CHAPTER 14 SECTION 1 DICTATORS OF WAR

CHAPTER 14 SECTION 1 DICTATORS OF WAR

• THE EFFECTS OF WWI AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION TOUCHED ALMOST EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD – LED TO THE RISE OF A NEW KIND OF BRUTAL DICTATORSHIP – THE TOTALITARIAN STATE – WOULD DESTROY THE PEACE ESTABLISHED AFTER WORLD WAR I AND SPARK A NEW EVEN DEADLIER GLOBAL CONFLICT

• NOVEMBER 1918 –WORLD WAR I ENDED WHEN GERMANY SURRENDERED TO THE ALLIES

• 1919 – DELEGATES FROM 27 NATIONS MET IN VERSAILLES TO COME UP WITH THE PEACE AGREEMENT – THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES – BRITAIN, FRANCE AND THE U.S. HAD THE MOST SAY IN MOST OF THE DECISIONS – GERMANY RESENTED IT MOST BECAUSE IT WAS THE ROUGHEST ON THEM

• ITALY AND JAPAN – BOTH MEMBERS OF THE ALILES – DID NOT LIKE THE TREATY EITHER – DID NOT GET AS MUCH LAND AS THEY WANTED

• “THE WAR TO END ALL WARS” - AS WOODROW WILSON CALLED WWI – LEFT BEHIND BITTERNESS, ANGER, FRUSTRATION AND DESPAIR AND A DESIRE FOR REVENGE

• MANY NATIONS EMBRACED REPRESSIVE DICTATORSHIPS AND TOTALITARIANISM – A THEORY OF GOVERNMENT IN WHICH A SINGLE PARTY OR LEADER CONTROLS THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIVES OF ITS PEOPLE

• TOTALITARIANISM IS MORE EXTREME THAN A SIMPLE DICTATORSHIP – TOTALITARIANISM RESULTED BECAUSE OF THE DESTRUCTION AND BITTERNESS LEFT BEHIND BY WORLD WAR I AND THE DESPERATION CAUSED BY THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Totalitarianism

Characteristics of a Totalitarian State1. SINGLE PARTY DICTATORSHIP EXERTING CONTROL OVER ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE2. STRONG, CHARISMATIC LEADER OFTEN AT HEAD OF GOVERNMENT3. STATE CONTROL OF THE ECONOMY4. USE OF POLICE, SPIES AND TERROR TO ENFORCE THE WILL OF THE STATE5. GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF THE MEDIA AND USE OF PROPAGANDA TO INDOCTRINATE CITIZENS6. USE OF SCHOOLS AND YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS TO SPREAD IDEOLOGY TO CHILDREN7. STRICT CENSORSHIP OF ARTISTS, INTELLECTUALS AND POLITICAL RIVALS WITH DISSENTING OPINIONS

Soviet Union & Italy

THE 1917 COMMUNIST REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA INAUGURATED THE FIRST TOTALITARIAN STATE – VLADIMIR LENIN – CREATED THE BEGINNINGS OF A TOTALITARIAN SYSTEM OF CONTROL TO MAINTAIN POWER – RESULTED IN CIVIL WAR, STARVATION, FAMINE AND THE DEATH OF MILLIONS OF RUSSIANS


JOSEPH STALIN – TOOK CONTROL OF RUSSIA AFTER LENIN'S DEATH IN 1924 – STALIN WAS CRUEL, SUSPICIOUS, RUTHLESS AND TYRANNICAL – DID NOT THINK TWICE ABOUT KILLING RIVALS OR SENTENCING INNOCENT PEOPLE TO DEATH

Soviet Union & Italy• STALIN'S EFFORTS TO TRANSFORM THE SOVIET UNION INTO AN INDUSTRIAL POWER AND FORM STATE-RUN COLLECTIVE FARMS RESULTED IN THE DEATHS OF ABOUT 10 MILLION PEOPLE

• DURING THE GREAT TERROR STALIN PURGED THE COMMUNIST PARTYOF REAL OR SUSPECTED TRAITORS IN THE 1930S – ORDERING THE DEATHS OR IMPRISONMENT OF UP TO A MILLION PEOPLE – ALSO INCLUDED MOST THE HIGHER OFFICERS OF THE RED ARMY


A COMBINATION OF FEAR AND MASSIVE PROPAGANDA KEPT STALIN IN POWER

Soviet Union & Italy• ITALIAN TOTALITARIANISM WAS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE WAR AND PEACE TREATIES – ITALY DID NOT GET THE LAND ALONG THE ADRIATIC COAST IT HAD HOPED TO OBTAIN FROM THE DIVISION OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

• THE POSTWAR ECONOMIC DEPRESSION MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR RETURNING VETERANS TO FIND JOBS, A COMMUNIST MOVEMENT WAS GROWING AND THE GOVERNMENT SEEMED WEAK

Soviet Union & Italy• BENITO MUSSOLINI – FOUNDED THE FASCIST PARTY – A RIGHT WING ORGANIZATION THAT TRUMPETED NATIONALISM AND PROMISED TO MAKE ITALY GREAT AGAIN

• FOLLOWERS OF MUSSOLINI – KNOWN AS BLACKSHIRTS – FOUGHT AGAINST SOCIALISTS AND COMMUNISTS – THE ITALIAN KING ASKED MUSSOLINI TO FORM A GOVERNMENT BECAUSE HE FEARED A REVOLUTION – MUSSOLINI CALLED HIMSELF “IL DUCE” - MEANING “THE LEADER”


•MUSSOLINI: 1. OUTLAWED POLITICAL PARTIES 2. TOOK OVER THE PRESS 3. CREATED A SECRET POLICE 4. ORGANIZED YOUTH GROUPS TO INDOCTRINATE THE YOUNG 5. SUPPRESSED STRIKES 6. OPPOSED LIBERALISM AND SOCIALISM

• MUSSOLINI'S HOLD OVER ITALY WAS NEVER AS POWERFUL AS STALIN'S GRIP ON THE SOVIET UNION

Leaders in Germany & Japan• AFTER WORLD WAR I GERMANY BECAME A DEMOCRACY – THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC – STRUGGLED THROUGHOUT THE 1920S TO ESTABLISH A FUNCTIONAL DEMOCRACY – GERMANY WAS BESET BY SEVERE ECONOMIC TROUBLES IN THE 1920S – INCLUDING INFLATION

• WEIMAR REPUBLIC WAS ALSO IN BAD SHAPE BECAUSE OF ANGER OVER THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND INTERNAL DISUNITY

Leaders in Germany & Japan

THE GREAT DEPRESSION HIT THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC HARD – ANTIDEMOCRATIC PARTIES ON THE RIGHT – ESPECIALLY THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST GERMAN WORKERS‘ PARTY OR - NAZI PARTY – THREATENED THE REPUBLIC


NAZIS WERE NOT SOCIALISTS – THEY OPPOSED SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM OR ANY OTHER “ISM” THAT PROMOTED CLASS INTERESTS OR WORKERS‘ RIGHTS ABOVE GERMAN ETHNIC SOLIDARITY


ADOLF HITLER – LEADER OF THE NAZI PARTY – FORMERLY A FAILED ARTIST, A WOUNDED AND DECORATED WORLD WAR I SOLDIER AND A PERSON WHO WAS ON THE BRINK OF MADNESS


HITLER JOINED THE NAZI PARTY AFTER THE WAR AND SOON GAINED CONTROL OF IT – WHILE IN PRISON AFTER THE PARTY ATTEMPTED A REBELLION HE WROTE MEIN KAMPF - “MY STRUGGLE” - IN WHICH HE STATED HIS EXPLANATIONS FOR THE PROBLEMS FACING GERMANY


HITLER CRITICIZED MANY PEOPLE, POLITICAL PROGRAMS AND IDEOLOGIES BUT HIS SHARPEST ASSAULTS WERE AGAINST COMMUNISTS AND JEWS – HE WAS ANTI-SEMITIC – PREJUDICED AGAINST JEWISH PEOPLE

Leaders in Germany & JapanANTI-SEMITISM HAD TROUBLED EUROPE FOR CENTURIES MOTIVATED BY RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE AND ECONOMIC RESENTMENT – LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY – NEW PSUEDO-SCIENTIFIC THEORIES ABOUT JEWS AS A RACE – ALONG WITH THE RISE OF NATIONALISM – CAUSED JEWS TO BE MARGINALIZED AS ETHNIC OUTSIDERS


• HITLER STATED THAT THE GREATEST THREAT FACING GERMANY WAS THE JEWISH PEOPLE – IN MEIN KAMPF HITLER PRESENTED A BLUEPRINT OF HIS HATREDS AND PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION


• THE PRESIDENT OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC (Paul von Hindenburg) APPOINTED HITLER CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY – IN TWO YEARS HITLER BECAME BOTH PRESIDENT AND CHANCELLOR AND RULED UNCHECKED BY THE REICHSTAG – THE GERMAN PARLIAMENT – BY 1935 THE DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC WERE SILENCED AND HITLER SPOKE ALONE AS THE VOICE OF GERMANY


HITLER WAS THE SYMBOL OF HIS TOTALITARIAN REGIME – AIDED BY SECRET POPLICE THAT CRUSHED ALL OPPOSITION, A STATE CONTROLLED PRESS THAT PRAISED HIS ACCOMPLISHMENT AND A STATE CONTROLLED EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM THAT INDOCTRINATED THE YOUNG


• BY THE LATE 1930S HITLER'S ECONOMIC POLICIES, INCLUDING REARMAMENT AND MASSIVE PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS HAD ENDED THE DEPRESSION IN GERMANY – HIS POLITICAL INITIATIVES RESTRICTED FREEDOM AND HE OPENLY ATTACKED JEWISH PEOPLE, COMMUNISTS AND SOCIALISTS


• 1920S JAPAN – THE GOVERNMENT REDUCED THE POWER OF THE MILITARY, PASSED LAWS TO GIVE ALL MEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE, LEGALIZED TRADE UNIONS AND ALLOWED SEVERAL DIVERSE POLITICAL PARTIES TO BE ESTABLISHED – ENDED WHEN THE DEPRESSION DISCREDITED JAPAN'S CIVILIAN LEADERS I N THE 1930S


• MILITARY LEADERS ARGUED THAT EXPANSION THROUGHOUT ASIA WOULD SOLVE JAPAN'S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND GUARANTEE FUTURE SECURITY

• JAPAN DID NOT BECOME A TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP – IT CONTINUED AS A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY HEADED BY AN EMPEROR

Leaders in Germany & Japan• JAPAN STARTED ON A COURSE OF AGGRESSIVE MILITARY EXPANSION – ATTACHED MANCHURIA AND ESTABLISHED A PUPPET STATE – CONTROLLED ITS DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLICIES AND ITS NATURAL RESOURCES

• JAPAN MOVED AGAINST CHINA – GAINING CONTROL OVER MAJOR CHINESE RAILROAD LINKS AND COASTAL AREAS – IN NANKING JAPANESE SOLDIERS WERE BRUTAL – MURDERING MORE THAN 200,000 AND BURNING A LARGE SECTION OF THE CITY – BECAME KNOWN AS THE “RAPE OF NANKING”

Italian & German Aggression

ITALY AND GERMANY RESORTED TO ACTS OF AGGRESSION SIMILAR TO JAPAN – NEITHER THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS NOR DEMOCRATIC NATIONS SUCCEEDED IN STOPPING THE AGGRESSION


• HITLER FOCUSED ON RESTORING GERMANY'S STRENTH AND NULLIFYING THE PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES – HE REBUILT THE GERMAN ECONOMY AND DRAMATICALLY ENLARGED THE ARMY, NAVY AND AIR FORCE IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE TREATY

• HE BEGAN TO MOVE TOWARD HIS GOAL OF REUNIFYING ALL GERMANIC PEOPLE INTO ONE REICH ( OR STATE )

• HE WANTED LEBENSRAUM ( LIVING SPACE ) – FOR THE GERMAN PEOPLE – HE SENT TROOPS INTO THE RHINELAND – THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS DID NOTHING


1935 – MUSSOLINI INVADED ITALY FASCISTS WERE ALSO SUCCESSFUL IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR – THE NATIONALISTS REBELLED AGAINST THE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT – BOTH HITLER AND MUSSOLINI SENT TROOPS TO AID FRANCISCO FRANCO – LEADER OF THE NATIONALISTS

Appeasement

THE POLICY THAT FRANCE AND BRITAIN PURSUED AGAINST AGGRESSIVE NATIONS DURING THE 1930S – MEANS A POLICY OF GRANTING CONCESSIONS TO A POTENTIAL ENEMY IN THE HOPE THAT IT WILL MAINTAIN PEACE – ONLY SPURRED THE FASCIST LEADERS TO BECOME MORE BOLD AND AGGRESSIVE

Appeasement

APPEASED FASCISTS BECAUSE WORLD WAR I WAS SO HORRIBLE THAT SOME LEADERS VOWED NEVER TO ALLOW ANOTHER SUCH WAR TO BREAK OUT – SOME LEADERS BELIEVED THAT THE SOVIET UNION POSED A GREATER THREAT THAN NAZI GERMANY – MAINTAINED THAT A STRONG GERMANY PROVIDE A BUFFER AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION

Appeasement

US PLAYED A BIG ROLE IN THE POLICY OF APPEASEMENT – FDR PURSUED A GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY WITH LATIN AMERICA AND IMPROVED RELATIONS WITH THE SOVIET UNION – DID NOT TAKE A FORCEFUL LINE AGAINST GERMANY – EMBRACED ISOLATIONISM

Appeasement• SPRING 1938 – HITLER BROUGHT AUSTRIA INTO HIS REICH – AUSTRIA HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO ACCEPT THE UNION – CALLED ANSCHLUSS

• HITLER THEN TURNED TOWARD THE SUDETENLAND – A PORTION IN WESTERN CZECHOSLOVAKIA THAT WAS LARGELY POPULATED BY ETHNIC GERMANS

Appeasement

BRITAIN AND FRANCE APPEASED GERMANY AT THE MUNICH CONFERENCE – MEETING BETWEEN HITLER, NEVILL CHAMBERLAIN AND EDOUARD DALADIER – SACRAFICED THE SUDETENLAND – CHAMBERLAIN TOLD A CHEERING CROWD THAT THE MUNICH PACT – THE AGREEMENT REACHED AT THE CONFERENCE – HAD PRESERVED “PEACE FOR OUR TIME” - HE WAS WRONG – IT POSTPONED WWII FOR 11 MONTHS

Documents

CHAPTER 14 SECTION 1 DICTATORS OF WAR