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Fascism and National Socialism and
the Beginnings of World War II
Theme: How Hitler gave rebirth to Germany
Lesson 17
Allied Political Leaders
Churchill, Roosevelt, and
Stalin
Axis Political Leaders
Mussolini and Hitler
Hirohito
Fascism
• Fascism was a reaction against both liberal
democracy and the spread of socialism and
communism
• In fascism, the state was primary and individuals
were subordinate to the service of the state
• Emphasized a belligerent form of nationalism
(chauvinism) and fear of foreigners (xenophobia)
• Maintained large and expensive military
establishments, tried to organize much of public life
along military lines, and showed a fondness for
uniforms, parades, and monumental architecture
Fascism
• Political and economic
frustrations created
opportunities for fascism
• Popular in many
European countries,
Japan, China, South
Africa, Brazil, Argentina,
and several Arab nations
• Only in Italy and
Germany did fascism
overthrow a
parliamentary system
• Common elements
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Veneration of the state
Devotion to a strong leader
Ultranationalism
Ethnocentrism
Militarism
Italy after World War I
• The conditions were
right for fascism to
take hold
▫ Weak political
leadership and
ineffective government
▫ Economic turmoil
▫ Social discontent
▫ Growing fear of
socialism
▫ Disappointment over
Italy’s limited
territorial gains from
the Treaty of Versailles
Benito Mussolini
• Began as a socialist
but came to think
that World War I
marked a turning
point for Italy and
something else was
needed
• By 1921, had 35
fascists elected to
the Italian
parliament
• Used armed squads
known as
Blackshirts to
threaten socialists
Mussolini surrounded by
supporters
Benito Mussolini
• On Oct 28, 1922,
Mussolini’s followers
marched on Rome and
the next day the King
asked Mussolini to
become Prime Minister
and form a new
government
• By 1926, Mussolini had
seized total power as
dictator and became Il
Duce (“the leader”)
The Fascist State
• Mussolini
▫ Eliminated all other
political parties
▫ Curbed freedom of the press
▫ Outlawed free speech and
association
▫ Crushed labor unions and
prohibited strikes
▫ Allied himself with business
and landlord interests
▫ Labeled Jews unpatriotic
and banned them from
government employment
• Mussolini may have done
many brutal and
tyrannical things; he may
have destroyed human
freedom in Italy; he may
have murdered and
tortured citizens whose
only crime was to oppose
Mussolini; but one had to
admit one thing about the
Dictator: he “made the
trains run on time.”
▫ Ashley Montagu and
Edward Darling
Mussolini and Hitler
• Mussolini became
friends with Adolf
Hitler and in 1936
declared world
history would revolve
around a RomeBerlin axis
• In May 1939,
Mussolini and Hitler
signed a ten-year Pact
of Steel
Germany after World War I
• Treaty of Versailles
imposed a harsh peace on
Germany
▫ Red areas represent losses
in German territory
• Hyperinflation wiped out
the savings of the middle
class
• Political infighting
▫ In stepped Hitler
Rise
Hitler
• Fromof
1919
to 1923, Hitler began advancing the
agenda of a Nazi Party:
▫ Germany suffered unbearably in WWI from losses of
territory, national shame, and casualties
 Enemies from within (Jews, Bolshevists, Jewish Bolshevists,
and liberal republicans) helped bring Germany to defeat
▫ The Treaty of Versailles was unfair and its enforcers
were criminals
 Reparations are extortion
 Disarmament terms are unequal
 The new states, especially Poland, came from historic German
soil
 A disarmed Germany is prey to her predatory neighbors
(Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria,
France)
Rise of Hitler
• Through emotional speeches,
Hitler began to build a
following
• On Nov 19, 1923 he felt strong
enough for a coup (the Beer
Hall Putsch), but he was
unsuccessful and was
sentenced to five years in jail
▫ He served nine months
▫ While in prison he wrote
Mein Kampf, his political
manifesto
Rise of Hitler
• The world
economic crisis of
1929 gave Hitler
another chance to
seize power
▫ Unemployment :
1,320,000 in 1929
▫ 3 million in 1930
▫ 4.5 million in 1931
▫ Over 6 million in
early 1932
Rise of Hitler
• In July 1932 the Nazi Party
won 37.3% of the vote
(230 parliamentary seats)
and became the largest
party in the Reichstag
▫ The Communist Party
also did well and fear of
them reinforced Hitler’s
appeal
▫ On Jan 30, 1933, Hitler
became chancellor
Dec 21, 1931
Rebirth of Germany
• Between Jan 1933 and July 1936, Hitler restored
Germany’s prosperity, destroyed all opposition,
recreated a spectacular army, and
outmaneuvered the repressive treaty provisions
• When Paul von Hindenburg, the German
President, died, Hitler combined the offices of
President and Chancellor into Fuhrer and
became both head of the government and head
of state
Rebirth of Germany
• Hitler reinstituted
conscription (after France
doubled the length of its
conscripts’ service) and in
March 1936 was strong
enough to reoccupy the
Rhineland
• In June 1934, Hitler purged
many of his paramilitary
and the SS rose up to
replace them
Germany under Hitler
• Declared a national state of emergency
• Eliminated all opposition
• Outlawed all other political parties and made the
National Socialist Party (Nazis) the only legal
party
• Replaced the federal structure with a highly
centralized state
• Eliminated trade unions and collective
bargaining; prohibited strikes and lockouts
• Took control of all police forces
Germany under Hitler
• Launched a campaign to increase
births of “racially valuable”
children
▫ Awarded the Honor Cross of German
Mother to mothers with more than
four children
▫ Instituted compulsory sterilization
for those with “hereditarily
determined sicknesses”
 Aborted the “hereditary ill” and
racial aliens and euthanized others
considered racially impure
▫ Initiated the Nuremberg Laws
in 1935 to systematically
suppress the Jewish
population (anti-Semitism)
Germany’s Increasingly Militaristic
Approach
• In Nov 1937, Italy joined
Germany in an alliance against
the Soviet Union
• In Mar 1938, Hitler forced
Anschluss (union) with Austria
• On Sept 29-30, the British and
French foreign ministers
attempted to appease Hitler by
acquiescing to his demand for
the Sudentenland under the
understanding Hitler will make
no more territorial demands
▫ In March 1939 Hitler seized the
western part of Czechoslovakia
Neville Chamberlain
Continued Aggression
• Britain and France now knew
appeasement wouldn’t stop
Hitler and they pledged to
defend Belgium, Holland,
Switzerland, and Poland
against German aggression
• On Aug 22, 1939, Russia and
Germany signed a nonaggression pact
▫ In the event of a GermanPolish war, Russia could
annex eastern Poland,
Latvia, Estonia, and
Lithuania
• On Sept 1, Hitler invaded
Poland
Russia and Finland
• On Nov 30, Russia
attacked Finland and
on Mar 12, 1940, the
Finns finally
surrendered
▫ Russia’s army did not
perform particularly
well which made Hitler
think the Russians
would not be much of a
challenge if Germany
invaded
Finnish infantry passing
a destroyed Russian tank
French and German Plans for
the Battle of France 1940
• French anticipated
the Germans
attacking through
the north as they
did in World War I
so they developed
the Dye Plan to
counter such an
attack
• Built the Maginot
Line in the south to
protect the border
Maginot Line
• A line of concrete
fortifications, tank
obstacles, machine gun
posts and other defenses
which France constructed
along her borders with
Germany and Italy
• The fortifications did not
extend through the
Ardennes Forest which
was considered
“impassable”
Surprise in the Ardennes
• On May 12, 1940
Germany attacked
through the
weakly held
Ardennes region
• Penetrated Allied
defenses at Sedan
and Dinant and
then began to
envelop them
The Panzer's Race To The Channel
Battle of France: May 14-24, 1940
Dunkirk was
the last
evacuation port
available to the
Allies.
Dunkirk
Moving in for the Kill
• German forces pressed
the Allied armies trapped
in the north, from south
and east, into the English
Channel.
• Meanwhile, German
infantry divisions
reinforced the southern
flank of the German
penetration.
• But….
Dunkirk Harbor ablaze from
German bombing
Halt Order
• Hitler halted the German armor
▫ German armor had suffered heavy losses and
would be needed to conquer the rest of France
▫ Luftwaffe called upon to finish the job
• Luftwaffe was unable to destroy the British and
French
▫ Bases in western Germany were further away from
Dunkirk than British planes were from their bases
on the British Isles
• 340,000 Allied troops were evacuated
The Weygand Line Collapses
Battle of France: June 4-14, 1940
Consolidation
• On June 16 the French asked for an armistice
• Battle of Britain began
▫ “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so
bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its
Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still
say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” (Winston Churchill)
Italy Joins the Axis
• On June 10, 1940,
Mussolini
declared war on
Britain and France
and four months
later invades
Greece
• In many ways
Mussolini would
hinder rather than
help Hitler
Greatest Extent of Axis Control
• German interwar doctrine emphasized:
Auftragstaktik
▫ decentralized, mission-oriented orders
(Auftragstaktik)
▫ speed and exploitation of enemy weaknesses
maximized by troop commanders taking the
initiative (understand commander’s intent)
▫ close integration and cooperation between
combat branches (mobile warfare required
armor, infantry, and artillery)
▫ leadership from the front
North Africa
Italian Presence in North Africa
• Since before World War II, Italy had been occupying
Libya and had over a million soldiers based there
• In neighboring Egypt, the British Army had only 36,000
men guarding the Suez Canal and the Arabian oilfields
• On Sept 13, 1940, the Italians advanced into Egypt but
halted in front of the main British defenses at Mersa
Matruh
• On Dec 9, the British counterattacked and pushed the
Italians back more than 500 miles, inflicting heavy
casualties
• British troops then moved along the coast and on Jan 22,
1941, they captured the port of Tobruk in Libya
Germany to the Rescue
• In the meantime,
Germany sent forces
across the
Mediterranean to Tripoli
▫ The Afrika Corps
commanded by Erwin
Rommel
• Italy’s disasters in North
Africa and elsewhere
(i.e., Greece) were
threatening to
undermine the Axis
position in the Balkans
and the Mediterranean
Rommel
• Characteristically Rommel attacked and drove
the British Commonwealth forces out of Libya
except for Tobruk, which continued to
complicate his logistics
• With the situation in North Africa stabilized,
Hitler turned his attention to shoring up Italy,
leaving Rommel to deal with North Africa
• One of Rommel’s biggest challenges would be his
long, tenuous supply line
▫ Between Oct and Nov the Allies sank nearly 80% of
Axis supply ships crossing the Mediterranean
Rommel
• Rommel pushed the British deep into Egypt but
Montgomery stopped Rommel at the first Battle of
El Alamein in July 1942
Operation Torch
• While this was going on in Egypt and Libya,
Americans acquiesced to British pressure and
began planning Operation Torch– landings to
occupy Algeria and Morocco and co-opt the
Vichy French
▫ The “Vichy French” had reached an agreement with
the Germans allowing a French government headed by
Marshall Henri Pétain to govern the French colonies
and those parts of France not occupied by the
Germans
▫ The “Free French” established their own government
in exile led by Charles de Gaulle
Operation Torch
• The Anglo-American forces landed at Casablanca,
Oran, and Algiers in Nov 1942 and then advanced by
land and sea to Tunisia
Operation Torch
• At first the Vichy French
resisted, but eventually
surrendered
• Hitler began rushing troops to
Tunis before the Allies could
get there
• Hitler was successful in
winning “the race to Tunis”
and therefore denying the
Mediterranean to Allied
shipping but he did so at a
great price, committing
Italian and German troops to
an ultimately hopeless fight
when they could have been
better used elsewhere
Kasserine
Pass
• In Nov 1942, Rommel began a
rapid retreat across Egypt into
Libya and eventually to Tunisia
▫ He developed a plan to sweep up
from southern Tunisia and destroy
the Allied supply dumps in eastern
Algiers
• Rommel attacked on February
14, 1943 and punched his way
through the Kasserine Pass
• It was a tactical victory, but
Rommel was unable to continue
with his larger plan and began
withdrawing on Feb 22
American soldiers enter
Kasserine Pass in west
central Tunisia. At this
point in the war, the
Americans were
performing poorly.
Germans Defeated
• Rommel then turned
south against the British
who were arriving from
Egypt
• British General Bernard
Montgomery dealt
Rommel a stunning
defeat and Rommel
personally left Africa
• The Axis position in
North Africa steadily
deteriorated and in early
May the Allies controlled
Tunisia
First Battle
• The Americans did
not perform very well
in their first combat
experience and senior
leadership was
horrible
▫ General Eisenhower
was forced to relieve
Lloyd Fredendall of
command and replace
him with George
Patton
Lloyd Fredendall, commander
of the American II Corps
Results of North Africa
• The Germans had wasted valuable resources in
an indecisive theater
• Mussolini was severely weakened domestically
• The Americans learned from their poor
performance and made the necessary changes
• The British and American coalition weathered a
potentially threatening storm
The Eastern Front
• On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded Russia in Operation
Barbarossa
• The operation encompassed a total troop strength of
about 4 million men, making it the biggest single land
operation ever
• Benefiting from initial surprise, by the end of July Hitler
had occupied a portion of Russia twice the size of France
• However, by the time the Germans reached the outskirts
of Moscow in December, the Russian winter had set in
▫ Remember what we talked about in Lesson 9 about Napoleon’s
invasion of Russia
Operation Barbarossa
The Eastern Front
• In the total four years of fighting on the Eastern
Front, an estimated 4 million Axis and 9 million
Russians were killed in battle
• 20 million Soviet civilians were killed as a result
of extermination campaigns against Jews,
communists and partisans, casual massacres,
reprisal killings, diseases, and (sometimes
planned) starvation.
Stalingrad (Aug 1942-Feb 1943)
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Casablanca Conference
• After the Axis
surrendered in Tunisia,
the Allies began
planning the next phase
of the war
• Roosevelt and Churchill
met in Casablanca,
Morocco in January
1943
▫ Stalin had been
invited, but declined
to attend because of
Stalingrad
Strategic Differences
• US advocated a cross
channel invasion to
directly attack
Germany
• Churchill preferred an
indirect approach,
attacking through the
“soft underbelly of
Europe”
▫ Reflected the preference
for peripheral operations
he had shown in World
War I
British Approach
American Approach
What They Agreed On
• Forces from Operation Torch could continue on
to Sicily once the North African Campaign was
terminated
▫ Churchill knew this would preclude a cross-channel
invasion in 1943
• At the end of the conference, Roosevelt
announced that “peace can come to the world
only by the total elimination of German and
Japanese military power . . . (which) means
unconditional surrender.”
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• World War II
(continued)