1. The Road to
War:
Honors US History 14.1

2. Definitions Nationalism – intense feeling of national pride and unity.
Dictator – a single person who has all of the political power in a nation.
Fascism – government system under the total control of a nationalist dictator and a single political party.
Totalitarianism – a system in which the government controls the entire country (politics, economy, culture, etc.)

3. Totalitarianism
Government establishes complete control of all aspects of the state (political, military, economy, social, cultural)
Highly nationalistic (flags, salutes, rallies, uniforms)
Strict controls and laws
Military state (secret police, army, military)
Censorship (opposing literature and ideas)
Propaganda (media – radio, newspapers, posters)
One leader (dictator); charismatic
Total conformity of people to ideas and leader
Terror and Fear

4. Totalitarianism
*These theories, specifically Communism and Fascism, are completely different theories that are bitterly opposed; however they exhibit the same behaviour

5. Communism
I am Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union from
What is Communism?
LEFT WING
based on theory by Karl Marx
revolutionary idea of a political, economic and social system that creates a “classless society”
state ownership and control of the means of production (no private ownership)
Soviet Communism or “Stalinism”, was more of a totalitarian and military state combined with elements of communism

6. Chaos at the Helm Lenin dies in 1924 Effect of ’22 stroke
Trotsky (Red Army) vs. Stalin (Gen. Sec. of the Communist party)
Party members all given their jobs by Stalin…

7. The Purges Paranoid, Stalin kills off all opponents, real or imagined
Order #00486 kills socially dangerous & their families
The NKVD (Cheka) hunts down enemies
Secret courts, immediate death
The Purges

8. Rise of a Dictatorship Depression Starvation and Misery
A need for leadership and change
A need to feel pride again
People support a charismatic leader
A need for someone to blame for everything (scapegoat)
Totalitarian Dictatorship
One person takes control

9. Fascism What is Fascism? RIGHT WING intense nationalism and elitism
totalitarian control
interests of the state more important than individual rights
maintain class system and private ownership
Interesting Fact: Fascism name was derived from the fasces, an ancient Roman symbol of authority consisting of a bundle of rods and an ax

10. Unrest in Italy Italy did not receive the territory it wanted from WWI
A depression started in the country
The people became bitter and angry
Some workers talked of turning to communism.

11. Italy – the Black Shirts
Benito Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy
Called “IL Duce”
Promises Italians a new “Roman Empire”
Invades Ethiopia

13. Nazism
I am Adolf Hitler the leader (der Fuhrer) or dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945.
What is Nazism?
extremely fascist , nationalistic and totalitarian
based on beliefs of the National Socialist German Workers Party
belief in the racial superiority of the Aryan, the “master race”
belief that all Germans should have “lebensraum” or living space in Europe
Violent hatred towards Jews and blamed Germany’s problems on them

14. Decadence of the Weimar Republic
What problems did the Weimar Republic face?

15. The Versailles Treaty
What was the problem with the treaty?

16. The Great Depression

17. Hitler considered himself superior, even though he was a drifter & failed artist during his youth. (Not even German Austrian)
A corporal during WWI, he was devastated by Germany’s loss & blamed it on the Jews.
He started his political career at age 30, joining the German Workers Party (As a spy for Weimar Republic) He was an excellent speaker and the Weimar Republic employed him to lecture soldiers on the dangers of communism and socialism. The Weimar Republic gave him the confidence to speak in front of crowds.
Group had only 40 members Hitler fell in love with the ideas its leader Karl Drexler had about blaming Jews and Communists for Germany’s problems. Hitler told Weimar Republic this group posed no threat

18. When he is put in his jail cell he is ranting and raving about the “Jews did this the Jews did that”. His cell mate Rudolf Hess started to write all this down. It will become the book Mein Kampf

19. Divisions of Race To Hitler
Aryans (Germanic) Culture Creating
Middle (Non Germanic) Culture Maintaining
Jews Culture Destroying
Untermenschen- undesirable elements like Jews: Gypsies , Jehovah Witnesses , Homosexuals , =Handicap, beggars,or those deemed “work shy” =Habitual Criminals =Political Prisoners

20. Germany – Nazi Party Led by Adolf Hitler
Called “Der Fuhrer”
Claimed that Germans were the master race
Hitler was a fantastic public speaker who was very charismatic for the German people.
Nazis slowly took control over German Reichstag (Congress)
Hitler named chancellor of Germany in 1933.

22. Rise of Hitler Hitler becomes complete dictator of Germany.
Starts to rebuild the German military which creates jobs for German people.
Seizes Jewish assets to gain funding for eventual war.
Sends army to reclaim areas lost during WWI for Germany.

23. Nazi Military State
SA (Sturmabteilung): Stormtroopers "brown-shirts" early private Nazi army that protected leaders and opposed rival political parties
GESTAPO: the Secret State Police
SS (Schutzstaffel): Defense Corps “black shirts”, an elite guard unit formed out of the SA
Lebensraum (living space): concept that emphasized need for territorial expansion of Germany into east
Wehrmacht: German army
HJ (Hitler Jugend): Hitler Youth
Einstazgruppen: Nazi Death Squad; mobile killing units
untermenschen-Inferior People

24. The “Stab-In-The-Back” Theory German soldiers are dissatisfied.

25. Hitler Demonizes the Jews
Hitler proclaimed that Jews had stabbed Germany in the back - causing it to lose WWI.
Said Jews were scheming to take over the world.
Fed anti-Semitism which already existed in Europe.

26. Persecution of the Jews
Nuremberg Laws
Took citizenship away from Jews
Highly restricted their rights
Forced to wear the yellow star
Put into ghettoes and concentration camps
Kristallnacht
“Night of the Broken Glass”
Nazis destroy Jewish businesses

27. Imperial Dreams in Japan
Japan had long been jealous of the empires of the white, European countries.
Why shouldn’t the Japanese have their own empire in the Pacific?
Japan adopted the ways of the West and built up their industry and military during the Meiji period after first American contact.
Led by General Tojo (military) and Emperor Hirohito (spiritual).

28. The Manchurian Crisis, 1931

29. Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

30. Japanese Invasion
Japan invades China and Korea as well as a number of islands in the Pacific.(1931)
Japan is a series of islands with little natural resources.
Japan needs resources (oil, metal) for their war efforts
Rape of Nanking
Japanese terrorize Nanking, China

31. Japanese Atrocities against the Chinese
Japanese soldiers raped Chinese women and often killed them.
Japanese killed Chinese for no reason.
Japanese conducted vivisection experiments on Chinese people.

32. Rape of Nanking

33. Rape of Nanking

34. A Weak League of Nations

35. International Agreements
Locarno Pact – 1925
France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy
Guarantee existing frontiers
Establish DMZ 30 miles deep on East bank of Rhine River
Refrain from aggression against each other
Kellogg-Briand Pact – 1928
Makes war illegal as a tool of diplomacy
No enforcement provisions

36. The Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations
No control of major conflicts.
No progress in disarmament.
No effective military force.

37. Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935 Emperor Haile Selassie

38. Germany Invades the Rhineland March 7, 1936

39. The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939
Francisco Franco

40. The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939
National
Front [Nationalists]
The
Popular
Front [Republicans]
Carlists [ultra-Catholic monarchists].
Catholic Church.
Falange [fascist] Party.
Monarchists.
Anarcho-Syndicalists.
Basques.
Catalans.
Communists.
Marxists.
Republicans.
Socialists.

41. The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

43. The Spanish Civil War

44. The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939 The American “Lincoln Brigade”

45. “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

46. The Spanish Civil War: A Dress Rehearsal for WW II?
Italian troops in Madrid

47. The Austrian Anschluss, 1938

48. The “Problem” of the Sudetenland

49. Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.

50. Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

51. German Expansion to WWII