FSU WOH 1030 - The Great Depression and the Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe

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The Great Depression and the Rise of Totalitarianism in EuropeI. Background a. Totalitarian (Extreme extension of Authoritarianism) i. Phenomenon of pretty much only Europe ii. Public/Privateiii. More oppressiveiv. Leaders typically identify themselves as the “state”1. Stalin2. Hitlera. Control massesb. Authoritariani. Will seek advice or occasionally defer to othersii. Public1. Mussolini 2. Lenina. Control masses II. Mussolini and Fascism in Italy1. Seizure of Powera. Before the Great War he was a socialistsb. At the wars conclusion he realized he was probably wrong and socialists were right. c. British and French broke their promise of land in Austro-Hungary empired. He organized among disenfranchised war veterans; he wasn’t a very creative guy and couldn’t connect with the average persone. His initial plan was mostly a copy of Socialistsi. Workers’ rights, land redistribution, etc. f. To attract people to this new cause began giving speeches about how Italy was being treated and over time they became more nationalists and less socialistsg. Once he gets a decent base he wants a revelation. His fear was that communists would take over with their own revolution. h. He threatened people with a worldwide communist take over as a way to scare peoplei. He creates his own form of storm troopersi. Black Shirts1. Person private and illegal army2. Only goal is to stir up trouble3. Repress electoral process.. intimidate government4. Grown so large that they threaten a revolution of their own by marching on Rome to depose the king and install their own type of governmentj. The king didn’t want this to happened so he preempts Mussolini k. Makes him head of governmentl. As soon as he is in office he gets dictatorial power for 1 yearm. He came to power in a legal fashion and major structures of government didn’t change. n. Mussolini never really expanded his power2. Regime in Actiona. He was compared to Louis Napoléon because he promised stability and reformb. No freedom of speech, assembly or labor unions c. Reorganized public education system in Italy to teach Fascism 3. Mussolini’s Weaknessesa. Could not get entire population to get behind him so a lot of traditional societal structures never changedb. Always opposition to his ruleIII. Hitler and National Socialism in Germany1. Versailles Treaty (Treaty that ended the war)a. 2 major i. French and British forced German to accept complete guilt for the War. War Guilt Clauseb. The effect of war reparations i. 226 billion marksii. It set up the stage for the 2nd World Wariii. Entire German factories were lifted off their foundations and shipped from Germany to Francec. Versailles Treaty was not well received in Germany. Germany economy was in shambles. It allowed for a lot of radical splinter groups to merge2. It is the Economy…stupida. uber-inflationa. New word to describe events in Germanyb. French and British originally wanted to receive reparations in cash but as German mark became worthless they wanted commodities.b. Most Germans were willing to turn to radical people who would oppose Versailles treaty and bring Germany 3. Hitler’s Road to Powera. Munich Beer Hall Putsch a. Hitler and a group of likeminded guys got together and realized that Mussolini was successful with the march on Romeb. They began a revolution in Munich at a Beer Hall… it was suppressed and during Hitler’s public trial he used his time to criticize the governmentc. The judge was sympathetic and Hitler became somewhat popular during his trial… he was found guilty and sentenced to prison which was comfortabled. During this time he wrote the Mein Kampf which was an outline of his plans for Germanye. He realized that Revolution would work. He had to undermine it by using electoral process to his advantage; was released from jail published the Mein Kampf and created the Nazi Party.f. Gathered 6.5 million votes for the Nazi Party which gave them some political voice in 1930. In 1932 they won about 14.5 million votes and became the largest party; they didn’t have the most power though.g. He becomes anti everything other than Nazism h. Liberals, Conservatives, and Socialists decided they can control him and do it my making Hitler chancellor of Germany… the guy with the real power… thinking that he would moderate his views and work for the good of all Germans aka the Back Room Deal.i. He had no interest in moderating his views.j. Electoral success declined and Hitler realized that not everyone agrees with his ideas and decides that he didn’t need electionsk. Manufactured a crisis by setting fire to the Reichstag and said that German state was under attack by Socialists and Communistsl. Without communists there Nazi’s had an electoral majority and pass the enabling actb. The “Rational” Deala.4. The Nazi State and Societya. Enabling Acta. Enables Hitler to become the dictator of Germany for at least 4 years5. Changes to Societya. Limits on freedom of speech and assemblyb. Any other political adversaries are extinguished or sent into hiding c. Labor unions were banned in their place a national labor front was created (KDF) not a labor union and didn’t give and rights or bargaining power. d. Education system was completely reorganized to indoctrinate certain parts of history to children. e. Nazi Party outlawed BBCi. Germans found out that the most popular German program aired at 4 p.m. and people would disappear going into their basements and listenii. Germans produced a new type of radio. The dial that would tune into the BBC’s station would not work and only picked up 1 channel which was Nazi propaganda.f. There was no opportunity for opposition. g. KDF would send workers on trips to desolate areas and take tours of the places to show how good Germany was under Nazi rulei. Workers would come back and tell what they saw which was always negative and people began to think that Nazi’s were doing something great.6. International Responsea. Appeasementa. Hitler succeeded in bringing back stability to society and the economy. German economy reached full employment by 1936. b. Hitler openly refuted the Versailles Treaty and takes away basically refusing to pay the French and British.c. Openly not paying should have brought conflict with the French and British, but it didn’t because they were focused on their own internal problem and that Germany wasn’t much of a threat d. At this point Hitler enacts “Living Space”/lebensraumi.


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FSU WOH 1030 - The Great Depression and the Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe

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