Road to WWII

Tara Madsen

Rise of Dictatorial Regimes

• By 1939, only France and Great Britain remained democratic… other countries had resorted to dictatorial regimes

• ITALY- Government type= Fascism… in the early 1920’s, Benito Mussolini set up the first European fascist movement.

• Fascism glorifies the state over the citizen and has a strong dictator to rule the country.

• USSR- Communism… Lenin instated a New Economic Policy (NEP)… Under this system, peasants could sell their produce and small businesses that employed fewer than 20 employees could be privately owned.

• In 1922, Lenin created a new state called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics aka USSR.

• After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power.

Hitler and Nazi Germany

• Adolf Hitler was born in Austria on 20 April 1889.

• Hitler had views of extreme racism (especially toward Jews), while in Vienna he developed his political and social attitudes.

• Hitler served 4 years on the western front during WWI.

• By 1921, Hitler had total control over the Nazi Party

• Hitler organized a revolt on the government that was quickly crushed and Hitler was sentenced to prison.

• While in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf. Mein Kampf was an account of Hitler’s viewpoints on life, politics, and social issues.

• While in prison, Hitler realized that the Nazi Party would have to gain control of the country by political means and not by violent overthrow

• After Hitler’s release he grew the party and by 1929, it was the largest party in the Reichstag.

Nazis Take Control

• The Nazi Party came to power on 23 March 1933.

• The Enabling Act was passed which allowed the government to ignore the constitution for 4 years while issuing laws to deal with the countries problems.

• Nazis quickly brought everything under their control and started limiting the rights of Jews.

• Eventually, they set up concentration camps and started putting Jews in them.

• Hitler felt that certain groups of people did not deserve to live in Germany or really live at all.

• He wanted to develop an Aryan racial state. (Full blooded Germans of Aryan decent)

The State and Terror• Hitler was the ultimate decision maker and absolute ruler.

• The Shultzstaffeln aka SS were an important force in maintaining order

• Under the direction of Heinrich Himmler, the SS controlled both secret police and the regular police.

• SS was based on 2 main principles: Ideology and Terror

• Terror: Secret police, criminal police, concentration camps, execution squads and death camps.

Anti-Semitic Policies • Anti-Semitic = Anti-Jewish• In September 1935, Nazis announced new racial laws called the Nuremburg

Laws• Defined even those with one Jewish grandparent as a Jew and revoked

German citizenship• Forbade Jews and Non-Jews from marrying• Jews were forbidden to teach or take part in the arts• Jews were also required to wear a yellow star and carry an identification card• On 9 November 1938, Kristallnacht took place… Nazis burned synagogues and

destroyed over 7,000 Jewish businesses… 30,000 Jewish males were rounded up and sent to concentration camps that night.

• Jews were then prohibited from ride public transportation or entering public places like hospitals and schools

• Jews were forced to clean up all the debris from Kristallnacht