Totalitarianism/Between the Wars (after spring break)

Question 1

Quick summary of how they came to power (Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler)

Answer 1

Looking at Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin and how they were able to come to power legally, and were able to turn the entire system to what they wanted
Desperate times turn to desperate measures, people will listen to extremists during desperate times.

Question 2

Conditions that Present Opportunity

Answer 2

Economic = both were suffering tremendously
Political (Parliamentary democracy) = when you see shortages, inflaments, etc, people are interested in politics. Weaknesses in parliamentary democracy, more than 2 parties get seats so it’s difficult for anyone to get a majority.
Nationalism = extreme in Italy and Germany, both nations feel their national pride has been slapped at/they were unjustly wrong (Germany = full blame, Italy = not getting everything they wanted)

Question 3

Methods they used to legally gain power

Answer 3

“Promises” = telling desperate people things desperate people want to hear
Creating Scapegoats = scapegoats = unrightful blame given to someone/a group when problems are happening = helps you pull together followers because people direct their anger to ONE person or group
Fostering instability = Italy and Germany (democratic) when they are out of power they wanted to create instability and chaos in the street to make it look like the current government cannot keep order (manipulate) Intentionally made the government look bad so they can govern
Black Shirts used by Musalini
Brown Shirts used by Hitler

Question 4

How they turned power absolute

Answer 4

Emergency = make it look like you “NEED” absolute power to fix problems
Cult of Personality = propaganda, make yourself larger than life - posters, movies, newspapers, speeches, so you will not be criticized because you seem like a god-like figure.
Extralegal measures = going to tell the people that individual rights come SECOND, you put interest of the nation FIRST.
Individual serves the state

Question 5

Mussolini scapegoats

Answer 5

Communists

Question 6

Post WW1 conditions in Italy

Answer 6

Irredenta (unredeemed/rightfully belonged to them)
Trent and Trieste were promised to Italy but did NOT go to them (nationalism)
Economic problems after war = major unemployment
Soldiers = many died in WWl and because they did not get the land they wanted, the government made them fight for nothing, and soldiers came back unemployed - angry because after all the sacrifices they made, they got nothing
They were going to be thugs, went into streets and caused disorder for Mussolini (he has a role for soldiers now)
Weak Parliamentary system = Italy will have many different governments, they keep collapsing and collapsing because of the system.

Question 7

Mussolini’s rise and his political party

Answer 7

FASCISM / FASCISTS
Fascists = anti-communists and the push the greatness of Italy/nationalism, bring it back to ancient roman times (it is Italy’s destiny to control Mediterranean “Mare Nostrum = our lake”)
10 Commandments for Fascists
El Duce is always right (leader)
And El Duce is always right

Question 8

Mussolini’s Black Shirts

Answer 8

thugs, were his people but was not responsible for them in the public eye
Created to make government look bad / fostering inability

They were used on the March on Rome to disrupt everything on the streets

Question 9

March on Rome

Answer 9

where Mussolini is asked by the King of Italy to take power after the march - LEGALLY given the right - King did not trust him but thought he would be like every other person (fall flat on their face)
- Italian workers go on strike for 3 days protesting low wages
- Black Shirts march from Milan to Rome and disrupt things on the way (Mussolini was not marching with them because he did not want to be tied with it - smart)

Question 10

Mussolini - 1923 Election Law (Acerbo)

Answer 10

Got Parliament to pass a law to have the leading party have two-thirds of the seats - he can now pass laws without having to rely on anyone else

Question 11

Matteotti Incident

Answer 11

Matteotti was someone who was against Mussolini, knew he was a absolute ruler
Matteotti was murdered by the Black Shirts (led secretly by Mussolini) and he acted as though he was concerned and carried out investigations

Question 12

1926 Decree (Italy)

Answer 12

enduring symbol that Italy was a monarchy, one capital crime (punished by death).
Mussolini’s name was El Duce

Question 13

Mussolini’s Censorship

Answer 13

controls what comes out to Italian people, he uses major propaganda to show how great he is - made himself look larger than life

Question 14

Mussolini’s corparatism

Answer 14

some capitalism with a planned economy
14 different industries (agriculture, banking, etc) each of these areas had a director that set goals and guidelines for the industry
Private industry was allowed in the separate planned industries

Question 15

Treaty of Lateran (1929) Italy

Answer 15

Mussolini finally achieved peace with the pope/agreed to recognize Italy’s government
The pope refused to recognize Italy’s government for years because land was taken from him to create a unified Italy
Made a deal to give the pope his OWN nation → Vatican City

Question 16

Germany’s Post WW1 conditions

Answer 16

A mess after WW1
Forced to create a democratic government
Weimar Republic = parliamentary democracy that has all those weaknesses, too many parties are represented, so there is frequent elections from governments collapsing - easy for Hilter to take advantage of
Treaty of Versailles
losing side, get full blame for war
Prevention to allow Germany to rise up
Hilter used the idea of revenge against it
High inflation - used money to make heat instead of wood/oil/coal because it was cheaper - it became way too expensive to meet your basic needs

Question 17

Hitler Background

Answer 17

born in Austria-Hungary, all Austrians considered them to be German
Anti-semitism was prevalent (Jew hatred) where he grew up because of the large Jewish presence
Did not join the war - tried to run from it and went to Germany - was arrested there because he avoided the draft - given option to join German army or possibly get executed in Austria to face criminal charges
Was accepted and recognized in the German army - had a sense of belonging - rose in ranking
Hitler was allowed to stay in the army after it was reduced greatly after the war
His job was to spy on extremist political parties

Question 18

Hitler and Nationalist Socialist Party

Answer 18

went to spy on them, and then quit the army so he could join this party (Nazi’s)
Was a gifted public speaker and quickly rose to be the face of Nazi party

Question 19

Beer Hall Putsch (Germany)

Answer 19

Hilter and the Nazi’s attempt to overthrow the state government of Bavaria
Overestimate their following and they get put down very quickly
He should have been executed for this, but the political status was so bad he was only sentenced to 18 months in prison because people were sympathetic.
He learned that you CANNOT be on the outside to overthrow the government
Began to follow steps of Mussolini

While he was in prison he writes the book “Mein Kampf” where he talks about that the Treaty of Versailles needs to end, and superiority of the Aryan race (tall,blond,blue eyed) and other races of people should not be mixing with Aryan race (Anti-semitism)

Question 20

Plans that were created in 1924-1928 (Dawes and Young) - Improvement and Stability in Germany

Answer 20

Dawes Plan put a fixed amount on what Germany’s final payments were (British and French could not just keep charging money)
Young Plan - America lends Germany money to help reparation payments
Germany was allowed in the League of Nations - welcomed back

Question 21

Chancellorship (Hitler)

Answer 21

Paulvon Hindenburg (president) askes Hitler to become chancellor, making him legally gain power

Question 22

Reichstag Fire Decree

Answer 22

The Reichstag (parliament building) was burned to the ground
Hitler immediately blamed communists
He goes to members of parliament asking for emergency power because the communists are threatening them and causing a crisis
He has created a scapegoat (someone to blame)
Given MORE power legally
He has manipulated this system because HIS group, the SA or Red Shirts caused this fire, NOT the communists

Question 23

Enabling Acts (Hitler)

Answer 23

made his power PERMANENT and he was named Der Fuhrer

Question 24

Night of the Long Knives (Hitler)

Answer 24

Hitler is afraid of people who began the Nazi group so during this night, he killed the people who he surpassed whom he was scared would take his power away.

Question 25

Nuremberg Decrees (Hitler)

Answer 25

1st thing against the Jews that was issued
- defined what a Jew was
If you had ⅛ Jewish blood, you were Jewish
- Had to have a distinctive mark (yellow star)
- Jews were banned from certain careers (teachers, doctors)
- Jews decide to try to leave but were NOT allowed - were turned back

Question 26

Kristallnacht / Night of Broken Glass (Hitler)

Answer 26

was an attack on Jews and Jewish properties (shops, synagogues)
Initiated by blaming a young Jew for the assassination of the diplomat
Jews had to pay for the damages
Homes were confiscated and they were forced to move to the ghettos (segregated areas) then they were moved to concentration camps

Question 27

Stalin and the Politburo

Answer 27

there was a communist government where the leader was selected by the Politburo (democratic centralism) / inner circle
Stalin is able to convince the Politburo that he is the one that Lenin wanted to lead the party because he reminds them the Trosky was once opposed to Lenin
The Politburo is supposed to be used as a check on Stalin’s power

Question 28

Five Year Plans (Stalin)

Answer 28

outline/set of targets for Soviet industries
Stalin’s goal is to build up the economy to make it industrially and militarily strong by doing it through strict communist means

• Goals = no private ownership (even though the NEP had them), to prove communism is the best way to do things - people pushed back and he took more serious measures
• Methods = propaganda films to prove how great the Soviet Union programs were/communism
• Effects = soviet union DID increase their industrial output, but the quality of the work was very poor because it was rushed. There was no goods made that improved the people’s way of living (no consumer goods)

Question 29

Stalin’s Agricultural Policy

Answer 29

all the private land farmers had was taken away.

Kolkhoz = a large collective government farm that farmers were forced to move on after their private land was taken away
Agricultural output was put down severely - less farmers, less focus, people on the government farms refused to work, burned their crops → leading to a famine.

Question 30

Stalin’s Cult of Personality

Answer 30

(Propaganda) - everywhere you looked, he was there, put out to look larger than life
Stalin has built himself up on the same platform as Lenin - made himself a cult of personality by saying Lenin chose him

Question 31

Stalin Eliminating Competition

Answer 31

Stalin was notorious for this
Needed a scapegoat (someone to blame) - blames Kulaks for agricultural disaster, NOT the farmers
Kulaks = people who benefited off of the NEP
Many Kulaks were arrested and executed

Purges = means to clean out/eliminated opposition
The entire Politburo that voted for him were wiped out (got rid of political opposition)

Next, he wanted to get rid of military opposition - High ranking military officers were put on trial and executed

Question 32

Non Aggression Pact (Hitler and Stalin)

Answer 32

Two enemies - Russia and Germany - Stalin and Hitler - but on Non Aggression Pact, a temporary agreement because they needed to buy time