1. Chapter 24 WWII: The Road to War
Section 1: The Rise of Dictators

2. Totalitarian Rule- exerts total control over a nation, dominates every aspect of life, using terror to suppress individual rights & silence all forms of opposition

3. Fascism- emphasizes the importance of the nation or an ethnic group & the supreme authority of the leader
Communism- relies upon a strong, dictorial, government that doesn’t respect individual rights & freedoms

4. Stalin’s Soviet Union Stalin’s Economic Plans
5 year plans to modernize agriculture & build new industries from the ground up

5. Encouraged Soviet farmers into huge collective farms, owned & run by the state

6. Facing resistance, he began forcing peasants off their land in the late 1920’s
Complete takeover a few years later with bad consequences
Stalin punished resistant farmers by confiscating much or all of the food they produced

7. Sent approximately 5 million peasants to labor camps in Siberia & northern Russia
Collectivization caused agricultural production to fall & cause food shortages

8. Rapid industrialization was more successful
Assigned millions of laborers to build & run new industrial centers where iron, steel, oil, & coal were produced
Soviets endured shortages of essential products & their standard of living fell

9. Stalin’s Reign of Terror
Completed political domination through a series of purges
Process of removing enemies & undesirable individuals from power
He “purified” the Communist party by getting rid of his opponents & anyone else he believed to be a threat

10. “Great Purge” began in 1934 with “show trials” where the only verdict was guilty
Also purged local party offices, collective farms, secret police, & the army
By 1939, arrested more than 7 million
1 million were executed & others ended up in forced labor camps
Many were innocent victims of Stalin’s paranoia

11. Fascism in Italy
Benito Mussolini believed that the Versailles Treaty should have granted Italy more territory & he began attracting followers

12. Socialists, dissatisfied war vets, opponents of the monarchy, & anarchists
Called himself II Duce (the leader)

13. Formed the Fascist party
Relied on gangs of fascist thugs, called Blackshirts, to terrorize & bring control to those who opposed him
1922 threatened to march on Rome & the scared king appointed him Prime Minister
Vowed to end Italy’s economic problems

14. In the name of efficiency & order, they suspended elections, outlawed other political parties, & established a dictatorship
Economy improved
October invaded Ethiopia
May Ethiopian emperor had fled to England & the capital Addis Abada was in Italian hands

15. Hitler’s Rise to Power The Nazi Party
National Socialist German Worker’s Party

16. Nazism- Form of fascism shaped by Hitler’s fanatical ideas about German nationalism & racial superiority

17. Nov. 1923- with 3,000 followers, he tried to overthrow the government
Sentenced to 5 years, but only served 9 months
Wrote his autobiography “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle)

18. Outlined the Nazi philosophy, his views of Germany’s problems & his plans for the nation
Felt Germany had been weakened by certain groups
Blamed the Jews for losing WWI
Proposed strengthening Germany’s military & expanded its borders to include Germans living elsewhere

19. Called for purifying the “Aryan race”
Blonde haired, blue eyed Germans
During the Depression, Germans looked to their political leaders for help
Nazis promised to stabilize the country, rebuild the economy, & restore the empire that was lost

20. Hitler Becomes Chancellor
1932 elections, the Nazi party becomes the largest group in the Reichstag (lower house of German Parliament)
Hitler came in second in the presidential election

21. 1933 President Hindenburg made Hitler Chancellor
Moved to suspend freedom of speech & freedom of the press
Thousands of Nazi thugs (called storm troopers or Brownshirts) waged a violent campaigns that silenced opposition

22. March elections Nazi party won the majority in the Reichstag
Less then 3 weeks later the Reichstag burned down in a mysterious fire
Hitler blamed the Communists & convinced Parliament to pass an Enabling Bill which gave him dictorial powers

23. Hindenburg died in August 1934
Hitler became Chancellor & President
Gave himself the title “Der Fuher” (the leader)

24. Germany Rearms
Nazis secretly began spending money on rearming & expanding the armed forces in violation of the Versailles Treaty
Hired unemployed workers to build massive public buildings & a network of highways known as the autobahn

25. Unemployment fell to near zero, industry prospered & by 1936 the Depression ended in Germany
Believed that Germans needed more territory or lebensraum “Living space” to the east
March 7, 1936 German troops entered the Rhineland

26. Banned from this area by the Treaty
Allies did nothing
1936- Hitler signed an alliance with Mussolini
Rome Berlin Axis

27. Germany Expands
1938- Hitler pressed Austria for an anschluss- political union
March- Austrian chancellor refused to surrender the country so Hitler ordered troops into the country

28. Several months later Germany demanded the Sudetenland- an industrial region of west Czechoslovakia with a heavy German population
British Prime Minister Chamberlain met with Hitler twice to resolve the issue
Policy of appeasement

29. Hitler kept increasing his demands
Met in Munich, Sept. 1938
France & GB agreed to sacrifice the Sudetenland since they weren’t ready for war
Hoping that Hitler’s appetite for territory would be satisfied
No one consulted Czechoslovakia's leaders

30. The Spanish Civil War
Election of 1936
Numerous parties vied for power
A group backed by liberal parties won & 5 months later the military began a rebellion against the newly elected government

31. Supporters were called Republicans
Gen. Francisco Franco led the rebels known as Nationalists

32. By October, the Nationalists had formed their own government, a military dictatorship under Franco
Uprising turned into a civil war between the nationalists & Republicans
Both sides turned to foreign powers to help

33. Germany & Italy provided planes, tanks, & soldiers to the Nationalists
Soviet Union sent arms & supplies to the Republicans
March 1935 the Nationalists captured the capital & ended the war
Franco ruled Spain until his death in 1975