Conditions that enabled dictators to rise to power and features of dictatorships

Question 1

Conditions in Russia…

Answer 1

• economic weakness both industrial and agricultural caused by Tsar ruling
• discontented population seeking change.
• The Bolsheviks, featuring Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky, successfully led the 1917 Russian Revolution and promised reform under the Communist banner.
• Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks, promoted ‘Peace, Bread and Land’
• To get peace he signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which formally withdrew Russia from WWI although this favoured Germany and cost Russia.
• After the war, there was widespread poverty.
• A civil war broke out between the bolsheviks and their enemies the Whites. The Bolsheviks enacted ‘War Communism’ to fund the civil war and famine and poverty increased.
• Stalin used his position as General Secretary to begin his rise, as it allowed him to appoint and remove people from positions within the Party, so he filled the party with sycophants and people who owed him favours.
• When Lenin died in 1924, there was a struggle for leadership and Stalin used control of the the people he’d appointed to exile his main opponent Trotsky and outmanoeuvred opposition to become leader.
• He used propaganda to link himself to Lenin’s legacy and began building a cult of personality.

Question 1

Features of Russian dictatorship…

Answer 1

• authoritarian dictatorship, first Lenin then Stalin
• Strong leadership
• One political party (Communist Party)
• Individual rights/freedoms sacrificed for the State
• Fear and terror used (e.g. purges and sent to gulags in siberia) through the secret police NKVD
• propaganda and cult of personality
• Five Year Plans to improve Russia’s industry and economy
  show trials of suspected opponents used as propaganda to intensify purges
• Collectivisation of farms and seizure of factories for the State.

Question 2

Conditions in Italy…

Answer 2

• WWI had a devastating effect on Italy.
• Huge debt and declining agricultural sector and industrial strikes in 1919 led to rampant inflation and an economic downturn.
• False promises of the Paris Peace Conference as Italy did not receive promised territory and many Italians yearned for national unity and strong leadership, preferred authoritarian rule
• political instability
• In response to increase in communism, nationalism boomed. The Fascio di Combattimento was formed by Benito Mussolini
• Mussolini’s charisma gained him public support
• propaganda and success of March on Rome showed power and support of Fascists.
• The king (Victor Emmanuel) asked Mussolini to form a government due to rising fears of communism and the fascists had the support of the catholic church .

Question 3

Features of Italian dictatorship…

Answer 3

• Authoritarian leader, Il Duce
• elimination of opposition
• anti-communist and anti-democratic
• focus on improvement of economy
• fear and terror through the all-volunteer paramilitary Blackshirts
• expansion- invasion of Abyssinia, and Rome-Berlin axis with germany, pledging to work on foreign policy together

Question 4

Conditions in Japan…

Answer 4

• post- war instability and corruption
• 1920s economic struggle
• Industrial strikes and rice riots led to collapse of banks in 1927
• great depression hit Japan hard, worsened by the tariffs, trade restrictions and embargoes and collapse of the silk industry.
• also stressed by limited natural resources and growing population
• Imperial Japanese Army didn’t answer to the government, only to the emperor.
• Manchuria invasion 18 September 1931 saw the Japanese Military go rogue and this showed the weakness of civilian leaders and military strength
  General Tojo became increasingly influential and surrounded himself with supporters
• The military became increasingly dominant within the government and led to the invasion of China in 1937.
• Tojo then became PM in 1941.

Question 5

Features of Japanese dictatorship…

Answer 5

• Military leader Tojo ruled in the name of the Emperor
• political assassinations
• militarists took control of government
• rapid industrialisation in late 1930s
• lack of resources led to expansionist policy
• expansion in China in 1931 and again in 1937