3. The Rise of Dictators
1920s-1930s
Several nations views democratic gov’ts as too weak
Turned to dictators
4. Soviet Communism
1929
Josef Stalin dictator of Soviet
Union
Made it a totalitarian state (a
nation in which a single party
controls the gov’t and every aspect
of people’s lives)
Took brutal measures to control &
modernize industry & agriculture
Peasant had to live crops, animals,
& land to gov’t run farms
Those who resisted were
executed or sent to labor camps
4 million other Soviets were killed
or imprisoned on false charges of
disloyalty
5. Fascism in Italy
Economic & social problems after WWI
Led to unrest
Benito Mussolini
Promised to restore prosperity & order
1922 Mussolini & followers threatened to
overthrow elected gov’t
King appointed Mussolini prime minister
Turned Italy into world’s 1st fascist state
(political system based on militarism,
extreme nationalism, & blind loyalty to the
state & its leaders)
Spoke of restoring Italy to time of Roman
Empire when Italy controlled Europe
Ended freedom of the press & banned all
political parties, but his
Critics were jailed or murdered
Children in school recited the motto “Mussolini
is always right”
6. Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler
Was one of many Germans mad at
WWI defeat & reparation payments
1921 Hitler became leader of National
Socialist, Nazi, Party
Nazism was a form of fascism
Racism was at core of Nazi beliefs
Hitler told Germans they were master
race
Cornerstone of racial theories was hatred of
Jews
Claimed Jews betrayed Germany in WWI
(that is why they lost); Jews & other groups
became the scapegoat
7. 1933
Hitler named chancellor of Germany (leader of parliament)
Created a totalitarian state
All other parties outlawed
Secret police enforced strict loyalty
Anti-Semitic laws passed
Jews banned from public schools & from certain professions
(medicine & law)
Jews communities were attacked
1938
Troops began sending Jews to slave labor camps (the worse
was yet to come)
8. Militarism in Japan
Great Depression undermined faith in democratic
gov’t
Military leaders pressured gov’t to take control of nearby
countries
Island nation need more space & raw materials for industries
1936
militarists completely controlled gov’t
Preached racism
Japanese were superior to other Asians & non-Asians
9. Military Aggression
Japan attacks China
1931 w/o gov’t approval Japanese army seized Manchuria
(in Northern China)
League of Nations (founded to stop aggression) protested, but
did nothing
1937 Japanese aggression increased in China
Chinese treated brutally
For 6 weeks Japanese forces pillaged Nanjing
Quarter of a million civilians & prisoners of war were
massacred
10. Italy Invades Ethiopia
1935
Mussolini’s armies invade Ethiopia
Ethiopians battled bravely but modern technology
prevailed
Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie appealed to League of
Nations for aid
Response was week
11. German Aggression
Hitler vowed to create empire to unite all German speaking
people
Began rebuilding German army (defined Treaty of Versailles)
Moved troops to Rhineland region of western Germany
1938 German armies occupy Austria
European democracies did nothing to stop him
France & Britain protest when Hitler threatened to invade
Czechoslovakia
Met w/ Hitler in Germany(Munich) to appease him
Munich Pact
Agreed to let Germany invade Sudetenland (portion of Czech. Populated
by people who spoke German)
In return Hitler promised not to seek further territory
Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) claimed he had won
peace
A few month later Hitler occupied all of Czech.
12. Neutrality Act
Passed by Congress in 1935
1st of several laws designed to keep U.S. at peace
Forbade President from selling arms, making loans, or giving
assistance to any nation involved in war
13. Good Neighbor Policy
U.S. wanted to strengthen ties to Latin America
Pres. Herbert Hover rejected Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine
U.S. no longer claimed right to intervene in Latin
American affairs
Franklin Roosevelt created Good Neighbor Policy
American troops withdrew from Nicaragua & Haiti
Also cancelled Platt Amendment (had limited independence
of Cuba)
14. War Begins in Europe
Poland was next target of Hitler
France & Britain realize appeasement failed
Would aid if invaded
Invasion of Poland
August 1939
Hitler & Stalin sign nonaggression agreement (were enemies)
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Promised not to attach each other
Secretly agreed to divide up Poland
September 1, 1939
Nazi troops invade Poland
16 days later Soviet troops seize eastern Poland & invaded Finland & later annexed
Estonia, Lithuania, & Latvia
Britain & France declared war on Germany
WWII had begun
At 1st Germany army was unstoppable
1940 Germany army seized Denmark & Norway & later the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Belgium, & moved into France
15. Fall of France
Britain sent troops to help France
Overpowered
Retreated to Dunkirk a port on the English Channel
Every British ship available was sent to rescue trapped soldiers
Germans marched on to Paris
June 22, 1940 Hitler accepted surrender of France
16. Battle of Britain
Britain stood alone against Nazi war machine
Winston Churchill was confident Britain could win
Hitler ordered air assault on Britain
Day after day assaults continued (thousands died, but
spirits never broke)
They slept in subway stations at night & cleared wreckage,
buried the dead, & tried to carry on during the day
British air force fought invading planes overhead
Battle continued for many months
Hitler abandoned plans to invade Britain
17. Invasion of the Soviet Union
June 22, 1941
Hitler broke pact w/ Stalin
German forces invade Soviet Union
Soviet Union now joined Britain in fighting Germans
Churchill & Stalin mistrusted each other, but were forced to
work together