1. IDs and Definitions Duce/Fuehrer (definition) Stalin
Dawes Plan / Young Plan
Mein Kampf
Duce/Fuehrer- Absolute leader
Stalin- Dictator of the USSR after Lenin and Bolshevik revolution. Instituted rapid military and industrial reform in order to match power of Western countries. Ran a repressive and brutal dictatorship. All sectors of soviet society put into motion by force for modernization. Eliminated all political opponents.
Dawes Plan/Young Plan- American financial assistance and loan to Germany after World War I in order to rebuild the country. The Young Plan came in light of the Great Depression to make it easier on the Germans to repay the loans.
Mein Kampf- My struggle. Adolf Hitler’s memoirs. His struggle to take over political positions in the early 1920’s.

2. Questions and Imperatives
Describe a “totalitarian regime,” giving examples from the regimes of Hitler and Stalin.
Discuss the changes in Italy following WWI.
Describe the 3 phases of the Weimar Republic.
How did Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin come to power in their respective nations?
Can personal liberty be maintained under conditions of material hardship? (Class discussion)
Leadership by a charismatic and intolerant leader, in this case Hitler and Stalin specifically. Leader was above the law and his will became the focus of the nation. Stalin enacting the modernization programs at the expense of his people’s well being was an example. Also, Hitler’s Nazi regime destroyed many of the civil liberties of the American people under the Weimar republic. All opponents were considered traitors and often executed. They also privileged one group of people over another, in Stalin’s case the socialists that had his same political view and in Hitler’s case the Arian race.
After a period of unrest and instability in Italian leadership, Benito Mussolini and his fascist party rose to power. The Fascist party eliminated all opposition. Mussolini formed a sort of agreement with the RCC and made it religion of the nation. The image of an absolutely powerful Italian state was different than the reality, many of the people did not catch on with the Fascist state.
Hitler- Hitler attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government in the 1920’s. He eventually rose to power in the Nazi party as their leader. Once the great depression hit, Hitler’s Nazi party increased in popularity amongst Germans with his promises such as restoring the economy and ridding the Germans of the Versailles Treaty. Once the Nazi party gained a majority in the legislature he was assigned chancellor. Coupled with the Nazi majority and Hindenburg’s death Hitler was granted supreme dictatorship. Mussolini- Mussolini started the Fascist movement in Italy and marched on Rome to secure power. The King refused to use force against him and the liberal government resigned. The King then appointed Mussolini prime minister. Through a new election law the Fascist party was able to gain control and grant Mussolini the supreme power over Italy as Il Duce. Stalin- Stalin was already the General Secretary of the Communist party and used several tactics to gain power. With Lenin’s death the opportunity was open for him to assume party. He made himself seem as Lenin’s closest associate and killed his two opponents Trotsky and Bukharin. He also built support within the party because of his position he had more control.

3. Modern Totalitarian
absolute control by the state or centralized government
monopoly in power by the party
monopoly over the arts (use aesthetic environment to glorify ruling party)
a one man leadership, over all means of the community
Censorship
suppression of individualism and initiative
Propaganda
no existence of other parties
terroristic police & secret institutions instigate terrorism to carry out directives = (gangsterism)
future looking toward utopia and universalism (spread to world)
psychology of hatred of the enemy
militarism (rearming receives top economic priority)
collectivism (weaken family and individual identity)...state run nurseries, youth groups, uniforms
coercion, keep population in permanent state of fear
possible genocide when political violence pushed beyond limits

4. Stalin had been party secretary, paper pusher, had kept
membership list
Trotsky had no party following and therefore was
left out on a limb
at first Stalin laid low until
tried to break the backs of the Kulak class
the Kulaks protested by burning their stuff and they were sent to the Gulag
now there was forced collectivization, Stalin’s personal rule
he formulated a five-year plan to command the economy by party expropriations from the factories
He ruled the economy with an iron hand, telling what should be produced (there was no private market)
He weeded out the Jews of the Bolshevik leadership...he was an anti-Semite
Purges of 1934:
removal of party members, secret police would arrest and denounce them, torture them and force them to sign, saying they were guilty
2/3 of the generals of the soviet army were shot for conspiring with the Germans
, imprisonment in gulags and forced labor killed millions

5. Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili

6. Italy Italy felt like a defeated power after WWI, not victorious
Italy came into the war a year after it began; during that
year deciding which side would benefit her
felt betrayed by the English and Americans
no fulfillment of the Treaty of Versailles for Italy
had been promised huge territories in the pact of London, April 1915 if they came into the war on the side of the allies
Wilson’s “self-determination” caused Italy’s inability to fulfill territorial ambition (i.e. Italy lost in formation of Yugoslavia)
Italy felt estranged, wanted to avenge the mutilated victory
they emerged as a battered country and the people blamed the government
had hardly any resources to begin with, a miracle they got through the war
afterward, there was high inflation and unemployment, a rise of social violence, strikes, social and economic chaos (manipulation)
soldiers came back to menial jobs, their minds barbarized by war

8. Unified Italy??
Many in Italy never wanted a unified country; they regarding Rome as an enemy
where Germans were law abiding, Italians rose up
jails filled with many Italians
we will revoke your sentences if you join the special fighting forces
they were armed with knives and grenades to fight Austria during war
now they came home and followed Mussolini, became his squad
they were born and breed in violence

9. MUSSOLINI (1883-1945) born in NE Italy, father was an active socialist
Mussolini was a tough kid
believed Italy should involve herself in the War on the side of the allies) it would spark revolution)
fought and was injured in the War, returned home to politics
joined the socialist party like his father and started to make a name for himself as a young man
a powerful orator and writer
one of the most outspoken critics of the government and spokesman for veterans
his socialist ideas changed to ideas of nationalism
in the year following War, Italy experienced social unrest from political instability
Mussolini hated liberalism and it was then Fascism was born
Mussolini became the Duce (leader) 

11. Fascism
Mussolini founded the movement (1919), consisted of nationalist intellectuals and war veterans, starting with about 100 followers
from Latin word fasces (“sticks bound around an ax handle, used in ancient Rome as a symbol of unity” or from Italian “union of forces”)
Fascists were mostly from lower middle class with many veterans (blamed government for battered country)
the Fascist program was a combination of Socialist and nationalist demands
they wanted territorial expansion, land reform for peasants, and benefits for workers
Mussolini spoke out against other socialist parties and started to grow support from the middle classes and conservatives, but he did not become their puppet

12. Symbol for Fascism

13. How Mussolini got support
Fascist thugs went out at night and beat up members of socialist gatherings
fear of Communism spread over Italy in (as it would in Germany)
Mussolini secured financial support from the rich (who feared communism)
big landowners financed Mussolini against the Bolshevik threat
Blackshirts were sent out to the countryside as security for the landowners
# of fascists grew quickly
Italian government began to break down in 1922 from all the chaos
Mussolini enjoyed the support of the lower middle class

14. Mussolini comes to power
Mussolini came into power 11 yrs before Hitler
King Victor Emmanuel called on Mussolini to form a cabinet, become Prime Minister
On October 28, 1922, Mussolini was appointed to resolve the crisis
Mussolini seized all power legally after widespread violence and uprisings
he was granted dictatorial power for 1 year by the King and parliament
in 1924, the Fascists party had the majority of representatives in parliament
that same year, the leader of the socialist opposition in Parliament (Matteotti who had exposed the fascists illegal activities in election) was murdered
opposition demanded Mussolini’s armed guards be disbanded and violence banned
Mussolini chose to move ahead

15. A Fascist State imposed repressive measures
made known his desire to make nation a fascist state
imposed repressive measures
- freedom of the press was abolished
- elections were fixed
- arrested his political opponents
- disbanded labor unions
- fascists controlled the schools
- created a fascists youth movement (see pg. 1064, text)
Mussolini’s famous slogan in 1926
“Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”
Mussolini gained support from the Catholic Church
- Lateran Agreement of 1929 recognized the Vatican as a tiny independent state
- he gave the Church financial support
- the Pope urged Italians to support Mussolini
Mussolini abolished divorce and told women to stay home and produce children

16. Germany after the war
Weimar Republic formed by the provisional government (Social Democratic Party) in Germany following the War
other parties (Marxists and right-wing radicals) saw an opportunity and tried to take control
Between January 6 and January 15, 1919, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht attempted a coup in Berlin
called Sparticus week as the group led by the two were called Sparticists
government troops and Freikorps put down the coup, much bloodshed
Luxemburg and Liebknecht were arrested and killed on the way to jail

17. ROSA LUXEMBURG a brilliant writer leader of radical socialists
stressed the revolutionary character of Marxism
Lenin was willing to sign the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with the hope that Luxemburg and Liebknecht would start revolution in Germany
Luxemburg canonized as a communist saint

18. Rosa Luxemburg & Karl Liebknecht

19. Continued Problems Weimar Republic was compromise that no one
wanted, therefore constant coup attempts
Sparticus Week, 1920 Kapp Putsch
Allies had pronounced Germany guilty of starting the war and many Germans could not accept that, “stab in the back” well received!
economic difficulties plagued Germany undermining the Republic
unemployment was widespread
government printed millions of dollars worth of paper money
government issued new currency in 1923 and the economy stabilized

20. America helps Germany – Why?
America realized the problems Germany had paying war reparations, introduced 2 plans
Dawes Plan in 1924
delay payments for 2 years
$200,000,000 loan with regular payments
on an increasing scale
Germany, with economy restored, was then able to borrow abroad for public works projects and rebuild industry
Young Plan in 1929
revised the reparation payments
loan of $300,000,000 with payments over 59 years

21. Origins of Nazi Party
NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers Party, founded as German Workers Party
anti-Semitism characterized its meetings
Adolf Hitler joined the party in fall 1919, was his job to find out what was going on in the meetings, any extremist parties, Ernst Roehm had recruited him as a civilian investigator
he was taken with the group and became its leader in 1921
Nazi party based on leadership principle of a fuhrer (leader)
Ernst Roehm formed the Brown Shirts (SA), a paramilitary group and the swastika appeared and would be used as the symbol for the Nazi party

22. Nazis SA seemed mostly to be thugs, watched out for party leaders
but then the SS was found by Himmler, an elite version of the SA, brutal, but in a refined sort of way, became Hitler’s guard
Hitler gave talks at rallies, tried to get people to believe in the “stab in the back”
1923 putsch in Munich (putsch is an uprising), party attempted to take over the government, Hitler was arrested and spent about 9 months in prison, writing Mein Kampf
When it came to punishment...right wingers got a slap on the wrist whereas the Communists were jailed

23. Hitler realizes… The way to take power in Germany LEGALLY
Get into the government
Nazis in the Reichstag
Hitler sends Goebbels to Berlin
Little comes of it until…?

24. Phases of the Weimar Republic
EARLY
MIDDLE
LATE
Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start?

25. DISCUSSION QUESTION: Similarity in polarity? – Fascism versus Communism?