A.
The United States should avoid conflict with
other countries at any cost.
B.
The United States should object to the
policies of other countries to protect those
who are threatened or harmed by them,
even when our own security is at risk.
C.
The United States should object to the
policies of other countries only if our own
security is at risk.
The Coming of War
1931-1942
The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
A Changed Europe
A Changed Europe
Dictatorship

autocratic form of absolute rule

leadership unrestricted by law, constitutions, or
other social and political factors within the state.
Totalitarianism


Twentieth-century phenomenon
A single party or leader controls the
economic, social, and cultural lives of its
people
Characteristics of a totalitarian state







Single-party dictatorship exerting control over all aspects
of life
Strong, charismatic leader often at head of government
State control of the economy
Use of police, spies, and terror to enforce the will of the
state
Government control the media and use of propaganda to
indoctrinate citizens
Use of schools and youth to spread ideology to citizens
Strict censorship of artists, intellectuals, and political
rivals with dissenting opinions
In other words…
Dictatorship
 source of the governing
power


where the power comes
from
Contrast to democracy


Dictatorship: government
without people's consent
Democracy: government
whose power comes from
people
Totalitarianism

scope of the governing
power


what is the government
Contrast to pluralism


Totalitarianism: government
controls every aspect of
people's life
Pluralism: government
allows multiple lifestyles
and opinions
The Soviet Union
Soviet Union

1917: Russian Communist Revolution


First totalitarian state (Vladamir Lenin)
1924: Joseph Stalin becomes head of the
state
Joseph Stalin

“Man of Steel”


Transform the Soviet Union




Suspicious, cruel, ruthless, tyrannical
Industrial power
State-run collective farms
10 million deaths
Great Terror (1930s)

Purge of the Communist Party
Joseph Stalin

A combination of fear
and massive
propaganda kept Stalin
in power
Italy
Italy

Totalitarianism—direct result of the war and
the peace treaties




Land
Depression
Communist movement
Weak and inept government
Benito Mussolini

1919: Fasci di
Combattimento (Fascist
Party)




Right-wing organization
Promotes nationalism
Promised to make Italy
great again
“Black Shirts”

Fought socialists and
communists
Benito Mussolini



1922: forms government
“Il Duce” (“the leader”)
Controlled government and army within a few years






Outlaws political parties
Controlled press
Secret police
Youth groups
Suppressed strikes
Opposed liberalism and socialism
Benito Mussolini

Never held the same
power over Italy that
Stalin held over the
Soviet Union.
Characteristics of a totalitarian state







Single-party dictatorship exerting control over all aspects
of life
Strong, charismatic leader often at head of government
State control of the economy
Use of police, spies, and terror to enforce the will of the
state
Government control the media and use of propaganda to
indoctrinate citizens
Use of schools and youth to spread ideology to citizens
Strict censorship of artists, intellectuals, and political
rivals with dissenting opinions
Germany
Weimar Republic


German democracy
Struggled throughout the 1920s


Establishing new government
Economic problems



Runaway inflation
Resented the Treaty of Versailles
Worldwide Great Depression
The Nazis

National Socialist
German Workers’ Party


Opposed socialism,
communism
German ethnic solidarity
Adolph Hitler

Joined the small Nazi Party after WWI


Soon gained control
Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”)

Explained Germany’s troubles


People, political programs, ideologies
Communists and Jews


Anti-Semitism in Europe
Outlined hatreds, plans for world domination
Adolph Hitler


1933: Hitler appointed
chancellor of Germany
1934: Führer



Complete control of state
and military
Unchecked by Reichstag
Symbol of the
totalitarian regime


Secret police
State-controlled press,
education system
Adolph Hitler

Economic policies
ended depression



Rearmament
Public works projects
Political initiatives
restricted freedom



Jews
Communists
Socialists
Propaganda against Jews
Japan
Japan

1920s: democracy




Reduced military power
All men have the right to vote
Legalized trade unions
Diverse political parties
Japan

Great Depression ended this period


Increasing military power could solve economic
problems
Japan did not become a totalitarian
dictatorship

Constitutional monarchy
Japan

Aggressive military
expansion


1931: Manchuria
1937: control over China


Railroads, coastal areas
“The Rape of Nanjing”
1930s: The Decade of Aggression
“The best lack all conviction and the worst
are full of passionate intensity.”
William Butler Yeats
1930s: The Decade of Aggression

League of Nations


Only as strong as its members’ resolve
Hitler

Reunifying Germanic people under one Reich
(state)


Saar; Rhineland
Mussolini

1935: Invasion of Ethiopia
1930s: The Decade of Aggression

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)



Nationalists (fascists) rebelled against democratic
Republican government
Nationalists aided by Hitler and Mussolini
Soviet Union aids Republicans

France, Britain, U.S. remain uninvolved
Appeasement

Grants concessions to a potential enemy in
the hope that it will maintain peace
Li'l Hitler


Austria—Anschluss
Sudetenland (w. Czechoslovakia)


Munich Pact: “peace for our time.”
11 months later…
WHY DIDN’T BRITAIN STOP
HITLER?