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Mussolini
During World War I, Italy decided to join the Allies after France and Britain promised Italy
certain territory from Austria-Hungary. Italians were particularly interested in this territory because a
lot of ethnic Italians lived in these territories. After the war, Italy received some of the promised
territory, but some of it became a part of the newly created state Yugoslavia. Italian nationalists
were outraged and they claimed that the peace settlement did not justify the sacrifices that Italy had
made during the war. Benito Mussolini was one of these nationalists and in 1919 he organized
WWI veterans and discontented Italians into the Fascist Party. The Fascist Party took its name
from the Latin term fasces which meant a bundle of sticks wrapped around an ax. In ancient
Rome, the fasces were a symbol for unity and authority. Mussolini gained support by promising to
restore order in Italy and to revive the greatness of the Roman Empire.
A drawing of the fasces.
One way that Mussolini and the Fascists gained power and control in Italy was through
terror. Benito Mussolini organized his more militant supporters into “combat squads” that were
called the Black Shirts because they wore black shirts. The Black Shirts were especially violent
towards Italian socialists. They also used violence to force some elected officials out of office. In
1922, Mussolini and tens of thousands of Fascists marched towards Rome (in what is now known
as the March on Rome) to demand that the government make changes. During this time, Italy was
a parliamentary monarchy. In order to prevent a possible civil war, on October 30, 1922, King
Victor Emmanuel III asked Mussolini to serve as the Italian Prime Minister.
Mussolini and the Black Shirts march on Rome
By 1925, Mussolini took on the title Il Duce or “The Leader.” He began to rigidly suppress
any opposition. The Black Shirts and the police were sent to suppress rival political parties.
Mussolini also censored the press and changed the election laws to favor the Fascists.
In 1929, Mussolini negotiated an agreement with Pope Pius XI. Mussolini promised to
recognize the Vatican City as an independent state in return for the Pope’s support for Mussolini
and the Fascists.
In order to revive Germany’s economy, Mussolini developed a corporatist state. A
corporatist state provides a balance between state and private control of the economy. Mussolini
placed elite Italians and industrial leaders in charge of the different branches of industry, agriculture,
and commerce.
Benito Mussolini
Under Mussolini’s Fascist rule, Italians were commanded to place loyalty to the state (Italy)
above their own personal interests. He used the propaganda slogan “Believe! Obey! Fight!” to urge
Italians to fight for the glory of Italy and the Roman Empire. Mussolini targeted Italian children to
build the new army he would need for his plan to expand Italian power. Fascist youth groups were
organized to teach Italian children strict military discipline and the glories of ancient Rome.
Mussolini addressing a crowd. The words at the bottom say
BELIEVE OBEY FIGHT
Stalin
After Lenin died in 1924, there were two men who competed for his position as leader of the
Soviet Union: Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Trotsky and Stalin were both powerful members of
the Communist Party and they had both helped organize the Bolshevik Revolution that brought
Lenin to power. Stalin removed his competition by turning members of the Communist Party
against Trotsky, forcing him into exile, and eventually having him killed in Mexico.
Joseph Stalin
After coming to power, one of the first things that Stalin did was bring the Soviet Union’s
economy under government control. Within this command economy, the Soviet government made
all the economic decisions and owned all the businesses and resources. Stalin developed his FiveYear Plans in an attempt to bring the Soviet Union into the modern industrial age. In order to
achieve this rapid industrialization, Stalin set high production goals and established harsh working
and living conditions for the workers. Stalin also brought farms and agriculture under state control.
Many peasants and wealthy farmers resented the collectivization of their land, but those who
resisted were sent to labor camps or left to starve after the government took all of their crops. A
terrible famine racked the country in 1932, and this period has come to be known as the Terror
Famine.
“Industrialization the Path to Socialism”
Stalin did not allow any dissent within the Soviet Union. There was no outlet for people to
express their discontent. Stalin’s secret police opened private mail, planted listening devices, and
censored the press. Those who were caught criticizing Stalin or the Communists were sent to the
brutal labor camps called the Gulag. Stalin also feared competition from within his own party (the
Communists) and he launched the Great Purge in 1934 to remove any rivals. The primary target of
Stalin and his secret police were Old Bolsheviks. These Communist leaders were sent to the
Gulag. The purges increased Stalin’s power because the Soviet citizens saw the consequences of
disloyalty. At the same time, however Stalin purged intellectuals, military officers, and leaders in
economics, industry, and engineering.
Stalin also tried to control the thoughts and feelings of Soviet citizens. He used propaganda
to bombard citizens with the glories of communism. The government controlled the arts and forced
artists and writers to show communism and life in the Soviet Union in a positive way. The
government also established atheism (or the belief that there is no god) as the official state
“religion.” Stalin believed that Soviet citizens would worship communism rather than a god.
Gulag watchtower
Stalin and the Communists developed two competing foreign policies for the Soviet Union.
On the one hand, the Soviet Union wanted to gain support from other countries and form alliances
in order to protect themselves. On the other hand, the Communists wanted to control a world-wide
communist revolution. During this time period, many of the great powers felt threatened by
communism (and the potential for a communist revolution), so they were reluctant to cooperate with
the Soviet Union.
Political cartoon showing the fear of the spread of communism,
also known as the “Red Scare”
Hitler
After World War I, Germany was governed by a new and struggling democratic
government—the Weimar Republic. Many Germans blamed the Weimar Republic for accepting the
harsh conditions in the Treaty of Versailles. As the economy in Germany continued to flounder
under the reparations payments and the depression, Germans began to call for another strong
leader like Bismarck. Hitler seemed to meet those demands with his strong sense of nationalism.
Hitler also promised that he would end reparations payments, he would create jobs, he would unite
all Germans into one nation, he would expand Germany’s borders, and he would begin a
rearmament program (a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles).
Hitler and members of the SS.
After the Great Depression, both the Nazi Party and the Communist Party gained seats in
the German legislature. Out of fear of the growing communist power, the German president asked
Hitler to become the chancellor (Prime Minister) of the German legislature in 1933. The
conservative politicians believed that it would be easier to control Hitler than the communists. By
1934, however, Hitler had consolidated his power and established himself as a dictator. He tried to
replace religion with his own racial creed about the glory of the Aryan race (light-skinned
Europeans). All Protestant sects were combined into a single state church and Catholic schools
were closed. The SS, or Hitler’s personal bodyguards, helped enforce Hitler’s decisions, and the
Gestapo, or the secret police, rooted out political opposition. The “Hitler Youth” was created to
teach the German youth the Nazi ideology and to train them for war.
“Youth serves the Fuhrer”
Once he came to power, Hitler fulfilled many of the promises that he had made to gain
support. He began making plans for the new Third Reich or empire, in which Germans would
dominate Europe. He fought unemployment by establishing a large public works program that gave
tens of thousands of Germans jobs. He helped create affordable products such as the peoples’
radio and the Volkswagen (peoples’ wagon). He also began to violate the conditions of the Treaty
of Versailles by starting a rearmament program and planning a way to unite Germany with its
former ally Austria.
“One (Volk) People, One (Reich) Empire, One (Fuhrer) Leader!”
During this time period, many Germans blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War
I and the country’s economic problems. Hitler had very strong anti-Semitic beliefs and he set out on
a mission to remove the Jews from Germany. The Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws in 1935.
Under the Nuremberg Laws, German Jews were deprived of their German citizenship, they were
prohibited from marrying non-Jews, holding government jobs, practicing law or medicine, or
publishing books. On the night of November 9-10 in 1938, the Nazis launched an attack on Jewish
communities all over Germany. This night came to be known as Kristallnacht or the “Night of
Broken Glass.” In the next few years, Hitler would develop a plan for the “Final Solution” to what he
considered to be the Jewish “problem.”
After the Nuremburg Laws were passed, the Nazis released diagrams such as this one to show
who was allowed to marry. The empty circles indicate full-blooded Germans and the black circles
indicate full-blooded Jews.
Chiang Kai-Shek
From 1912 to 1921, China experienced a period of great turmoil. The country lacked a
strong leader and local warlords began seizing power within the different provinces. During World
War I, the Japanese tried to make China a Japanese protectorate, and after the war, the Allies gave
Japan control over some Chinese territory that had been under German control. Japan’s increasing
imperialistic interests enraged Chinese Nationalists. In 1921, Sun Yixan and his Nationalist Party
called the Guomindang established a government in South China. Jiang Jieshi (or Chiang KaiShek) took control of the government and the Guomindang after Sun Yixan’s death in 1925. After
coming to power, Chiang Kai-Shek set out on a mission to defeat the warlords and to reunite China.
Chiang Kai-Shek, also called Jiang Jieshi
In 1926, Chiang Kai-Shek launched his campaign against the warlords. During this
campaign, which is known as the Northern Expedition, Chiang cooperated with the Chinese
Communists to lead his troops into northern China to capture Beijing. Along the way, Chiang’s
Nationalists and the Chinese Communists gained the support of some local warlords and defeated
others. After successfully capturing Beijing, however, Chiang turned his back on the Chinese
Communists and formed a new government led by the Guomindang. In 1927, Chiang ordered
Guomindang troops to kill members of the Communist Party and their supporters. This massacre
set off a civil war in China that would last for 22 years.
Map of the Northern Expedition
During the civil war between the Guomindang and the Chinese Communists, Mao Zedong
emerged as the leader of the Communist Party. He gained support for the communist throughout
the country by treating the peasants with kindness and respect. Chiang Kai-Shek was determined
to remove the communist competition so he launched a series of “extermination” campaigns against
them. From 1934-1935, the Guomindang troops forced the Communist army to retreat across
China in what is known as the Long March.
Mao Zedong
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and the beginning of the Second SinoJapanese War in 1937 forced cooperation between the Guomindang and the Chinese Communists.
They needed to present a united front against the invading Japanese. Chiang Kai-Shek and the
Guomindang government were forced to retreat back into the interior of China, but Chiang Kai-Shek
was able to maintain control of the Chinese government through the end of World War II when Mao
and the communists would come to power.
Hirohito
In 1926, Hirohito became the new Japanese emperor. At the ceremonies, Hirohito pledged
“to preserve world peace and benefit the welfare of the human race.” During the 1920s, Japan, like
the United States, experienced a period of wealth and prosperity, but tensions began to arise
between the military and the government. In an effort to strengthen its economic relations with the
Western powers, the Japanese government agreed to limit the size of its navy, to reduce military
spending, and to limit Japanese expansion. In 1923, one of the most destructive earthquakes in
world history struck Tokyo, and in the 1930s, the global depression began.
Damage after the earthquake in Tokyo
After the depression hit Japan, Japanese military officials and ultranationalists began to
blame the Japanese government for cooperating with the Western powers and limiting Japanese
expansion. They began to call for renewed expansion and the creation of a Japanese Empire. In
1931, a group of Japanese army officers invaded Manchuria. When the League of Nations
condemned the Japanese invasion, the Japanese simply withdrew from the League and their
disarmament treaties.
Political cartoon showing how the anti-war treaties of the era were ineffective in preventing
the Japanese invasion of Manchuria
The Japanese ultranationalists gained support for their foreign conquests and their
opposition to the Western powers. Members of extreme nationalist societies took violent action
against any opposition and ordered the assassination of a number of politicians and business
leaders who opposed Japanese expansion. In 1936, some nationalists plotted to overthrow the
Japanese government.
Emperor Hirohito
In order to retain control of the Japanese government, Hirohito had to give in to many
militaristic demands. In order to please the ultranationalists, Hirohito began to crack down on
Japanese socialists. Ancient warrior values (samurai) were revived, and the ultranationalists began
to build a cult around the emperor. Many Japanese believed that Hirohito was a descendent of the
sun goddess. Schools were used to spread the nationalist ideology and to teach students absolute
obedience to the emperor and the state.
Amaterasu: The Japanese Sun Goddess