Dictatorships and the Second World War (1919-1945)

Question 1

NEP in USSR

Answer 1

1921. Lenin’s policy to re-establish limited economic freedom in an attempt to rebuild agriculture and industry in the face of economic disintegration.

Question 2

Mussolini gains power in Italy

Answer 2

1922
rise to power was possible due to internal issues (poor population in the South and people with local interest over national, papal officials often in conflict with the state) that were heightened by WWI.
in October 1922 march to Rome by armed Fascists.

Question 3

Mussolini seizes dictatorial powers

Answer 3

1924
Mussolini prime minister originally but due to a new electoral law and the events that followed Matteotti’s murder he became a dictator.

Question 4

Buildup of Nazi party in Germany

Answer 4

1924-1929
during his imprisonment after the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler dictated “Mein Kampf”. this stated that Germans were a superior race and racial degenerates were threatening their pure bloodline. the Germans needed Lebensraum.
after the failed coup, Hitler realized he needed to gain power through electoral competition. the great depression, collapse of democratic government and division on the left helped the Nazis to gain popularity.

Question 5

Stalin comes to power in USSR

Answer 5

1927

won party favour agains Trotsky.

Question 6

Stalin’s first Five-year plan

Answer 6

1928. the first five year plan was termed the “revolution from above” and aimed at modernizing the Soviet Union and creating a new communist society with new attitudes, new loyalties, and a new socialist humanity.

Question 7

Lateran agreement; start of collectivization in USSR

Answer 7

1929
an agreement that recognized that Vatican was an independent state, with Mussolini agreeing to give the Church heavy financial support in return for public support from the pope.
collectivization of agriculture was the forcible consolidation of individual peasant farms into large state-controlled enterprises in the Soviet Union under Stalin. it was unpopular and not very successful. industrialization went better.

Question 8

Great Depression

Answer 8

1929-1939

Question 9

Japan invades Manchuria

Answer 9

1931

Question 10

Famine in Ukraine

Answer 10

1932-1933. a man made famine that was a result of soviet policy (setting levels of grain deliveries at very high levels for Ukrainian collectives and refused to relax measures when starvation was reported).

Question 11

Hitler appointed chancellor; Reichstag passes the Enabling Act and Hitler gets absolute dictatorial power

Answer 11

1933

Question 12

Nuremberg Laws deprive Jews of citizen rights

Answer 12

1935

Question 13

start of great purges under Stalin; Spanish Civil War begins

Answer 13

1936
police terror and purging of the communist party. using Kirov’s murder as a reason Stalin launched a reign of terror to cleanse the party of supposed traitors and fascist spies. this solidified his own control. this also included two public show trials.

Question 14

Japanese army invades China

Answer 14

1937

Question 15

Kristallnacht marks the beginning of more aggressive anti-Jewish policy in Germany

Answer 15

1938

killing of Jews and destruction of their property.

Question 16

Germany occupies Czech lands and invades western Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany, starting WWII; USSR occupies eastern Poland

Answer 16

1939

Question 17

Germany defeats and occupies France; Battle fo Britain begins

Answer 17

1940
in the Battle of Britain German planes attacked British airfields and key factories on day and night to gain air superiority. soon Hitler turned to bombing civilian targets.

Question 18

Germany invades USSR; Japan attacks Pearl Harbor; USA enters the war

Answer 18

1941

Question 19

Holocaust

Answer 19

1941-1945
the systematic effort of the Nazi state to exterminate all European Jews and other groups deemed racially inferior during WWII.

Question 20

Battle of Stalingrad

Answer 20

1942-1943

Question 21

Allied invasion at Normandy

Answer 21

1944

Question 22

USSR and USA forces enter Germany; USA drops atomic bombs on Japans, WWII ends

Answer 22

1945

Question 23

Germany withdraws from the LoN

Answer 23

October 1933

Question 24

Hitler announces German rearmament

Answer 24

in March 1935 going against the Treaty of Versialles. France and Britain warned against such actions promising aggressive responses but appeasement made that impossible.

Question 25

Mussolini invades Ethiopia

Answer 25

October 1935

Question 26

Civil War in Spain

Answer 26

1936-1939

Question 27

German armies move unopposed to Rhineland

Answer 27

March 1936

Question 28

Rome-Berlin Axis created

Answer 28

October 1936. the two countries also joined in the Spanish civil war to test equipment and tactics and to get Fascist into power.

Question 29

Germany annexes Austria

Answer 29

in March 1938 right after forcing the leaders to put local Nazis in control of the government.

Question 30

Munich conference

Answer 30

September 1938, France and Britain agree to German seizure of Sudentenland from Czechoslovakia

Question 31

Germany occupies the rest of Czechoslovakia; appeasement ends in Britain

Answer 31

March 1939

Question 32

Nazi-Soviet Pact signed

Answer 32

unexpectedly in August 1939 to avoid a two-front war for Hitler and for Stalin to make claims in Eastern Europe.

Question 33

Germany invades Poland

Answer 33

September 1, 1939

Question 34

totalitarianism

Answer 34

a radical dictatorship that exercises total claims over the beliefs and behaviour of its citizens by taking control of the economic, social, intellectual, and cultural aspects of society.

Question 35

fascism

Answer 35

a movement characterized by extreme, often expansionist nationalism; anti-socialism; a dynamic and violent leader; and glorification of war and the military.

Question 36

eugenics

Answer 36

a pseudoscientific doctrine saying the selective breeding of human beings can improve the general characteristics of a national population, which helped inspire Nazi ideas about national unity and racial exclusion and ultimately contributed to the Holocaust.

Question 37

kulaks

Answer 37

the better+off peasants who were stripped of land and livestock under Stalin and were generally not permitted to join collective farms; many of them starved or were deported to forced labor camps for re-education.

Question 38

life and culture in USSR

Answer 38

daily life was difficult: lack of housing, shortages of food.
communism ideology, however, appealed to many as they saw the capitalist economies collapse elsewhere. soviet workers also received important social benefits and the system opened up possibilities for personal advancement.
in the 1920s divorce and abortion were made available and women were urged to work outside of the home, but Stalin reversed this trend. nevertheless, higher education remained open for women and they still worked outside of the home.
culture was politicized.

Question 39

Black Shirts

Answer 39

Mussolini’s private militia that destroyed socialist newspapers, union halls, and socialist party headquarters, eventually pushing socialists out of the city governments of northern Italy.

Question 40

National Socialism

Answer 40

a movement and political party driven by extreme nationalism and racism, led by Adolf Hitler; its adherents ruled Germany from 1933-1945 and forced Europe into WWII.

Question 41

state and society in Nazi Germany

Answer 41

after the Reichstag fire in 1933, Hitler convinced Hindenburg to sign emergency acts that abolished freedom of speech and assembly as well as most personal liberties. communist party outlawed and enabling act passed. the propaganda was quite misleading in promoting a unified and organized government, but this lack of unity worked in Hitler’s favour.
political opponents were disposed of and the Nazi party was purged. Brown Shirts (SA) was eliminated by Hitler as they seemed more counterproductive for his goals. SS took over political policing and concentration camp system.

Question 42

popular support fro National Socialism

Answer 42

a combination fo coercion and reward enlisted support. economic recovery was delivered to the people as promised. aryanization also benefitted ordinary Germans.
social and cultural innovation also reaped supporters.
opponents were never unified which explains why they were never successful.

Question 43

aggression and appeasement

Answer 43

German withdrawal from the LoN indicated the end of peaceful cooperation.

Question 44

appeasement

Answer 44

British policy towards Germany prior to WWII that aimed at granting Hitler’s territorial demands, including western Czechoslovakia in order to avoid war.

Question 45

German victories in Europe

Answer 45

blitzkrieg was successful in Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France.
After losing the Battle of Britain, Nazis took Greece and the Balkans and started an offensive against USSR.

Question 46

Europe under Nazi occupation

Answer 46

the New Order was Hitler’s program based on racial imperialism, which gave preferential treatment to Nordic peoples; the French and inferior Latin people took up a middle position and Jews and Slavs were treated harshly as subhumans.
in central and eastern Europe the Nazi rule was more ruthless and deadly than in the west.
in every region there were small underground resistance groups that kept fighting back.

Question 47

Japanese empire and the war in the Pacific

Answer 47

according to Japanese fascism the Asian races were superior to the western ones.
the invasions into other regions were promoted as attempts to create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (Asia for Asians).