Dictators

• Problema After the War Against Britain

  • 460,000 soldiers were killed
  • heavy debt
  • Britain and France didn't give Italy the land the promised
  • governments were all coalitions that could not make decisions
  • rising unemployment led to unrest in cities
• Fascism - System of government w centralized authority under a dictator

  • usually involves terror, censorship, nationalism, and rasicm
• Mussolini Gains Power

  • Mussolini set up a Fascist party and promised to solve Italy's problems
  • Promised to rebuild Italy and recreate the Roman Empire
  • Organized armed gangs called the "Blackshirts"
  • Came to power in 1922 and was appointed Prime Minister by King Victor Emmanuel to present a Communist Revolution in Italy
• In Oct 1936, Hitler and Mussolini signed a non military alliance. Mussolini signed a full defensive alliance w Nazi Germany In the Pact of Steel.
• Hitler's Political Ideas

  • "A Master Race"
  • Anschluss - Unification of all Germans
  • Lebensraum - "Living Space"
• A Master Race

  • Goal: Hitler considered the German Aryan race to be a

  master race, superior to all others. He wanted to

  create legions of Aryan “supermen” – tall, blond

  haired and blue eyed racially pure Germans to

  lead the Third Reich for 1000 years

  • Implementation: Hitler would encourage women to have as many children as possible. He would also start the Lebensborn breeding program to create children. Finally, those who did not meet racial criteria were eliminated .
• Anschluss – “unification of all Germans”

  • Goal: Hitler claimed that many Germans lived outside of

  Germany, in areas such as Austria and Hungary.

  The treaty of Versailles in particular has forced

  the separation of these German speakers. He

  argued they should be united.

  • Implementation: Hitler would annex Austria with no opposition on the grounds that he was re-uniting Germany speakers to the Fatherland. He used this as justification for wanting to take over the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
• Lebensraum – “living space”

  • Goal: Hitler needed land for his master race
  • Implementation: He forced all non-Aryans –especially Jews - to leave Germany. He also invaded Poland on the grounds that he needed the space for Reich Germans.
• 1933 – Hitler becomes Chancellor

  1933 to 1936 – Hitler breaks the Treaty of Versailles in several ways:

  i. begins program of conscription for military service

  ii. builds up the war industry

  iii. remilitarizes the Rhineland
• Policy of Appeasement - Policy of giving in to avoid conflict
• 1938 – Hitler takes over Austria, proclaiming Anschluss – the Austrians do not resist, and Britain and France do not react
• 1938 – Hitler claims part of Czechoslovakia (called the Sudetenland) to ‘liberate’ the German speaking people there.
• Munich Agreement

  • Britain and France meet with Hitler to try to negotiate a settlement but Czechs was not present nor the power to fight Germans
  • The agreement gives Hitler the Sudetenland so long as he promises to stop all territorial demands.
• September 1, 1939 – Hitler invades Poland after promising to end his territorial expansion. Britain and France declare war. Canada declares war on September 10, 1939.