The Rise of Dictatorships

Dictatorship in Italy In the wake of World War I dictatorships or totalitarian government stared to spread throughout Europe. In Italy, like Germany, there was a growing discontent with the Democratic governments in place. The people who were suffering hardships turned on the government and seen them as the reason for these troubles. Failure to gain any significant land or reparations from Versailles was blamed for these problems

The Italian people were suffering from a weak government who had been responsible for the strikes and demonstrations that were destroying the Italian economy In both countries the economic hardships being experienced by the population meant the time was right for change.

The rise of Fascism In 1922 the leadership in Italy changed Benito Mussolini leader of the Italian fascist party gained control Three years later he had declared himself II Duce, or the dictator of Italy. Mussolini won over the Italian people with a host of claims as to how he would make Italy strong.

Italy would become a feared and respected country He would gain Italy a “place in the sun” This would mean the taking of land in Africa, Abyssinia He would achieve this with a foreign policy based around aggression.

Dictatorship in Germany In the aftermath of WW1 the allies were adamant that a democratic government would replace the abdicated Kaiser. This new government would be democratically elected through a system of proportional representation. The leader would be Ebert

This government, known as the “November criminals” would live a short existence as it had to accept blame for the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. With the onset of the 1929 Wall Street crash the German people were discontent. With money and savings worthless. Food rationed and unemployment rife, the time for change was right.

Rise of Hitler In 1933 Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party came to power in Germany. He quickly set about eliminating his enemies so as to gain total power. His claims to the German people were that he was planning on making Germany great again He would achieve this by…

Hitler’s Promises The Treaty of Versailles would be ripped up All Germans would once again live in Germany, this meant extending their borders. The German people would become the “master race” They would have Lebensraum (more space to grow) In order to achieve this his foreign policy would be aggressive, expansionist and racist By declaring this Hitler was able to gain the confidence of the people and go about conducting his plans

German Economy The German economy like the Italian, was also in a poor state. Unemployment was high,4.8 MILLION IN 1933 Inflation was rendering savings worthless People were dying of starvation Elderly were in poverty

Drag Germany out of the world recession Solve unemployment (which he had promised to do) this he managed, 0.5 million in Make Germany an “autarchy” – self sufficient Get rid of Jewish industrialists and give their businesses to “Aryans” Transform the economy to focus on rearmament and war