rise of totalitarian dictators. benito mussolini italy after wwi – disappointed w/ versailles...
TRANSCRIPT
Benito Mussolini
• Italy after WWI– Disappointed w/ Versailles settlement– Severe Economic crisis• War drove up expenses• Cost of living shot up 500%• Unemployment was rising• Widespread social unrest
– Upper and middle classes feared unrestmight lead to Communism
Mussolini Seizes Power
• Mussolini organized war veterans– Known as Black Shirts– Roamed the streets beating up
Communists• Fascists won support from the middle
class, aristocracy and the industrialists• By 1922, Mussolini was named Prime
Minister– Effectively taking power from King Victor
Emmanuel III– By 1924, he is known as Il Duce
Italy under Il Duce• Democracy was removed
– All political parties were abolished– Press was censored– Secret police clamped down on all
opposition• Mussolini believed business owners
and workers must be forced to cooperate– Set up 22 state corp. to run all parts of
Italy’s economy• Strikes were against the law
• Both Franco in Spain and Hitler in Germany would borrow ideas from Mussolini
Stalin’s Rise to Power
• Born in Georgia– Southern border of the
Russian empire• Changed his name to Stalin,
means “man of steel”– Cold, hard, and impersonal– Beaten by his father– Low self-esteem because of
his looks
Became leader of Russia in 1928
• He believed that foreign enemies would attack the Soviet Union (since 1922)– Felt Russia needed to
modernize or be taken over
Industrial Revolution
• Five-Year Plan for development of USSR– Desired growth in all parts of the country– Set specific goals for each industry
• Goals were high • Economists thought them to be impossible
– Government took control of production• Decided who worked, where they worked, how long
– Secret police imprisoned or executed those who didn’t contribute
– 1st and 2nd Five-Year Plans produced great results• USSR was becoming an industrial power
Agricultural Revolution
• 1928, privately owned farms were abolished– There were 25 million small
farms in 1928• Replaced with collective farms– Worked by hundreds of families– Equipped w/ modern machinery– Eventually produce more food
w/ fewer people
Agricultural Revolution
• Peasants resisted change– 5-10 million peasants died– Millions were shipped to
Siberia– Farmers horded and
destroyed their crops and livestock• 1931 and 1932, one of the greatest famines in the countries history
– 1938, 90% of all peasants lived on collective farms• Produced about as much wheat as it had in 1928
– Before collectivization
Stalin turns against his own Party
• 1936-1938, tried and executed millions of people– Old Bolsheviks from Lenin’s Era– Others were tried as well
• People who had friends in foreign counties• Factory and farm managers• Second in command and most loyal advisor
Germany and Adolf Hitler
• No country suffered more after WWI than Germany– Factories stopped production– Banks closed– 1932, 40% unemployment– Upper & middle classes
turned to Fascism known as Nazism
Nazism• Blamed the Treaty of Versailles for
Germany’s troubles• Condemned democracy as a foreign
system– Forced on them by Allied Powers
• Declared economic problems stem from– Losing it’s European territories and
colonies– The burden of reparations to France
and GB• Believed that Germany must regain
its military power
Hitler’s Rise to Power
• Born in a small town in Austria in 1889
• Dropped out of High School• Moved to Vienna to study
art & architecture– Lived an aimless life– Lived in hotels and did odd jobs
Hitler’s Rise to Power
• WWI broke out– Volunteered for the German army– Fought well and twice won the
Iron Cross• WWI ended and Hitler went to
Munich– Joined National Socialist German
Workers’ Party• called Nazis for short• Adopted the swastika in 1920• Set up private army called the Storm
Troopers or SA
Hitler becomes Fuhrer of the Nazi’s
• Public speaking– less polished than Mussolini– filled with hatred– He would began his speech
in a normal voice, get louderand louder as anger swelled up. Finally, he would seem to lose all self-control. His face would puff with rage, his voice would rise to a screech, and his hands would flail around in the air. Then he would suddenly stop, smooth his hair, and calm again.
Hitler takes control of Germany
• Nazis became the largest party in Germany during the Depression of the 1930’s
• 1933 Germany’s president named Hitler chancellor– Hitler’s first act as chancellor
was to call for new Reichstag (parliament) elections• someone set fire to the
Reichstag building just days before the elections– the Nazis blamed the Communists
• Nazis won a majority of the seats– Due to “Communist
sabotage”– Nazi storm troopers at
voting centers
The Revolution begins
• Nazis excluded Communists from Reichstag• Passed the Enabling Act
– gave Hitler the right to make laws for the next 4 years without the approval of the Reichstag
– gave Hitler his dictatorship• Banned competing political parties• Ruled through his secret police, the
Gestapo• By mid 1930’s, concentration camps had
been set up to jail anyone who had opposing political ideas– Later “Final Solution”