23.1 – Dictators and War PPT NOTES

Name _________________________________ Period ____ Date _______________
23.1 – Dictators and War PPT NOTES
World War I ended when Germany surrendered to the Allies. An uneasy peace followed.
• Germans resented the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, feeling humiliated in defeat.
• Italy and Japan were angered by the treaty, expecting to receive more land as Allied victors.
• Worldwide depression brought despair to many already suffering from war.
Overwhelming problems led some to turn to a new form of government called totalitarianism.
Totalitarianism is a theory of government in which a single party or leader controls the economic, social,
and cultural lives of its people.
1

Totalitarian governments developed in several countries during the 1930s.
Country Leader
Soviet Union Joseph Stalin
Italy Benito Mussolini
Germany Adolf Hitler
‐Each of these countries faced crushing problems.
‐Unemployment, hunger, and homelessness were rampant.
‐Totalitarian leaders promised to bring jobs, food, and prosperity.
‐They promised to make their countries great again.
‐In reality, however, the brutal tactics used by totalitarian leaders resulted in the deaths of millions of
people.
The Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin took control of the Soviet Union following the death of Vladimir Lenin.
• Attempted to turn the Soviet Union into an industrial power
• Forced people to work in factories and on state‐run farms
• Killed or imprisoned suspected traitors during the Great Terror
• Ruled through fear and massive propaganda
Stalin consolidated his power and introduced his Five Year Plan to concentrate on the development of
iron and steel, machine‐tools, electric power and transportation with high quotas to be reached; those
who did not reach those goals would be executed or sent to Siberia
Stalin would target the farmers who were given larger tracts of lands to produce more and they were
called “kulaks”
Italy
Another totalitarian regime formed in Italy.
‐The government seemed unable to deal with the country’s many problems.
‐Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist Party.
‐Mussolini and his followers, the Black Shirts, fought to gain power.
2

Mussolini, called Il Duce (the leader), took control of the government, using secret police to
maintain control.
1. unhappy over what land it gained from the Treaty of Versailles, Benito Mussolini forms the Black
Shirts in 1921 as a political party and gain seats in Italy’s Parliament
2. led the Black Shirts with a March on Rome in 1922 seizing government offices and the king
trying to avoid bloodshed struck a deal with Mussolini making him prime minister
3. Mussolini forms a coalition to control Parliament; uses violence and intimidation for his fascists
to make gains, and even has his main opponent murdered
4. In 1926, after an unsuccessful assassination attempt outlaws all other parties, free press, and
creates a secret police
5. 5. sides with the fascists under Francisco Franco in Spain against the loyalists in Spain’s Civil
War and makes the Rome‐Berlin Axis with Hitler
Germany
In Germany, the Weimar Republic struggled with overwhelming economic and social problems.
Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, was appointed chancellor.
Hitler seized power and created a totalitarian state.
Hitler rebuilt the nation’s army. His economic policies put people back to work. Many cheered his
success.
Yet Hitler ruled with unlimited power.
• Controlled the press and education system
• Used propaganda to boost his popularity
• Used the secret police to silence opposition
Violently anti‐Semitic, Hitler openly attacked Jews, blaming them for all of the country’s problems.
3
a. the Nazi party
b. led by an Austrian, Adolf Hitler
c. he would try to lead an insurrection in Munich at a Bavarian Beer Hall and fail; arrested and sent
to jail while in jail he would recite his ideas and future of Germany in a book that would be later
called Mein Kampf where he would give explicit details of how he would lead Germany into its
greatest days and a thousand year Reich

Japan
d. he would express lebensraum or living space for Germans
e. racist views were prevalent where he expressed Aryan supremacy and anti‐Semitism
f. later when he would lead Germany, it would be mandatory for every German to read and
possess it
g. h) after Hitler’s release he vowed he would lead Germany through elected means
h. i) in 1933 Hitler will be elected Chancellor of Germany where he will begin to implement his
dictatorship
i. j) his first act is a proclamation for the Germans to boycott Jewish businesses
j. k) that same year he pulls Germany out of the League of Nations
Japan did not become a totalitarian dictatorship, but it did come under the influence of strong military
leaders.
These leaders attempted to solve their country’s economic problems through aggressive military
conquests.
1. with a demand for more resources, Japanese military leaders under Hideki Tojo usurped power
from Hirohito and sought to gain more territory
2. in 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria
3. League of Nations condemns attack; Japan quits the League
4. US under Sec’t of State Robert Stimson issues a doctrine where US refuses to acknowledge the
new Japan conquers Manchuria and renames it Manchukuo
5. In 1937 Japan wages a war with China
6. Panay incident where US gunboat was shot at by Japan in China; Japan apologizes
7. Japan will be part of the tripartite agreement with Germany and Italy forming an axis
8. relations with the US thaw in late thirties over China
9. Japanese possession
Japanese Expansion, 1931‐1939
‐Japan invaded Manchuria, then China.
‐The attack on Nanjing was especially brutal.
4

Acts of Aggression in Europe and Asia
Germany • rebuilt military
• reclaimed Saar region from France
• invaded the Rhineland
• Anschluss (the union in which Hitler
forced Austria to become part of
Germany’s territory
• invaded the Sudetenland
Italy • invaded Ethiopia
Spain • Fascists rebel against the
government
Japan • conquered Manchuria and parts of
China
A weak League of Nations did little to stop the aggression of the totalitarian states or of Japan.
• Many feared involvement in another war.
• Some believed the Soviet Union posed a greater threat than Nazi Germany.
• Others questioned the resolve of their own country and their allies, and embraced a
policy of isolationism.
The appeasement of Hitler continued with the Munich
‐Appeasement is the policy of granting concessions to a potential enemy in the hope that it will
maintain peace
‐The Munich Pact was an agreement in which Britain and France attempted to preserve peace
by allowing Hitler to take more territory
Britain and France sacrificed the Sudetenland to Germany in return for peace.
But peace was not to come.
5