1. Setting the Stage for World War II

2. Totalitarian Governments  One party dominates government  Powerful Dictator usually in charge  State more important people  Violence- secret police forces used to make people obey Government controls personal lives Kicks out anyone that goes against them  Government Controlled Economies

3. Russia  Joseph Stalin- won the battle for power after Lenin died  Five Year Plan- production goals for factories set by the state (successful)  Extreme force- arrested or killed anyone that defied him Great Purge

4. Stalin continued…  Communism- State rules to strengthen USSR  Collectivism - combined all farms to increase food production  Then famine- Peasants unhappy (Peace, Land, Bread! From revolution remember?)

5. Joseph Stalin

6. Italy  Benito Mussolini- “Il Duce” (the leader) Wanted to build a great Italian Empire Took power during the March on Rome  Fascist- comes from fasces which was an ancient Roman symbol for unity and strength of the state  Ethiopia invasion 1935- easy target for Italy Victory made Mussolini look good League of Nations slapped them on the wrist

7. Mussolini Fasces on Italian Flag

8. Japan  Industrial/military development post WWI Moved away from agricultural economy Promoted Fighting spirit in troops  Manchuria- took over for its resources  Devotion to Emperor and military Military took over the government  Sino-Japanese war: develops the Empire in China

10. Germany  Weimar Republic inherits a nation in bad shape  Postwar inflation- money became worthless  Adolf Hitler- World War I veteran, great speaker Mein Kampf “My Struggle”- outlined his ideas while in prison

11. Germany continued…  Takes power bit by bit- Chancellor by 1933 Used the struggles of Germany to his advantage: he said that German would be a great Nation again Fire to the Reichstag (like US Capitol Building) ○ Nazis used this fire as an excuse to use “emergency powers” and take total control

12. Reichstag Fire 1933- Berlin

13. The National Socialist Party (Nazi)  Superior race- the pure German Aryan people  Anti-Semitic- Against Jewish people Blamed the Jews for many of Germany’s problems and its defeat in WWI Kristallnact- “Night of Broken Glass” ○ Germans looted Jewish businesses  Lebensraum- Living space for the German people- Nazis thought Germany was too small  Youth Nazi camps Hitler Youth

14. Nazi Germany  Hitler as the “Fuhrer”  Conditions improved- good for Hitler  Breaking Treaty of Versailles Taking Rhineland, Czechoslovakia, Absorbed Austria Rearmament- military expansion Trying to take over all of Europe  Making Pacts/Agreements Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

16. On the Brink of another War…  Appeasement by Britain (UK) and France Gave in to Hitler’s demands in order to avoid war ○ World War I still fresh in everyone’s mind  Axis Powers Form- Germany, Italy, Japan Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and Germany ○ Aimed to stop the spread of Communism Pact of Steel with Italy and Germany Tripartite Pact made them allies More nations joined as well