RISE OF DICTATORS

DICTATORS Dictator - a leader who rules a country with absolute power, usually by force Dictators are usually able to take power in countries that are suffering economically and socially The conditions in The Soviet Union, Germany and Italy made it easy for these dictators to assume power

Joseph Stalin

Stalin’s Rise to Power Stalin was imprisoned several times and sent to Siberia for spreading socialist ideas Stalin became a follower of Lenin He did not play a major role in the Bolshevik Revolution but in 1923 he became the the General Secretary of the Party When Lenin died in 1924 there was a power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky, a brilliant Marxist thinker and speaker

Rise to Power cont. Both had different views on the Future of Communism Trotsky - worldwide revolution Stalin - Build Socialism at home Lenin had doubted Stalin; called him rude Stalin isolated Trotsky and by 1929 he became an absolute dictator Trotsky was forced to flee the country

The Five Year Plan The aim was to build industry, improve transportation, and increase farm output Command Economy - government officials controlled all economic decisions Industry - USSR was successful with heavy industry but failed to produce competitive consumer goods ie clothing, cars and appliances

The Five Year Plan cont. Stalin brought agriculture under government control Forced peasants to work on collectives Collective were large farms owned and operated by groups of peasants They were allowed to keep their houses but all animals and machinery were turned over to the collective

Ukraine Famine Peasants resisted the plan by killing farm animals, destroying tools and burning crops The government responded with brutal force Angry peasants often grew only enough food to feed themselves Stalin responded by seizing the grain and leaving the peasants to starve Famine spread across the USSR and over 8 million Ukrainians died Over the years the situation did not improve much

The Great Purge Stalin was always fearful of rival party members plotting against him In 1934 he launched the Great Purge In his reign of terror, Stalin and his Secret Police cracked down on old Bolsheviks He then targeted generals, writers, industrial managers and ordinary citizens They were charged with a wide variety of crimes, from plotting to overthrow Stalin to not meeting production quotas

Show Trials Stalin staged a series of “Show Trials” They were public trials where people were forced to confess (often through torture and threats to family) to crimes against the Stalin regime Many were executed publicly and other were sent to the Gulag - a series of forced labor camps throughout the USSR but mainly in Siberia This increased Stalin’s power as old revolutionary member were replaced with young members loyal to Stalin and fearful of his wrath

Stalin Cult of Personality - propaganda used by Stalin to make himself godlike Much of the art depicting Stalin made him look strong and powerful Religion was banned and replaced by communist icons like Lenin and Stalin

Benito Mussolini

What is Fascism? It was a term used by Mussolini rooted in extreme nationalism It glorified violence, discipline and blind loyalty to the state It is anti-democratic and communist

Rise of Mussolini After WWI Italy was a land of economic chaos and political corruption Italian nationalists were upset that they were not allowed to expand their territories People were inspired by the revolution in Russia Peasants took land, workers went on strike and took over factories Veterans faced unemployment Trade declined and taxes rose Gov’t split into warring factions

Rise of Mussolini He stepped in to remedy the crisis He organized the veterans and other nationalists into the Fascist Party 1919 He was a fiery speaker He promised to end corruption and return order He also spoke of reviving Roman greatness

Rise in Power Mussolini organized The “Black Shirts” They broke up socialist rallies, smashed leftist presses, and attacked collective farms Many Italians were accepting of this because they had lost faith in the constitutional gov’t In 1922 Mussolini organized a march on Rome to demand gov’t changes Fearing a civil war, King Emanuel III asked Mussolini to form a gov’t as Prime Minister By 1925 Mussolini assumed most of the power in Italy Takes the title “Il Duce”

In Power Mussolini ran Italy like a dictatorship upheld by terror Critics were thrown in prison, exiled or killed Secret police and propaganda supported the regime He preserved capitalism but much of the economy was under gov’t control Workers suffered

Social Policies In Fascist Italy the individual was only important as a member of the state Men were urged to be warriors for Italy Women were pushed out of the workforce and told to focus on being mothers Children were molded to obey strict military discipline by Fascist youth groups

Mussolini At first he was received in both Italy and around the world Once his policy changed toward foreign conquest other nations lost support of him Italy’s failure in WWII and the fact that his people saw him as a pawn of Hitler lead to his demise He was captured and publicly executed

ADOLF HITLER

Hitler’s Germany After WWI The nation was in turmoil after the war They lost land, the money was worthless, and the military destroyed Hitler had served in the military during the war In 1919 he joined the Nazi Party and became its leader in a year 1923 he tried to seize power; he failed and ended up in jail While in jail he wrote Mein Kampf which became the Nazi’s book of goals and ideology

Rise of Hitler Once out of jail he gained a loyal following of veterans and lower middle class Germans He promised them jobs and that he would rearm the military Hitler was elected as Chancellor of Germany in 1933; he was supported by conservatives that feared communism

Hitler’s Third Reich He removed all socialist and communists, suspended civil rights and made Germany a single party state He predicted his Third Reich would rule Germany for 1000 years He created a totalitarian state The Fuhrer’s rules were enforced by a brutal system of terror and repression The SS troops were the main enforcers The Gestapo - his secret police, removed all of his opposition

The Third Reich To help Germany recover economically Hitler launched a huge public works campaign He violated the Treaty of Versailles by rearming the nation but this created jobs Capitalism was kept but big businesses and labor were brought under gov’t control

Society Under Hitler Societal expectation under Hitler were very similar to Mussolini’s Men were to be strong and fight for their country Women were to produce as many “pure” children as possible; were rewarded Children were trained to be loyal Germans and to destroy all enemies Religion was despised and replaced with the Nazi racial creed

Hitler He was able to rebuild Germany in under 10 years He tried to expand the German Empire Nazi foreign aggression set the stage for WWII

Regimes Mussolini built a model for Hitler and Stalin All three regimes were different but had several things in common Single party dictatorship Use of terror to enforce policy Government control of the economy Strict media censorship