Introduction to WW2 Rise of the Dictator

Benito Mussolini (Italy) Founded Italy’s Fascist Party Fascism Considers the Nation more important than the individual Strongly anti- communist Backed by the Fascist Militia Blackshirts Set up a Dictatorship

Vladimir Lenin (USSR) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Communist One party rule Suppressed individual liberties Punished opponents

Joseph Stalin (USSR) Changed last name from Dzuhgashvili to Stah Meaning “steel” 1902-1913 Imprisoned or exiled 7 times Always escaped 1926 Became new Dictator

Joseph Stalin (USSR) Collectives Concentration Camps Family farms were combined Government owned farms Peasants who resisted were either put on trial or starved Killed livestock Hoarding crops 10 million peasants died of starvation between 1932-1933 Concentration Camps 1935, 2 million people were in camps Located in the Arctic 8-10 million people died as result of Stalin’s rule He died in 1953

Adolf Hitler (Germany) Anti-Communist Admired Mussolini Austrian-born Fought for Germany for WW1 National Socialist German Workers’ Party Nazi Party Wanted to expand territory and not follow the Treaty of Versailles Anti-Semitic

Adolf Hitler (Germany) Arrested after trying to take over Munich, Germany In prison wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”) Called for unification of Germany Got elected to the lowest house of the German house of Parliament Reichstag Nazi’s largest political party in the Reichstag 1933, President named Hitler Chancellor of Germany

Winston Churchill (Britain) Prime Minister in 1940 Opponent of Appeasement Lend Lease Act Allowed Britain to borrow good from the US on credit Voted out of office in 1945 Re-elected in 1951 Minister of Defense October, became Prime Minister

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (USA) Elected in 1932 Elected four times as President Selected Harry S. Truman as his Vice President for his 4th term. Failing health Died in 1945 Cerebral Hemmorhage Harry Truman takes over as President

Harry S. Truman (USA) A few weeks as Vice President before becoming President No briefing on the Atomic Bomb Took over all the war problems when Roosevelt died Witnessed the signing of the United Nations