Chapter 17
Section 3
The Rise of
Militarism
Mussolini in Italy
• Although on the winning side of WWI, thousands of Italian
veterans were unable to find jobs and many joined the Italian
Communist Party
• To destroy the Communist Party and promote his own power,
{Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Party} in 1921
• {Fascists believed that a military dominated government should
control all aspects of society.}
• Clashes between Communists and Fascists created a situation
that bordered on civil war
• In October 1922 {Mussolini led an army called the
Blackshirts} to march on Rome and occupied the city
• Mussolini was made prime minister of Italy and used his power
to march on a weak Ethiopia.
• Because the U.S. did not want to get pulled into the conflict it
refused aid to both sides. This hurt Ethiopia more than Italy
• It also portrayed to other fascist countries, like Germany, that
aggression would go unpunished
Mussolini's Blackshirts included
men, women and children
Stalin and the Soviet Union
• After the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, a struggle broke out
among the Communist Party leaders
• By using unethical means, such as the assassination of his
competition and enemies, Joseph Stalin came to by the
country’s leader
• Stalin turned the Soviet Union into a {totalitarian state- a
country where the government has complete control.}
• He began taking private lands by force. When the farmers
would fight back they would be sent to labor camps (along with
about 15 million others by 1933)
• With no farmers, Stalin’s policy resulted in widespread famine
• {Stalin enforced his rule through the Red Army.}
• Stalin began a campaign to eliminate all perceived enemies
from the Communist Party with the Red Army
Hitler in Germany
• In 1932 Hitler’s Nazi Party won nearly 40% of the vote in
national elections
• Hitler wrote Mein Kampf while in prison. His book laid out his
plans for Germany and blamed Jews, Communists and
intellectuals for Germany’s decline
• {Hitler’s government was called the Third Reich.} It claimed
dictatorial powers like prohibiting non-Nazis from holding
governmental positions
• {Hitler’s Nazi soldiers became known known as Brownshirts}
• Hitler rearmed Germany which was in violation of the Treaty of
Versailles. But Hitler said that the rearmament was to help the
economy and reduce unemployment
• In March 1936, German troops moved into the Rhineland. Two
years later they took Austria. He then turned to Czechoslovakia.
• Czech. refused to surrender
Anti-Semitism
• Meanwhile Hitler’s {anti-Semitism, or hatred of Jews}, became
official government policy.
• In 1935 Hitler instituted the Nuremberg Laws, which stated that
Jews were no longer German citizens and endorsed the
destruction of Jewish property.
• On November 9, 1938, Nazi’s burned down synagogues and
destroyed Jewish businesses in a violent display that was just a
glimpse of what was to come for the Jewish population in what
was came to be known as Kristallnacht “the night of broken
glass”
• Increased oppression led many Jews to flee the country, {but
the vast majority had neither the money or the means to leave
Germany}
• Hundreds came to the United States, but the U.S. had strict
immigration laws. Despite such atrocities as the Kristallnacht,
Americans were unwilling to encourage Jewish immigration
Franco in Spain
• Fascism also spread to Spain
• In 1931 a new constitution was put into effect that limited the
power of the military and the Catholic Church.
• Feeling threatened, the military united under the leadership of
{General Francisco Franco
• In July 1936 the Fascist army tried to overthrow the government,
starting the Spanish Civil War.}
• After about three years of fighting, Franco took over the
government with German and Italian aid
• But again fearing involvement in a war, Roosevelt kept the U.S.
from sending aid
• A number of {Americans formed the Popular Front- an
international alliance that was united against fascism}
• After the Spanish Civil War, many remained bitter about
America’s failure to support their cause
Militarists in Japan
• As Germany was threatening Europe, Japan’s military forces
were gaining power.
• The military forces sought to lessen Japans reliance on foreign
imports, lessen the influence of western countries in Asia and
expansion through East Asia and the Pacific
• The poor condition of the economy of Japan led to the appeal
of the militarists’ position
• In violation of their Washington Conference promises, Japan
invaded Manchuria and began to build up a large navy.
• On July 7, 1937, Japan and China battled near Beijing, leading
to a full scale war.
• Japan launched bombing raids against Chinese cities and that
December Japanese troops occupied the Chinese city of
Nanjing
• Although the League of Nations and the U.S. condemned
Japan’s actions, they failed to stop them
The Japanese attack on
the Chinese city of
Nanjing
Art stature outside the Nanjing Massacre
Memorial Museum
Nanjing, Jiangsu, China