Download World War II Leaders - Ohio County Schools

World War II Leaders
Franklin D. Roosevelt:
 1933-1945
 President of Democracy in America
 Faced a great deal of economic crisis-given credit for helping America recover
from the Great Depression
 Created the New Deal
 Excellent speaker-used the radio for his fireside chats to communicate with
Americans
 Claimed America’s neutrality at the beginning of WW II
Winston Churchill
 Became Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1940
 Considered to be Britain’s greatest weapon in WW II
 Early on, Britain fought alone against Germany
 Used his gift as a speaker to arouse Britons against Germany
 Communicated through radio; provided hope and said that victory could be
achieved
Adolf Hitler
 1933-1945
 Named German Chancellor (PM)-called Der Fuhrer-“The Leader”
 Elected democratically by the German people-became Totalitarian dictator
 Very imperialistic-expansionist-Lebensraum
 Dismantled the Weimar Republic
 Leader of the Nazi Partyo German form of fascism
o Extreme nationalism and racism (Master Aryan Race, The Holocaust)
o Private property with strong govt control
 Wrote Mein Kampf-My Struggle
 Spoke of his “Third Reich”-German Empire; 1,000 year reign
 Faced economic crisis-put many men back to work-signed up for military serviceknown as the “Brown Shirts”-Hitler’s private army-Storm Troopers
 Started WW II by invading Poland in 1939
Benito Mussolini
 Led the fascist party in Italy-Totalitarian Dictator-early 1920’s
 Played on fears of economic collapse and communism
 Fascism-stressed nationalism-need of state above the individual; single strong
leader needed; private ownership of property with strong govt controls
 “Black shirts”-his followers
 Il Duce-the leader
 Militaristic expansionist-Ethiopia-1935
Joseph Stalin
 Communist totalitarian dictator in Soviet Union-1924-1953
 Succeeded Lenin, the founder of the Communist Party in Russia
 State ownership of property; no civil liberties
 “Man of Steel”
 Stalin’s Purges-8-13 million killed
 U.S. opponent at the beginning of the Cold War after World War II
 Collective Farming-large govt controlled farms
Hideki Tojo
 Militaristic Prime Minister of Japan-1941
 Emperor Hirohito-powerless figurehead
 Tojo promised peace with Americans openly, but secretly planned to attack
America
 Expansionist and Imperialist
 Invaded Manchuria and China
 Oil needed to fuel expansion and the Japanese war machine