 What is a dictator?  What threat do dictators pose to the world? To American beliefs?  What would you be willing to sacrifice to defeat a dictator?  How should citizens of a democracy respond to the actions of a dictator?

 It started with the Treaty of Versailles; way back in 1919  Germany was crushed, but not destroyed  1. War Guilt Clause – Germany accepted the blame for starting World War One  2. Germany had to pay $10 million for the damage caused by the war--- Reparations  3. Germany was only allowed to have a small army and six naval ships. No tanks, no Air force and no submarines. The Rhineland area was to be de- militarized--- Disarmament  4. Territorial Clauses - Land was taken away from Germany and given to other countries. Anschluss (union with Austria) was forbidden

 People were unhappy about the Treaty of Versailles  Could not pay the reparations  Unemployment was high  Price of food and basic goods was very high  People were poor  The people were looking for someone to save them  Were unhappy with the current Gov’t.  Wanted someone to ignore the Treaty of Versailles  They got that person in: Adolf Hitler

 B. 4/20/1889 in Austria  Father was Alois and mother was Klara  Came from an unusual family  Klara was Alois’s third wife  He was 23 years older than her, and had 2 children from another marriage  Klara and Alois had 5 total children: only Adolf and a sister lived to adulthood  His father was very strict: beat his son if he did not do what he was told

 Was a bright student, liked by his peers, and deeply religious  Almost became a monk!  All changed when he went to high school  Stopped working hard  Fellow students stopped liking him  His father was irate!  Their relationship went south when Hitler said he wanted to be an artist!  His father died in 1903, and Hitler received an inheritance when he turned 18

 1907 his mother died  This hurt him terribly  Hitler received all of the family fortune  This meant he never really had to work  Supposed to sign up for the Austrian military at 18, but hated Austria  Instead—volunteered for the German Army at the beginning of WWI  He was a dispatch runner  Taking messages from head quarters to the front line  Very dangerous job, but he was good at it

 Received many medals for his efforts during the war  Including the Iron Cross—one of the highest honors a German soldier can earn  But…he never really advanced in the military; only reached corporal ranking  Probably because everyone thought he was strange, and no one would follow his orders  Would sit in a corner, head in his hands, and start shouting how the Jews and Marxists are responsible for the war

 When Germany surrendered, Hitler went into a depression  He was a devout German Nationalist!  He blamed the surrender, and the political chaos in Germany on the Jews  Said it was a Jewish conspiracy to control the country  Partly because those seeking political power were all Jewish

 Hitler began his rise to power by helping put down a political revolution  People were now drawn to his speeches  Speeches that called for Germans to take back their country  He appealed to the soldiers  Told them that they were not to blame for their losses on the battlefield: it was the Jews and Marxists who conspired and betrayed them  Germany was a defeated country, who needed someone to save them

 Hitler was able to form a political party: the National Socialist German Workers Party.  Later, this political party will have a nickname— Nazi Party  The message was clear: ignore the Treaty of Versailles, unite as a German people, and only German citizens were guaranteed equal rights  All others would be considered “foreign aliens” and get no rights  Created his own private army called: Sturm Abteilung (SA) —or stormtroopers  Their mission—disrupt and break up all other political party meetings and protect Hitler

 With all political rivals either dead or out of politics, Hitler was unmatched  His speeches usually ended with a call for people to perform an act of violence against the Jewish people  While in prison for his role in a riot, Hitler wrote his autobiography: Mein Kampf –My Struggle  Outlined his political philosophy  Called the German race, Aryan, and claimed they were superior to all other races  The Aryan race had a duty—exterminate all other races!  Especially the Jews—called them lazy, responsible for all the world’s problems, and that they were taking over the world!  Tough to do when you make up only 1% of the worlds population

 Hitler continued to make speeches, and tried to influence as many voters as he could  Eventually, in 1932, the Nazi party controlled Germany’s parliament  January, 1933, Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany—similar to president  Called himself Der Fuhrer—”the Leader”  Had all of his political opponents either killed or placed in concentration camps  An area where the enemy would be kept all together  February, 1933, Hitler proposed the Enabling Bill  a law making him dictator  It passed

 Hitler made Germany into a Fascist country  Fascism: an extreme form of nationalism  Anyone not a countrymen, is lower than you  Must wage war to keep the nation strong  Eliminated any and all means of protesting the gov’t  You protested, you got killed  The individual had no freedom  All forms of media were censored  Controlled by the gov’t  Propaganda was everywhere  You only knew what they wanted you to know

 Teachers who preached against Hitler’s views were removed from their positions  Some were killed, others were taken away for “training”  History textbooks were replaced with ones written by Nazi’s  More propaganda  By this time, he had complete control over Germany  Secretly, he started building up his Army, Navy, and Air Force  By 1934, the size of his military tripled!

 Britain and France were aware of what Hitler was doing  So why didn’t they stop him?  They were afraid of Communism  a system of government where the country, or state, controls everything  All people are “equal”—no one man has more than the other  And you work for the betterment of your country  They felt a strong Germany would stop Communism—oops!

 1936—Hitler invades the Rhineland  Although his army was built up, it was no match for Britain and France  But….  Britain and France decided not to stop him  They were not prepared to fight another war  Hitler went and made some new friends  Rome-Berlin Axis Pact— Became allies with Italy  Anti-Comitern Pact— Became allies with Japan  They, along with all their other allies, will be know as the Axis Powers