The Rise of Totalitarianism and the Path to

WWII

Totalitarianism 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

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

Benito Mussolini 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 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 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 day-to-day running of Japan in the years before WWII

The Manchurian Incident

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

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

Germany

The Weimar Republic 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 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 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

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

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

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 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

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

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!)

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

August 1939

Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression (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

American Isolationism

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

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

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 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

Roosevelt’s Internationalism

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 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

Destroyers for Bases Deal

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 British-controlled 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

FDR’s “Four Freedoms” Speech

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 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

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 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