Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Allies Axis Churchill Hitler Country: Government Type: What was life like in the 1930s: Country: Government Type: What was life like in the 1930s: Goals if there’s a war: Goals if there’s a war: Personality: Personality: Roosevelt Mussolini Country: Government Type: What was life like in the 1930s: Country: Government Type: What was life like in the 1930s: Goals if there’s a war: Goals if there’s a war: Personality: Personality: Stalin Hirohito Country: Government Type: What was life like in the 1930s: Country: Government Type: What was life like in the 1930s: Goals if there’s a war: Goals if there’s a war: Personality: Personality: Benito Mussolini Benito Mussolini was in control of Italy from 1922 to 1943. As a dictator he held absolute power and led Italy into many wars, the last of which led to his overthrow by his own people. Benito’s Rise to Power Benito Mussolini was born at Dovia di Predappio, Italy, on July 29, 1883. The Mussolini’s were a poor family who lived in a crowded two-bedroom apartment. Benito, although intelligent, was violent and had a large ego and thought very highly of himself. He was a poor student at school and learned very little. As a student at a boarding school in Faenza, Italy, Mussolini stabbed another student, and as a result he was expelled. After receiving his diploma in 1901 he briefly taught secondary school. He went to Switzerland in 1902 to avoid military service, where he associated with other socialists. Mussolini returned to Italy in 1904, spent time in the military, and decided to get involved in politics full time thereafter. In March 1919, Mussolini founded the Fighting Fascists, a political group that won the favor of the Italian youth. The elections in 1921 sent him to Parliament at the head of thirty-five Fascist deputies. Later he founded the National Fascist Party, with more than 250 thousand followers and Mussolini as its uncontested leader putting him in a position to easily gain control of the Italian government. Fascist state Once in power, Mussolini took steps to make sure he would remain there and that the Italian government remained Fascist. He held general elections, but they were fixed to provide him with an absolute majority in Parliament assuring that he would win. He also made sure to suspend many of the civil liberties of the Italian people, destroyed all of his opponents, and imposed open dictatorship (absolute rule). As the 1930s began, Mussolini was seated safely in power and enjoyed wide support but the Italian people were suffering. In 1930, the Great depression (a decline in the production of goods because of a decline in demand, accompanied by rising unemployment) arrived in Italy. Mussolini reacted at first with a public works program but soon shifted Italy’s focus on foreign wars. The 1935 Ethiopian War was planned to direct attention away from internal problems. Italy then also got involved in the Spanish civil war, which ended up providing no real benefit for Italy. Mussolini then joined forces with German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) and in 1938 began to attack Jewish people within the country just as Germany was doing. As the 1930s ended, Mussolini was losing all his support within Italy. Mussolini was always worried that Hitler would redraw the map of Europe without him. He decided that if Germany were to go to war, Italy would join them and "make war at any cost." He wanted to make sure Italy would not be left behind as an emerging world power and that he himself would be recognized as a powerful leader. The cost of Italy going to war was clear: they would need modern industry, modern armies, and popular support which Mussolini lacked. Winston Churchill Winston Churchill was born in England to an American mother and English father. He was raised in an upper middle class household and eventually joined the British Navy. By 1900 he had made a name for himself as a sailor and used that reputation to launch a career in politics. Churchill quickly rose through the ranks of England’s Tory Party (conservatives), and by World War I he had been given a commission as Lord Admiral of the Navy. However, Churchill was not as good a strategist as he was a politician, and after thousands of British and Australian troops died under his command, he resigned. Churchill would spend the next decade of his life rebuilding his political reputation. During the 1930s, Britain was not immune to the hard times of the Great Depression. For many people in Britain the 1930s was a period of great hardship. The Wall Street Crash in 1929 started a worldwide economic depression that lasted for much of the decade. Old industries such as steel, ship-building and coal mining suffered the most. For the people of Britain the specter of unemployment was always present. During this time, Churchill and the other Tories were out of power, giving Churchill time to observe what was going on outside of Britain. As the decade continued, he began to be more and more worried about the new leader of Germany, Adolf Hitler. Unlike Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain Neville Chamberlain felt that he could deal with Hitler. When this policy failed, Chainberlain was kicked out of office. Churchill was then recognized as the obvious person to lead Britain in what looked like an unavoidable march to war. Churchill found his country very poorly prepared for war. He desperately needed to build up the army and air force. During the rough years of the 1930s, Britain had not invested in new technology or planes. Germany looked to be at least 2 – 3 years ahead of them. If there was to be a war, his goals were clear. First, he would need to get the British people ready for war. Second, he would need to quickly mobilize every factory and worker in the country to get ready for a fight. Third, he would need allies to fight this war, especially Britain’s old allies from World War I. You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Churchill Churchill would go on to be one of the war’s great leaders. His feisty and cranky personality became a soothing presence for the British people. The war years were dark ones, but the determination and bull headedness of Winston Churchill were examples for all the British people. Hirohito Hirohito (also known as Emporer Showa) was born in 1901 in a palace in Tokyo, Japan. He was the 124th emporer of Japan, the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world still in existence. Hirohito’s father was a Prince and his mother a princess. As a child, Hirohito was known as Prince Michi. The young prince attended a special school that was set up exclusively for his benefit. At the age of 16, he spent 6 months traveling the Europe, becoming the first Japanese Crown Prince to travel abroad. Upon his return in November 1921 he became Regent of Japan, in place of his ailing father who was suffering from mental illness. Life in the 1930’s During the 1930’s, life in Japan was turbulent. War had already begun here. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and the rest of China in 1937. Hirohito narrowly missed assassination by a hand grenade thrown by a Korean nationalist in Tokyo in January, 1932. Another notable case was the assassination of moderate Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in 1932, which marked the end of civilian control of the military. This was followed by an attempted military coup in February 1936, mounted by junior Army officers of the Kōdōha faction who had the sympathy of many high-ranking officers including Prince Chichibu, one of the Emperor's brothers. Goals in WWII In September, 1941 the Japanese cabinet issued a statement declaring their intentions for what would become World War II. Their demands included: freedom to continue with the conquest of China and Southeast Asia, no increase in US or British military forces in the region, and cooperation by the West "in the acquisition of goods needed by our Empire." The official statement said, “In the event that there is no prospect of our demands being met by the first ten days of October through the diplomatic negotiations mentioned above, we will immediately decide to commence hostilities against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands.” the British people. Personality To many people, Hirohito was the 20th century's great survivor. History has not given too many the chance to lead a nation into appalling disaster, only to emerge with at least partial credit for its reform and rebirth. Critics and loyal supporters alike have said Hirohito was a good decision maker and worked well behind the scenes. However, Hirohito’s upbringing and his adult life were so isolated that he had a very distorted view of the world. Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York on January 30, 1882, the son of James Roosevelt and Sara Delano Roosevelt. He received a BA degree in history from Harvard in only three years (1900-03). Roosevelt next studied law at New York's Columbia University. When he passed the bar examination in 1907, he left school without taking a degree. He entered politics in 1910 and was elected to the New York State Senate as a Democrat. In the meantime, in 1905, he had married a distant cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. The couple had six children, five of whom survived infancy: Anna (1906), James (1907), Elliott (1910), Franklin, Jr. (1914) and John (1916). Roosevelt was reelected to the State Senate in 1912, and supported Woodrow Wilson's candidacy at the Democratic National Convention. While vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick in the summer of 1921, Roosevelt contracted poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). Despite courageous efforts to overcome his crippling illness, he never regained the use of his legs. With the encouragement and help of his wife, Eleanor, and political confidant, Louis Howe, Roosevelt resumed his political career. In 1924 he nominated Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York for president at the Democratic National Convention, but Smith lost the nomination to John W. Davis. In 1928 Roosevelt was elected governor of New York. Following his reelection as governor in 1930, Roosevelt began to campaign for the presidency. He campaigned energetically calling for government intervention in the economy to provide relief, recovery, and reform. His activist approach and personal charm helped to defeat Hoover in November 1932 by seven million votes. The Depression worsened in the months preceding Roosevelt's inauguration, March 4, 1933. Factory closings, farm foreclosures, and bank failures increased, while unemployment soared. Roosevelt undertook immediate actions to initiate his New Deal. To halt depositor panics, he closed the banks temporarily. Then he worked with a special session of Congress during the first "100 days" to pass recovery legislation. Agencies assisted business and labor, insured bank deposits, regulated the stock market, subsidized home and farm mortgage payments, and aided the unemployed. These measures revived confidence in the economy. Banks reopened and direct relief saved millions from starvation. By 1939 Roosevelt was concentrating increasingly on foreign affairs with the outbreak of war in Europe. When Hitler attacked Poland in September 1939, Roosevelt stated that, although the nation was neutral, he did not expect America to remain inactive in the face of Nazi aggression. Accordingly, he tried to make American aid available to Britain, France, and China and to obtain an amendment of the Neutrality Acts which rendered such assistance difficult. He also took measures to build up the armed forces in the face of isolationist opposition. With the fall of France in 1940, the American mood and Roosevelt's policy changed dramatically. Stalin Country: USSR (Russia) Government Type: Communist Dictatorship (Keep Animal Farm in mind) Life in the 1930s: Stalin established a strong personal dictatorship in the Soviet Union. He established “Five Year Plans” for the economy. These set economic goals for every five year period, transforming Russia from an agricultural country into a more industrialized country. As industry grew, the population of workers did as well, making it increasingly harder to live in the city. Many workers lived through cramped and polluted cities, with little payment. Propaganda was used to convince everyone that there would be a need for sacrifices while Russia industrialized. Stalin also collectivized the farms, which means there were no private farms anymore. The government owned them all and workers were required to work on the farms. Peasants started taking food for themselves though, which caused famine in Russia. As time went on, Stalin got rid of many of his advisors so that he could make all decisions by himself. About 8 million Russian citizens were arrested during this time and sent to labor camps. Goals if there’s a war: In 1939 Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact with Hitler. This stated that the two nations, Germany and Russia, promised not to attack each other. That changed when Hitler decided to attack Russia anyway so that Britain would not be able to have sufficient help from the Russian army. The Russian winter weather stopped the German army and Russia was able to counterattack. Personality: He changed his last name to Stalin, which meant “man of steel”. He was known for being a good organizer, but not for being a great speaker or writer. One of the greatest mass murderers in human history…its estimated that his policies and deliberate executions led to the death of as many as 25 million people. Stalin used secret police to scare the people into following his orders. ADOLF HITLER Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau, Austria. Throughout his childhood and even through adolescence he struggled in school. Hitler dreamed of becoming an artist and in 1907 he went to Vienna Austria to try and achieve his dream. This attempt ended when he failed the entrance exam to the Academy of Fine Arts. He decided to stay in Vienna and worked various odd jobs. During his time in Vienna Hitler learned to hate non-Germans. Hitler was a German-speaking Austrian and considered himself German.In 1913, Hitler went to Munich, Germany and when World War I began in 1914, he volunteered for service in the German army In 1920, Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers Party known as the Nazis. The Nazis called for all Germans, even those in other countries, to unite into one nation; they called for a strong central government; and they called for the cancellation of the Versailles Treaty. Hitler became leader of the Nazi party and built up membership quickly, mostly because of his powerful speaking ability. On November 9, 1923, Hitler led more than 2,000 Storm Troopers on a march to seize the Bavarian government. The attempt failed and Hitler was arrested and sentenced to prison for five years for treason. While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle). In this book. he stated his beliefs and plans for Germany's future. Hitler only served nine months in prison and when he was released, he began to rebuild the party again. He set up a private battle-ready elite guard known as the "Schutzstaffel" (SS). By 1929, the Nazis had become an important minor political party. In 1930, a worldwide depression hit Germany, yet Germany also had the debt of paying for the damage it had caused in World War I. Hitler protested against paying the debt and said that the Jews and Communists were the cause for Germany's defeat in World War I. He promised to rid Germany of Jews and Communists and to reunite the German speaking part of Europe.In July, 1932, the Nazis received about 40% of the vote and became the strongest party in Germany. On January 30,1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany. Once in this position, Hitler moved quickly toward attaining a Fascist government in which he would be the dictatorship. When von Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler already had control of Germany and he gave himself the title "Fuehrer" (leader).