establish themselves in power.

• Hitler removed all political parties of Germany except the Nazi party.

• Within two months, Germany was a police state and Hitler was dictator.

The Third Reich

• Hitler was dictator now, was called the “Führer”

• Goal was the unite all German speaking lands.

• Three goals for the Nazi state: Lebensraum, rearmament, and economic recovery.

• Hitler started to round up Jews and placing them in Ghettos and eventually concentration camps.

• For the next six year, Germany began building an army worthy of the new Reich.

Propaganda

• Joseph Goebbels was Reich Minister of Propaganda.

• German audience continually reminded of struggle of the Nazi Party and greatness of German culture.

• “Heroic Art” portrayed only Aryan men as heroic and strong.

• Hitler was glorified like a God. • Jews were depicted as animals or

evil monsters.

Jewish “Problem”

• By beginning of 1939, Nazi policy focused on promoting the “emigration” of Jews from Germany.

• Heinrich Himmler and the SS shared Hitler’s racial ideology.

• Reinhard Heydrich given responsibility for what Nazis called their Final Solution to the Jewish problem – extermination.

Jewish “Problem”

• After defeat of Poland, Heydrich ordered special strike forces to round up all Polish Jews and concentrate them in ghettos.

• Eventually, death squads entered the ghettos. Their job was to round up as many Jews as possible and execute them.

• Often times, the Jews dug their own graves before they were executed.

• As many as one million Jews were killed through this fashion, but was soon perceived as inadequate.

• Nazis opted for the systematic annihilation of Jews in specially built death camps.

Hitler Makes His Move

• In March 1938, German forces marched in Austria, they were cheered by Austrians.

• European leaders sought to avoid war through appeasement. • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier had

conference with Hitler in Munich. • Hitler demanded the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, they agreed.• Hitler “promised” for no more expansion.

Czechoslovakia Seized

• Six months after Munich Conference, Hitler occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia.

• Seizure finally showed that Hitler’s demands were not limited to German speaking areas but instead determined by the need for Lebensraum (living space) for the “Master Race.”

• Obvious Poland was Hitler’s next target.

• On March 31, 1939, Britain and France extended a formal guarantee to support Poland in the event of a German attack.

• Mussolini took advantage of the European situation by invading Albania on April 1939.

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

• The Soviet Union potentially faced war on two fronts against Germany in the west and Japan in the east.

• On August 23, 1939 the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed.

• Agreement consisted of a 10-year nonaggression pact.

• Partitioning of Eastern Europe between both nations.

• USSR will supply vast quantities of raw materials to Germany in exchange for military technology and finished good.

Neutrality• “This nation will remain a

neutral nation…”• Neutrality Act (1935) passed

by Congress. It prohibited American munitions sales to any nations at war.

• The message was clear: the United States would take care of its own problems; Europe should do the same.