World War II Erupts Chapter 23

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World War II EruptsChapter 23

• The Rise of Dictators
• Section 1

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Europe after WWI
German Hyperinflation
One American dollar could buy about 9 German
marks in 1919.
By 1923, some 300 paper mills and 2,000 printing
presses were working around the clock to print
money.

• World War I caused the deaths of millions and the
  destruction of numerous cities and farms. The
  European economy was in ruins.
• Germany was most affected by the Treaty of
  Versailles.

Prices rose extremely fast. One customer at a
café ordered a cup of coffee at 5,000 marks. By
the time he ordered his second, the price had
risen to 7,000 marks.
A typical loaf of bread cost about 1 mark in
1920. By November 1, 1923 that bread might cost
3 billion marks. Two weeks later it would have
risen to 80 billion marks.
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The Rise of Totalitarian Leaders
Name three things that Mussolini and Hitler had
in Common?

1. Outraged by the Treaty of Versailles
2. Dynamic speakers
3. Strong leaders
4. Stressed nationalism
5. Used political skills and violence when necessary
   to gain power.
6. Glorified by citizens
7. Totalitarian Dictators

• Leaders who reflected the peoples bitterness and
  anger emerged.
• These leaders promised a return to greatness.

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Benito Mussolini

• Benito Mussolini led the Italian government by
  1922.
• His vision of a strong, orderly Italy was
  appealing
• He founded the National Fascist Party.
• Fascism stressed the glory of the statethe
  rights and concerns of individuals were of little
  importance.
• Had total control over daily life in a
  totalitarian regime

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Adolf Hitler

• Adolf Hitler was an Austrian who entered German
  politics because he was angry over the Treaty of
  Versailles.
• Tried to seize power in Germany by force in 1923
  revolt failed and he was sent to prison.
• From prison, wrote Mein Kampfa book that
  outlined his political ideas.
• Believed in the racial superiority of the German
  people
• Blamed the Jews for many of Germanys problems

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Adolf Hitler

• Hitler became Germanys chancellor in 1933.
• Set up a totalitarian dictatorship
• Secretly began to build up the German military

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Other Totalitarian Regimes

• Spain
• Soviet Union
• Japan

Joseph StalinSoviet Union
Hideki Tojo--Japan
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Soviet Union

• Communism and fascism represent opposite
  political extremes.
• Yet, under Joseph Stalin, communism was similar
  to fascism. He crushed all political opposition.
• Stalin dominated all areas of Soviet life.
• One of the eras most notorious totalitarian
  dictators

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Joseph Stalin

• Stalin focused on creating a model Communist
  state in the Soviet Union by making agricultural
  and industrial restructuring.
• In 1927 he got rid of all private enterprise
  especially private farming.
• He forced Russias peasants to give up their
  small plots of land to form large state-owned
  farms.
• His second main goal was to turn the Soviet Union
  into a great industrial power.

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More Stalin

• He turned the Soviet Union into a police statea
  state in which no one was safe from the prying
  eyes and ears of Stalins spies and secret
  police.
• Anyone even suspected of talking bad about the
  government or Stalin was shipped to Siberia to
  work.
• During the great purge of the 1930s tens of
  thousands of Communist Party officials,
  bureaucrats, and army officers were branded
  enemies of the people and were executed.
• Historians believe that Stalin was responsible
  for between 8 million to 13 million deaths.

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The Rhineland
How did Hitler Justify rebuilding Germanys
Military?
He said that he was helping stop the spread of
communism.

• Germany could not have troops in an area of the
  Rhine River valley along the French border.
• This was meant to protect France against a
  possible German invasion.
• Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland in 1936.

Why do you think the British were so eager to
avoid war that they allowed Hitler to violate the
Treaty of Versailles and international law?
Devastation of WWI. Determination to avoid
another war. Maintain peace. Thought each
violation would be the last one.
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The Anschluss

• In 1938 Hitler tried to unite the ethnic Germans
  of Austria with those of Germany.
• He tried to force the Austrian government to
  agree to Anschluss
• union with Germany
• When the Austrian government refused, Hitler sent
  troops into the country.
• No one stopped Hitler.

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The Sudetenland

• Hitler began plans to gain control of a
  German-speaking portion of Czechoslovakia.
• He encouraged the Germans in the area to protest
  the Czech government and then threatened a
  military attack.
• Neville Chamberlain and others allowed Hitler to
  annex the Sudetenland.