The Rise of Totalitarianism

World Wars – Ms. HamerWWII

March 29-30, 2010

Post WWI Democracies

• There were the possibilities of democracies, but these were short lived:– Russia– Germany

Totalitarianism or Fascism?

• Fascism is just one type• Term “Totalitarianism” coined in 1923 by an Italian

journalist who was attacking the Italian fascists• Hannah Arendt (part of brain drain that came to US

under beginning of Nazi regime) – study published in 1951: The Origins of Totalitarianism – – Even ideologically opposed regimes (like Nazis and

Communists) had certain structural similarities and shared internal dynamics, which gave them a common identity of totalitarian regimes

What is Totalitarianism?

• Pre-dated the Great Depression of 1929• Totalitarianism: a term used to describe modern

dictatorships that differ from earlier tyrannies– Use of technology and different goals made them

‘new’– Goals: total control of individuals and society –

especially enthusiastic control– Used fear/terror and ideological faith and conviction

Similarities in Totalitarian Regimes

• Cult of a Leader• Dynamic claims of ideological infallibility that

were animated into constant motion to make their prophecies come true– English = “Our ideas are perfect, see how well

they’re doing because we make everything we say is going to happen actually happen”

• Goals of World Domination

Similarities in Totalitarian Regimes

• Prolific use of violence to fulfill their prophecies• Secret police as exercisers of terror• Institution of the concentration camp• Hierarchies of believers and elites• Preyed on lonely, lost individuals who were

susceptible to brainwashing• Monumental art dwarfing the individual and

other forms of propaganda

Effects of WWI on the Rise of Totalitarianism

• WWI shook the ideology of liberal pre-WWI, so people looked for something else

• Total war and total mobilization worked into totalitarianism – the systems were already in place

Mussolini and Fascist Italy

Post WWI Italy

• Italy was in a volatile political state:– Bad results from the peace– Labor unrest– Rural conflict over land reform– Weak governments

Mussolini

• Born July 29, 1883• Socialist in early years –

VERY active in the party• Before WWI decided that

socialism was not an effective option and that it was dying

• Fought in WWI for Italy– Was hit by a mortar in 1917

Rise of Fascism

• March 1919: Mussolini organized groups of like-minded people (typically former soldiers) who became known as FascidiCombattimento- Combat Squads

• Fascism rapidly gained support by advocating for nationalist unity instead of class warfare– Didn’t want to get rid of the classes or create equality

though• Grew so quickly that it became the Nationalist

Fascist Party in 1921

What is Fascism?• Fascio means league or

unit• Also is the name of a

Roman symbol of state unity – axe surrounded by a bundle of sticks– A bundle of sticks fused

into unity is much stronger than one stick

– Can be seen in front of the Lincoln Memorial

Goals of Fascism in Italy• Praised action and violence• A powerful leader– When asked what fascism was, Mussolini responded

“me”• A strong and warlike state– Individual was subordinated to this

• Corporatism– Gathering people into unities

• Imperialism• Praised war as hygiene, adventure, and the true

test of a state and a people

Black Shirts • Squads often composed

of former Italian stormtroopersgained their goals by killing those who opposed them: socialists, communists, others in the streets

How did the Fascists Take Over?

• Were saving Italy from the chaos:– Some created by Black Shirt violence

• Saving Italy from the Communists• Rapidly growing party

March on Rome• October 1922 – Fascist

takeover of Italy• Staged PR event –

because him taking power had been coordinated behind the scenes– Mussolini coordinated

this with conservative elites

– King gave Mussolini the job of Prime Minister

Fascism Moves Forward

• Then Mussolini began to prepare his people for wars of conquest

• Admired by would be leaders all over Europe– Hitler• Is Nazism best understood as a subcategory of fascism?

– Marxists saw them both as the same

• Or did Nazism draw its inspiration from fascism and then become something different?– Importance of racism to Nazism

Hitler and Nazi Germany

Post WWI Germany

• Suffering from the terms of the Treaty of Versailles– Economy would quickly crumble under the strains

of the Treaty

• January 1919 – German Worker’s Party (DAP) was founded in Munich by nationalists

Adolf Hitler• Abusive father, weird

childhood – you could do a research paper here

• Austrian, but since his father was loyal to Austria, Hitler considered himself German instead of German-Austrian

• Wanted to go to art school, orphaned, moved to Germany…

• Petitioned to fight in a Bavarian unit once WWI started– Blindness caused by a gas attack caused Hitler to “see”

that he was the future of saving Germany

Hitler and the Rise of Nazism• Adolf Hitler remained in the army after WWI– He was sent to investigate the new DAP, but then soon

joined by September 1919• Hitler quickly rose in the ranks of the party based

on his oratorical skills, including his ability to inspirationally recount the experiences of WWI.– He referred to himself as a nameless soldier in WWI.• Hitler reshaped and renamed the party: National

Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) to envelop the left and right – they weren’t really socialist of course

The Brown Shirts• In imitation of Mussolini –

organized squads of muscle– Sturmabteilung (SA) –

Stormtroopers (name from WWI) wore brown shirts• Supposedly Hitler wanted black

shirts like Mussolini, but the military surplus store was out of black and had plenty of brown…

– Were very important to Hitler’s rise to power, but would be replaced by the SS after that

Growing Popularity of Nazism

• Began to attract famed fighters of WWI like General Ludendorff and fighter ace Hermann Goring

– Goring would be one of the first leaders of the SA

Beer Hall Putsch • Failed attempt at a coup on

November 8-9, 1923• Supposed to be a re-

creation of the March on Rome

• During his time in jail, Hitler rethought his tactics to gain power legally– Instead he would use

democracy to destroy democracy

Bürgerbräukeller Beer Hall in Munich 1923

Beer Hall Putsch cont.

• Post Beer Hall Putsch propaganda promised a revival of the inner truce of WWI – Burgfrieden

• This was set in terms of a racially defined Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community)– This would exclude the

outsiders (Jews)

Nazism • Denounced the

Versailles Treaty• Endorsed the “Stab

in the Back” legend– German Jews were

blamed for Germany’s problems

• Impact of WWI on Nazis– Hierarchical rank

structure, military language, rituals, uniforms, glorification of war

Nazis Come to Power in Germany

• January 1933 Hitler came to power as chancellor of Germany– Nazi Party won election and elected Hitler as their

chancellor– The Great Depression helped boost Nazis into

power

Political Parties in the Reichstag

May 1924

Dec. 1924

May1928

Sep.1930

July1932

Nov.1932

Mar.1933

Communist Party (KPD)

62 45 54 77 89 100 81

Social Democratic Party (SDP)

100 131 153 143 133 121 120

Catholic Centre Party (BVP)

81 88 78 87 97 90 93

Nationalist Party (DNVP)

95 103 73 41 37 52 52

Nazi Party (NSDAP)

32 14 12 107 230 196 288

Other Parties 102 112 121 122 22 35 23

Hitler’s War Aims• Hitler wanted a war that would be a replay of the

Great War with adifferent ending– New war aims included a German racial Empire in

Eastern Europe– Cleansing of Germany would prevent a repeat of the

Stab in the Back• Would eventually lead to purification to create a master race

– Nazi elite was proud of its toughness, unsentimental efficiency, and coldness

– Outside Germany, Hitler claimed that he wanted peace, since he was a former soldier and everything… Inside Germany he mobilized the country for war and Germans celebrated nationalistic events in WWI

Totalitarianism in the Soviet Union

Stalin Takes Leadership of the Soviet Union• Lenin died in 1924• By 1927 Stalin had established himself as the heir to

the Bolshevik leadership– Bye bye Trotsky – he ran away to Mexico where he was

killed … by an ice pick!

Stalin’s Changes to the Soviet Union

• Stalin began to prepare the country for the war he knew was coming– Since WWI was a capitalistic war, there would

have to be another one since capitalism had not been destroyed yet

Stalin’s Changes to the Soviet Union

• Society was “Stalinized” during the late 1920’s and into the 1930’s:

• Purges of the Great Terror– Stalin got rid of all of those he though were

against him or Communism

• Violent Collectivization of the countryside• Forced industrialization• All cost millions of lives

Stalin’s Attitudes• Stalin and his supporters were realists who

were intentionally tough in pursuit of their goals– Historians claim that this ethos had shaped younger

Bolsheviks during the brutal years of the Russian Civil war

– Seen in the militarized language of Stalin’s propaganda – “enemies, campaigns, the fronts of the battle for industrialization…”

Stalin’s Plans for the Coming War• New goal was to stand aside from the coming war –

let the capitalists fight it out– Repetition of Lenin’s plan in the last stages of WWI –

Brest-Litovsk– Would allow the Soviet Union to come out on top– Led to an alliance with Hitler in the Nazi-SovietNon-

Aggression Pact of August 1939• Partnership with ideological enemies• Fit into Stalin’s idea of staying out of the war• Total miscalculation since Hitler attacked in 1941

Militarism in Japan

The Meiji Restoration

• In the 1800’s, Japan chose to modernize itself instead of face China’s fate of being carved up by Western powers:– Made Japan imperialistic as well– Caused a rapid development and modernization

of Japan’s army and navy– Caused Japan to want to be valued on the world

political scene

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922

• A battleship tonnage limit was achieved with this ratio: US Britain Japan France Italy 5 5 3 1.67 1.67

• Japan got a guarantee that the US and Britain would stop fortifying their Far East territories (including the Philippines).

• Loophole - no restrictions on small warships• Angered Japan that they were not accepted as equals

to America and England

Japan as an Imperialist Power

• Ideas circulated at the turn of the century that Japan needed to expand itself through imperialism– This would take care of domestic issues and

Japan’s lack of natural resources– By the Inter-war Years, Japan could not generate

enough food to feed its population and it could never generate enough raw materials

• This prompted the idea of a strong military to help Japan take over other areas

The Manchurian Incident - 1931• China was the obvious

next step– Currently weak country

that had already let itself get taken over for the last 100 years or so

• Japanese army in Manchuria took it over - without instructions from the Japanese government

Japan Invades Manchuria

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

The China Incident 1937-1938(Second Sino-Japanese War)

• By 1938, Japan had taken over most of fertile China– Yellow and Yangtze

River Valleys– Peking and Nanking• Rape of Nanking

December 1937-January 1938

Militarism• Japan was ruled by an imperial government (led by

an emperor), but during this time, militariststook over control of the country.

• Militarism is a type of government that uses the strength of the military to further the goals of the country – the goals of the country are nationalistic.

• Militarists also believe that discipline (like that found in the military) is necessary for the proper functioning of society.

Hideki Tojo• General in the China Incident• Became Vice-Minister of

War in 1938– Encouraged rearmament– Nationalist, but not as radical

as some• Became Minister of War in

1940• Became Prime Minister in

1941 – ruled Japan through the war

Fascism (Falange Party) in Spain

Fascism in Spain• In 1936, a group of Spanish army officers led by

GeneralisimoFrancisco Franco rebelled against the Spanish republic.

• This began the Spanish Civil War, which ended after half a million deaths in 1939; Franco was victorious.

• The Spanish Civil War aroused sympathies all over the world. For those who wanted to stop the spread of fascism, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

Francisco Franco

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

The American “Lincoln Brigade”

Fascism in Spain

• Even though many individuals from other countries went to help those fighting Franco, fascism still won in Spain.

• Hitler and Mussolini both sent aid to help Franco. This connection helped bond the German and Italian dictators for life.

The “Pact of Steel”

The “Pact of Steel”

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1939

Italian troops in Madrid

Italian troops in Madrid

The Spanish Civil War:A Dress Rehearsal for WWII?