Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism describes the type of dictatorship that arose in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. Totalitarian dictatorships in (Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia) were responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War.

Totalitarianism continued

Totalitarianism (whether communist or fascist) has certain characteristics:

1. A single leader with absolute power 2. Intolerance for other political ideologies

3. Use of secret police to terrorize the

population 4. Denial of citizens human rights 5. Use of censorship and propaganda to control the populations thinking

Think Pair and Share

What do you know about the words Fascism and Nazism? Think to your study of The Book Thief to help guide your thinking.

Italy
Following the Paris Peace Conference, Italy was mad about how little they received for fighting on the Allies side considering the large number of casualties they had sustained Furthermore, many Italians viewed their new democracy as a weak and ineffective form of government and blamed it for the poor hand they were dealt out of the peace conference

Mussolini

Benito Mussolini formed the Fascisti party which was hyper-nationalist after failing to attain power legally, led his paramilitary Blackshirts in a March on Rome demanding power be turned over to Mussolini

Mussolini Says
Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, Inactivity is death. and an infinite scorn in our hearts. It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a It is humiliating to remain consciousness of their with our hands folded mission and welds them while others write history. War is to man what into unity. It matters little who wins. maternity is to a To make a people great it woman. From a is necessary to send them philosophical and to battle even if you have doctrinal viewpoint, I to kick them in the pants. do not believe in That is what I shall do. perpetual peace.

Write

a sentence which encapsulates the selected quotes into an ideology

Inactivity is death.

It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while consciousness of their others write history. It matters mission and welds them into unity. little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall

Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts.

War is to man what maternity is to a woman. From a philosophical and doctrinal viewpoint, I do not believe in perpetual peace.

Mussolinis goals

Mussolinis belief was that the goal of fascism was to fight a war of conquest. In 1935, he invaded Ethiopia in order to fulfill the goal which caused a crisis for the League of Nations.

Germany
The German military government that succeeded the Kaiser installed a democracy hoping that it would help them find favour with the Americans The German people hated the Treaty of Versailles and, at best, thought their new democratic government (The Weimar Republic) would be too weak to lead the people

Think, Pair and Share

Why did both Italy and Germany think a democratic government might be too weak? To what extent do you agree?

Economic downfall of Weimar

Inflation
Germany struggled to pay off their huge war

debt and in 1923 ended up failing to make payments. The French and Belgians occupied the Ruhr Valley (the heart of Germanys industry) and the already inflated economy hit hyper-inflation which destroyed the middle class

The Great Depression

After the inflation crisis, Germany started to

recover but in 1929, the entire western world went into the biggest economic depression in its history. Unemployment skyrocketed and as desperation mounted, radical political parties gained in popularity.

The Little Corporal

Hitler had been a corporal in WWI and remembered fondly his time in the military.

Hitlers Struggle

After the war, he became the leader of the tiny NAZI party and under his leadership, the party came to take on his particular ideology (as spelled out in his prison work, Mein Kampf)
Extreme Nationalism Anti-Democratic and Anti-Communist

Anti-Semitic
Military Restoration

Question to consider

To what extent was Hitlers rise to power based on his own charisma and leadership or based on circumstances?

Hitlers rise to power

During the first inflation crisis, Hitler tried to lead a military coup from Munich (The Beer Hall Putsch) but he ultimately failed and was imprisoned

Hitlers rise to power

As the Great Depression worsened and the citizens of Germany became more desperate, they looked to the far ends of the political spectrum for answers to their problems

Hitlers rise to power

Hitler won a plurality (the most seats, but not a majority) in early 1932 and was not asked to form a government Violence between the communists and the Nazis accelerated and more and more middle class Germans looked to the Nazis to keep the communists from power. Late in 1932, Hitler won another election and was asked to form a government

Burning down the Reichstag

In early 1933, Hitlers attempts at consolidating his power were going nowhere. During another election campaign, a communist allegedly burnt down the Reichstag building and Hitler used this to get emergency powers (the Enabling Act). He was now effectively an all-powerful dictator.

Question to consider

To what extent was Hitlers rise to power based on his own charisma and leadership or based on circumstances?

Nazi Germany

Hitler now had no legal barriers to any program he wanted to follow

In June 1934, he had around 1000 people

murdered for being personal or political enemies (The Night of the Long Knives) Between 1933 and 1939, Hitler pushed through the Nuremburg Laws which targeted the Jews
Had to wear a Star of David as ID Lost their professional careers and property

Were forced to live in ghettos

Lost their citizenship

Nazi Germany continued

The Nuremburg Laws culminated in the Holocaust, but the last warning given the Jews before the war broke out was on Nov. 9, 1938 when the Nazis encouraged people to attack the Jews and their property. Many people lost their livelihoods, were beaten in public, and were imprisoned. This was called Kristallnacht.

Think, Pair and Share

Why did Hitler want a scapegoat? Why the Jews?

Nazi Germany continued

Human rights were abolished The Gestapo (secret police) grew in power and had a free hand to keep Hitler in power Hitler ignored the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and rearmed Germany at a very rapid pace

Soviet Russia

Stalin came to power in 1928 and changed the course of the Soviet Union. In some ways, he is the most extreme of the 3 dictators we looked at today

Stalins 5 year plans

His biggest goal was to modernize (ie industrialize) the backwards Russian economy and he used extreme methods to achieve this goal
Collectivized all the farmland which forcibly

displaced thousands of kulaks (wealthy peasants) and turned the rest of the peasantry into state employees Invested massively in heavy industry (steel, coal, munitions, railroads, airports) at the expense of light industry (consumer goods) Brutally suppressed any opposition including a purge of the Red Armymillions were killed