World Leaders

Saugerties Central School

District

Introduction
This presentation highlights people who
have had a great impact on the history
of the twentieth century. Their actions
have affected the lives of millions of
people through the world.

Table of Contents
Adolf Hilter
Mao Zedong
Joseph Stalin
Mohandas Gandhi
Nelson Mandela
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Adolph Hitler and Germany

Adolph Hitler
Adolph Hitler rose to power after

World War I. The Treaty of

Versailles (which ended WWI)
was harsh on Germany,
Germany were forced to pay
$33 billion in reparations
(war damages).
The Germans had to give up
their military.
Many people were out of work
and the country was having an
inflation (high prices and few
goods)
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 He was a totalitarian ruler : a dictator

who controlled every part of the
citizens lives
All political parties except the Nazi
Party were against the law
All magazines, newspapers and
books had to be approved by the
government
The Gestapo (secret police) made
sure no one expressed ideas against
Hitler or his government
Progaganda ( the spread of one
point of view) was widely used to
spread the Nazi philosophy
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Adolph Hitler

Star of David

Hitler blamed all of Germanys

problems on the Jews. They became
scapegoats ( the ones who were
blamed).
Hitler started his policy of antiSemitism (hostility against Jews)
The Jew lost their businesses,they
were told where they could work and
who they could marry
All Jews were forced to wear a yellow
Star of David on their clothes so they
could be identified.
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Hitler and the Holocaust

Gypsy couple in Belzec concentration

camp

The Holocaust is the

name given to the Nazi
attempt to wipe out the
Jews. He managed to
kill 2 /3 of all European
Jews as well as 6 million
Gypsies, Slavs, political
prisoners and the old and
mentally retarded in
concentration camps.
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World War II

Hitler used blitzkrieg (lightning warfare

to take over Poland, Denmark,Holland,
Belgium and France. He controlled mos
of Western Europe by 1940. Britain was
the only holdout. Germany joined up wit
Italy and Japan to become The Axis
Powers.
The United States, Britain and the
Soviet Union were joined as The Allied
Powers
World War II ended because of the
American victory in the Pacific and the
Soviets great manpower in Europe.
Hitler committed suicide in 1945.

Mao Zedong and China

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MAO ZEDONG
Mao Zedong (Tse-tung)
adapted Marxs ideas of
Communism (a system
where the government
controlled land and means
of production) and
implemented them in China.
The Communists and
Nationalist government (led by
Chiang Kai-Shek) had been
fighting each other for years.
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Mao and The Long March

In 1927 Mao and his Communist were defeated by Chiang

Kai-shek. They traveled 6,000 miles to northwestern China
and studied communism. The movement gained strength
and a great deal of support from the peasants who were
promised land.
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Mao Zedong
The Communists were aided with
weapons and materials from the Soviet
Union and by 1949 Mao controlled
mainland China.
The new government became known as
The Peoples Republic of China
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Mao Zedong
The Quotations of Chairman Mao
( Maos Little Red Book)
was a collection of his sayings.
Communist party members and
students were expected to memorize
quotes from the book.
Many pictures and statues of Mao
appeared throughout China
Mao continue to rule China from 1949
until his death from Parkinsons
Disease in 1976.
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Joseph Stalin and the Soviet

Union

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Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the leader
of the Communist Soviet
Union from 1924 1953.
He was a totalitarian
leader.He controlled every
part of the Soviet citizens
lives. People who opposed
his ideas were often killed or
shipped to work in labor
camps in Siberia.7 million
people disappeared during
his rule.
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Stalin
Stalin knew the Soviet Union was a 100 years
behind the developed nations . He put into
effect a number of Five Year Plans to
modernize the Soviet Union.
He set up a command economy ( the
government owned and controlled all
business and means of production).
He ruled the Soviet Union for over twenty
years and died of a stroke in 1953.
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Joseph Stalin

Soviet government photo

Stalin first stressed

developing power
plants, dams, iron and
steel mills.
He also took all private
land and formed
collective farms. The
farms were owned
and run by the
government
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Mohandas Gandhi and India

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Mohandas Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi was the leader of the
independence movement in India. He
worked with the Indian National Congress
for over 30 years to gain Indias
independence from Great Britain.
Gandhi followed a philosophy of passive
resistance. Passive resistance was a
non-violent method of protesting for
political and social changes.

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Mohandas Gandhi
Gandhi led boycotts (a
refusal to conduct
business), protests and work
stoppages against the British.

Gandhi at the spinning wheel

One of the protests Gandhi

led was to have people refuse
to buy British clothing. He
asked them to follow his
example and wear only cotton
and simple clothes made in
India.
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Gandhi and the Salt March

Gandhi and followers marching to the

sea.

Another boycott was the Salt March

in 1930. Salt was needed by
everyone but the British were the
only ones who were supposed to
make or sell it. Gandhi and some
followers marched 250 miles to the
sea. He urged people to make their
own salt. The British jailed over
60,000 people (including Gandhi) in
the following weeks for this act of
civil disobedience (a refusal to
obey government laws ).

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Gandhi with Nehru,

Indias first Prime
Minister

After World War II Britain gave India

its independence. Gandhis hoped
for a unified nation but violence
between Indias Hindus and Muslims
escalated. Two new countries were
created, India with its Hindu majority
and Pakistan with the Muslim
majority.
Strong religious differences continue
today with the Sikh religion seeking
independence in the Punjab State
Gandhi was killed by a Hindu fanatic
who objected to Gandhis effort to
keep peace between Hindus and
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Muslims

Nelson Mandela and South Africa

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Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela was a
leader of the African
National Congress
(ANC).He was jailed as
a political prisoner and
spent 26 years behind
prison walls and
became a world wide
symbol for the fight to
end apartheid.
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Apartheid was the policy of segregation practiced in South Africa. All

South Africans were classified as white, black (African) or colored (mixed
descent and Indians and Asians). The white minority was in control of the
government,had 85% of the land and 75% of the national income
Apartheid denied blacks civil and political rights. They were not allowed to
vote or live in areas where whites lived. At the age of 16 every black was
given papers.These papers had a picture, fingerprints and told if the person
was allowed in non- black areas.

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 Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa brought

world wide attention to this system and called
for a non-violent solution to the problem.
Unfortunately, many of the protests were violent,
over 1500 people were killed.
The system of apartheid was brought to an end
through economic sanctions. (Foreign
countries, including the U.S. stopped trading
and investing in South Africa).
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Nelson Mandela
In 1989 FW DeKlerk was elected
president of South Africa. He
repealed (recalled) many
discriminatory laws.
He integrated schools and
worked on suffrage ( the right to
vote) for blacks. In 1990 he
released Nelson Mandela from jail
In 1993 Nelson Mandela and FW
De Klerk received the Nobel
Peace Prize for their role in
working together to bring about a
new system of government to
South Africa
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There was a historic election in 1994. It was

the first national election that allowed all
races to vote.
Nelson Mandela was elected President of
South Africa in 1994.

June 1999 the 2nd election where all South Africans could vote

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