Totalitarianism

• Treaty of Versailles signed, officially ended World War I and imposed harsh penalties on Germany


  1919
• Treaty of Versailles


  • Demanded significant territorial losses, demilitarization, and reparations payments from Germany
  • Established the League of Nations
• Many historians argue that the treaty's punitive terms contributed to economic hardship in Germany and resentment, laying the groundwork for future conflicts
• Nationalism


  A political ideology or sentiment characterized by a strong attachment to one's nation, often manifesting as pride in its culture, history, and achievements. It can also involve a desire for self-determination and the promotion of national interests above those of other countries
• Lost Generation


  A group of writers and artists who came of age during or immediately following World War I, characterized by disillusionment and despair experienced by many young people who witnessed the horrors of the war
• Collectivization


  The process of bringing privately owned means of production, such as land and farms, under collective ownership, usually by the state
• Collectivization


  • Often associated with Marxist or communist ideologies, seen as a step towards achieving socialist goals such as equitable distribution of resources and elimination of class distinctions
  • May be used as a tool for centralizing control over agricultural production and suppressing opposition from independent farmers
• Great Purge


  A period of intense political repression and persecution carried out by Joseph Stalin's Soviet regime in the late 1930s, targeting perceived enemies of the state
• Great Purge


  • Characterized by mass arrests, show trials, executions, and forced labor in the Gulag system
  • Served to consolidate Stalin's power and ensure obedience among the population
• Five-Year Plans (Stalin)


  A series of centralized economic plans implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union from the late 1920s to the early 1940s, aimed at rapidly industrializing the Soviet economy
• Five-Year Plans


  • Focused on sectors such as heavy industry, transportation, and energy production
  • Implemented through strict central control and authoritarian measures, including the collectivization of agriculture, forced labor, and the suppression of dissent
  • Resulted in significant industrial growth but also widespread human suffering
• Command economy


  An economic system in which the government centrally plans and controls the production, distribution, and pricing of goods and services
• Command economy


  • Often utilized by totalitarian regimes to exert control over all aspects of society, including the economy
  • Allows the government to regulate economic activity to serve their political aims, prioritize resources for their own agenda, and ensure obedience from the population
• Kulaks


  Prosperous peasants who owned larger farms or were successful in agriculture, targeted for elimination by the Soviet government during collectivization efforts
• Fascism


  A political ideology characterized by authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and dictatorial power, often emphasizing the supremacy of the nation or race, as well as strict control over the economy and society
• Fascism


  • Represents one form of authoritarian rule within the framework of totalitarianism
  • Promotes a totalitarian state where the leader exercises absolute power and imposes the ideology of nationalism and often racism on the population
• Totalitarianism


  A form of government characterized by absolute centralized control over all aspects of public and private life, suppressing individual freedoms, controlling the economy, and monopolizing political power
• Nuremberg Laws


  A set of antisemitic laws enacted by Nazi Germany in 1935, aimed at institutionalizing racial discrimination against Jews and other non-Aryans
• Nuremberg Laws


  • Deprived Jews of their civil rights, prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with non-Jews, and restricted their participation in various aspects of public life
  • Played a significant role in laying the groundwork for the Holocaust
• Comintern


  An international organization founded in 1919 by Vladimir Lenin, with the aim of promoting worldwide communist revolution
• Comintern


  • Served as a forum for coordinating the activities of communist parties around the world and providing ideological guidance from the Soviet Union
  • Played a significant role in spreading communist ideology and supporting communist movements in various countries
• The Great Depression began, a severe worldwide economic downturn


  1929
• Kristallnacht, a state-sponsored pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany


  November 9-10, 1938
• Joseph Stalin


  Soviet politician who ruled the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953
• Joseph Stalin's rule


  1. Consolidated power after the death of Vladimir Lenin

  2. Led the country through industrialization, collectivization of agriculture, and rapid modernization

  3. Transformed the Soviet Union into a major world power
• Joseph Stalin's rule was characterized by authoritarianism, political repression, and widespread human rights abuses
• Stalin's policies led to the deaths of millions of people through forced labor camps (Gulags), purges, and famines, most notably the Ukrainian Holodomor (also known as the Ukrainian famine) and the Great Purge
• Adolf Hitler


  Leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945
• Adolf Hitler's rise to power

  1. Rose to power as Chancellor in 1933

  2. Later became Führer, consolidating dictatorial control over the country
• Hitler's regime was responsible for initiating World War II, orchestrating the Holocaust, and implementing a genocidal campaign that led to the deaths of millions, particularly targeting Jews, Romani people, disabled individuals, and others deemed "undesirable" by the Nazi ideology
• Hitler's aggressive expansionist policies plunged Europe into chaos and resulted in immense suffering and loss of life
• After Germany's defeat in 1945, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin as Allied forces closed in on the city
• Benito Mussolini


  Italian dictator who rose to power in the early 20th century
• Benito Mussolini's rise to power

  1. Founded the Fascist Party in Italy

  2. Became Prime Minister in 1922

  3. Established a dictatorship
• Mussolini's rule was marked by censorship, propaganda, and the suppression of political dissent
• Mussolini pursued expansionist ambitions, invading Ethiopia in 1935 and aligning Italy with Hitler's Germany, leading to Italy's defeat in World War II and Mussolini's downfall in 1943
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)


  32nd President of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945
• FDR's leadership


  1. Implemented the New Deal, a series of programs aimed at providing relief, recovery, and reform to lift the country out of the Great Depression

  2. Led the United States through most of World War II, overseeing significant military and economic efforts to support the Allies against the Axis powers
• FDR's presidency profoundly transformed the role of the federal government in American society and left a lasting impact on domestic and international politics
• Why the US did not join the League of Nations

  Concerns over preserving its sovereignty and avoiding entanglement in European affairs