Download Dictatorships and the Second World War

Cover Slide
Chapter 29
Dictatorships and the
Second World War
Aftermath of WWI
• Political ineptitude by major political
leaders of world powers helped advance
the cause of dictatorships.
– The League of Nations was unable to solve
international crises.
– Germany was kept out of the League.
Authoritarian States
• Conservative Authoritarianism
– Anti-democratic – relied on police / the
Army and obedient bureaucracies
– Limited in power and objectives
• People were independent as long as they did not
try and change the system
• Radical Totalitarian Dictatorships
– Rejected parliamentary restraint / liberal
values
Authoritarian States
• Fascism /Nazi / Totalitarian States
–
–
–
–
Benito Mussolini (Fascist) Party
Adolf Hitler (NAZI) Party
Stalin (Communist) Party
Japan (Imperialist Fascism)
• A Permanent Revolution that was
unfinished and goes on forever /
controlled ALL aspects of society
including social, economic, intellectual,
cultural
Authoritarian States
• Japan invades Manchuria (1931)
– Manchukuo
• Spanish Civil War
– Proving ground for WWII
– Axis vs. USSR / Western Communists
Map: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
The Nationalist insurgents quickly took over most of northern and eastern Spain in 1936 and then gradually expanded
their territory. The fall of Madrid early in 1939 marked the end of fighting. The revolutionary effort of 1936-1937
within the Republican zone was centered in Barcelona. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.)
"No pasaran" poster
"No pasaran" poster
"No pasaran!" ("They shall not pass"),
proclaimed the charismatic Spanish
communist Dolores Ibarruri (18951989), whose impassioned speeches and
radio broadcasts helped inspire the
heroic defense of Madrid during the civil
war that gripped Spain during the later
1930s. This poster depicts Spanish
soldiers defending the democratic
republic against the antidemocratic
nationalists seeking to overthrow it.
(Biblioteca Nacional Madrid)
Copyright ©Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The USSR / Lenin and Stalin
• Lenin was victorious but the economy
was in ruins
– 1921 the New Economic Policy (NEP) reestablished limited freedom to recover in
agriculture and industry
• Lenin dies power struggle between Stalin
and Trotsky
– Stalin wins and takes over
The USSR / Lenin and Stalin
• Stalin’s five year plan
– A second revolution in 1928
(Collectivization) to control the “Cursed
Problem” or peasants
– Collectivization was to force all peasants into
large state farms with no private property
– Kulaks (middle class peasants) liquidated as
a class
– Ukraine example (5 million in one year)
The USSR / Lenin and Stalin
• Russia and Stalin refined the totalitarian state.
– Political purges helped Stalin remove the major
political threats to his power.
– Failed economic programs of the past gave way to
spectacular growth of heavy industry.
• Russia succeeded with the aid of government
control.
– Foreign technological experts also played a key role
in Russia’s success.
Forced labor camp
Forced labor camp
This rare photo, from about 1933, shows the reality of deported peasants and other political
prisoners building the Stalin-White Sea Canal in far northern Russia with their bare hands
and under the most dehumanizing conditions. In books and plays Stalin's followers praised
the project as a model for the regeneration of "reactionaries" and "kulak exploiters"
through the joys of socialist work. (David King Collection)
Stalinist Terror and the Great Purges
• Purged the old guard / army / friends /
family / party officials / show trials /
• No one was safe / all lived under the
“Knock”
• Gulags
Mussolini and Italy
• Italy and Mussolini fashioned a fascist
government after World War I.
– Mussolini’s fascists used street politics, nationalist
sentiment, and romanticism to create a conservative
authoritarian state.
– By the early 1920s, most Italians were opposed to
liberal, parliamentary government.
– The Catholic Church supported Mussolini because
he did not try to absorb it into the fascist
government.
Mussolini
Mussolini
In this photo, Benito Mussolini--the founder of fascism--is shown with other fascist
leaders in 1922, as he becomes prime minister of Italy. Standing at Mussolini's
right (with beard) is Italo Belbo, later a pioneering aviator and fascist Italy's air
Mussolini and Italy
• Mussolini’s was not the ideal totalitarian state.
– Mussolini did not establish a fully totalitarian state.
– Benefited the workers / supported land reform for
the peasants
– Black Shirts thugs beat up people used caster oil
– Pushed the socialists out of government
– Became the savior of order and prosperity
• Kept conservatives / moderates and reform
minded Socialists in the government
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germany, ca. June
1940 NARA Still Picture Branch
Mussolini and Italy
• Mussolini’s men killed Matteotti as a rival and
almost cost him everything
• Mussolini pushed through repressive measures
including: abolished press / fixed elections /
government rule by decree
• Lateran Agreement with the Vatican
recognized it as an independent country
• Got support from the church by abolishing
divorce / telling women to stay home and
produce children / taxed bachelors in 1934
Hitler and the Nazi State
• Germany and Hitler established the model
totalitarian state.
– Adolf Hitler became an ardent nationalist in Vienna.
• He used his oratorical gifts and keen perception
of German society to turn Germany into a Nazi
empire.
– The Nazis appealed to nationalistic sentiment, a
romantic yearning for the glorious German past,
and anti-Semitic tendencies.
• In Mein Kampf Hitler outlined his desire to
achieve German racial superiority.
Hitler in early years
Hitler in early years
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) returns the salute of his Brown Shirts in this photograph
from the third party day rally in Nuremberg in 1927. The Brown Shirts formed a
private army within the Nazi movement, and their uniforms, marches, salutes, and
vandalism helped keep Hitler in the public eye in the 1920s.
Hitler and the Nazi State
• The promises of “work and bread” had a
tremendous appeal to Germans who suffered
from post-World War I inflation and
unemployment.
• The Enabling Act of 1933 gave Hitler absolute
dictatorial powers.
– Hitler was able to achieve a measure of economic
recovery.
– He reduced traditional class distinctions.
– He appealed to the nationalistic urges of many
Germans.
Nazi glorification of traditional roles for women
Nazi glorification of
traditional roles for women
The Nazi state favored
traditional roles for women,
believing that they should
keep house and raise
families, preferably large
ones. This propaganda
poster starkly informs young
women that their job is
motherhood. Young men
entering the State Labor
Service are depicted as
happy, self-confident
"soldiers of work," bonding
together and preparing for
battle. (akg-images)
Map: The Growth of Nazi Germany, 1933-1939
The Growth of Nazi Germany, 1933-1939
Until March 1939, Hitler brought ethnic Germans into the Nazi state; then he turned on the Slavic peoples he had
always hated. He stripped Czechoslovakia of its independence and prepared for an attack on Poland in September
Cartoon: Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland
Cartoon: Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland
This bitterly critical cartoon by British cartoonist David Lowe (1891-1963) appeared in the London
Evening News shortly after Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland. Appeasement also appealed to
millions of ordinary citizens in Britain and France, who wanted to avoid another war at any cost.
Originally a New Zealander, Lowe came to Britain after World War I and always maintained a
sharp outsider's view of the British political scene. (London Evening News/Solo Standard Syndicate)
Germany absorbs Austria
Germany absorbs Austria
With the defeat and
dismemberment of the
Habsburg Empire, Austria was
left a small, landlocked
country after World War I.
Most Austrians would have
welcomed unification with
Germany, but the peacemakers
specifically prohibited any
such step. As it happened,
Austria was unified with
Germany on Hitler's terms
with the Anschluss of March
1938. Here Austrians look on
as German troops march into
Salzburg.
Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain, who became Britain's Prime Minister in May 1937, has long been
derided as the architect of the "appeasement" of Hitler at the Munich conference of 1938,
which settled the crisis over Czechoslovakia. Returning home to Britain from Munich to a
hero's welcome, he waves the peace declaration that was supposed to have brought "peace
in our time." This was late September. Less than a year later, Europe was again at war.
The Outbreak of War in Europe
• Soviet – German Non-Aggression Pact
– Secretly divided up Europe between themselves
– Each would remain neutral if the other went to war
• World War II
– Poland (1939)
– Sitzkrieg (Phony War)
– Blitzkrieg –overruns France in 6 weeks / Marshall
Petain heads the Vichy Government and makes
peace with the Germans
– The Battle of Britain -- Luftwaffe tried to win
control over GB without invading
"Forgive me Comrade"
"Forgive me Comrade"
On June 23, 1941, the
day after Nazi
Germany attacked the
Soviet Union, the
London Daily Mail
published this cartoon
depicting Hitler's
betrayal of his 1939
pact with Stalin.
(London Daily
Mail/Solo Syndication
Limited)
"This is Nazi brutality"
"This is Nazi brutality“
Ben Shahn (1898-1969) is
recognized as a master of social
realist art. Born in Lithuania, he
lived in America most of his life.
He was employed in the Office of
War Information, but only two of
his designs were used. Lidice, in
Central Bohemia, was destroyed
on June 10, 1942 as a reprisal for
the assassination of a German
gauleiter (provincial governor ). It
has been rebuilt as a memorial.
The visual force of Shahn's poster
depends partly on the disturbing
image of a hooded figure but also
on the angularity of the
background and the impersonality
of the strips of ticker tape.
The War in Europe
• World War II became an effort by the western
democracies to stamp out fascism.
– It reflected the growing technological might of the
great powers.
– It demonstrated organizing abilities of Churchill,
Roosevelt, and Hitler.
• The key to Hitler’s military success was speed and force
(the blitzkrieg).
• Churchill and Britain withstood heavy bombing by the
Germans.
• Roosevelt got the U.S. on a quick war footing.
Milkman in London
Milkman in London
Adolf Hitler believed that his relentless terror bombing of London--the "blitz"-could break the will of the British people in 1940. He was wrong. The blitz caused
enormous destruction, but Londoners went about their business with courage and
calm determination, as this unforgettable image of a milkman in the rubble
suggests.
Map: World War II in Europe
World War II in Europe
This map shows the extent of Hitler's empire at its height, before the Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942
and the subsequent advances of the Allies until Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.
The War
• The Allied victory came first in Europe,
then in Japan.
– The allied forces finally encircled the Nazi
state.
• They adopted a principle of “unconditional
surrender.”
• American aid to the British and the Soviets
contributed to the eventual victory.
• German defeat at Stalingrad in 1942 signaled the
beginning of the end for the Nazi state.
Dive Bomber over Eastern Europe
Dive Bomber over Eastern Europe
This German painting depicts a German ME-100 fighter plane
attacking a Soviet troop convey on the Eastern Front.
Campaigns in North Africa and
Italy
• The defeat of Rommel in North Africa paved
the way for the eventual encirclement of the
Nazi state.
• North African operation (1942)
– TORCH
– Gen Darlan (French anti-Semitic) agrees to
surrender to US for a deal. Infuriates DeGualle
– Dwight D. Eisenhower (SACEUR)
• Stalingrad (turning point on Eastern Front)
"For the Motherland's Sake"
"For the Motherland's
Sake“
Joining the historic Russian
warrior and the young Soviet
soldier in the common cause,
this poster--For the
Motherland's Sake, Go
Forward, Heroes--portrays the
defense of the nation as a
sacred mission and illustrates
the way Soviet leaders
successfully appealed to
Russian nationalism during the
war. (Library of Congress)
Stalin and workers march to victory
Stalin and workers
march to victory
Stalin rarely appeared
in public, but posters
singing his praises were
everywhere. Here the
mighty ruler is almost
one of the boys, as he
and Soviet workers
march to victory. "Our
program is realistic,"
Stalin proclaims on the
poster, "because it is you
and me working
together."
Map: The Nazi New Order in Europe, 1942
The Nazi New Order in Europe, 1942
At the zenith of its power in 1942, Nazi Germany controlled much of Europe. Concerned most immediately with
winning the war, the Nazis sought to coordinate the economies of their satellite states and conquered territories. But
they also began establishing what was supposed to be an enduring new order in eastern Europe. The inset shows the
location of the major Nazi concentration camps and of the six extermination camps the Nazis constructed in what had
been Poland. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.)
Operation Overlord
• The allied invasion of German-held
France in 1944 began the final chapter of
the war in Europe.
• Normandy (Turning point on Western
Front)
• D-Day (June 6, 1944)
General Dwight Eisenhower meets with paratroopers just before
D-Day.
D-Day 1944
D-Day 1944
During the Normandy Invasions at Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944, airborne paratroopers
landed behind German coastal fortifications around midnight, and American and British
forces hit several beaches at daybreak while Allied ships and bombers provided cover.
American troops secured full control of Omaha Beach by nightfall, but at a price of 3000
casualties. Allied air power prevented the Germans from bringing up reserves and
D-Day invasion beachhead.
The War in Europe
• It brought into sharp contrast the brutality of
the Nazis against Jews, Slavs, and other peoples
Nazis considered subhuman.
– Hitler attempted to build a new order based on race.
– The Slavs, for example, were treated as
untermenschen (“subhumans”).
– Jews, gypsies, Jehovah’s witnesses, and communists
were condemned to death.
Families marched out of Warsaw
Ghetto
Families marched out of Warsaw Ghetto
This photo captures the terrible inhumanity of Nazi racism. German soldiers are
forcing frightened and bewildered families from their homes in the soon-to-bedestroyed Warsaw Ghetto, in Poland, for deportation to concentration camps.
There they face murder in the gas chambers. (Hulton Archives/Getty Images)
The Final Solution
• (TFS) The Extermination of European
Jews by the Nazis
• Holocaust
– US knew about the camps Decision not to
intervene was political & military
– 6,000,000
– Lays the foundation for Israel State
Nazi Concentration Camp at Dachau
Female guards forced to dump bodies
Female guards forced to dump bodies
When Allied forces entered Germany in 1945, they found not only camp guards and their
prisoners but also enormous numbers of corpses. This photograph shows female guards at
Bergen-Belsen, one of the most infamous concentration camps, dumping the bodies of
Holocaust victims into a mass grave. (Wide World Photos)
Stalingrad, November 1942
Stalingrad, November 1942
From September 1942 until the German surrender early in February 1943,
Stalingrad, on the Volga River, saw some of the heaviest fighting of World War II.
The Soviet victory, in the face of incredible casualties, was arguably the turning
point in the war in Europe.
German Enigma machine
German Enigma machine
During World War II,
German armed forces used
Enigma machines like the
one seen here in the vehicle
of a German tank
commander. With Enigmas,
they could encrypt and
decode radio messages,
keeping them secret (they
believed) from enemy codebreakers. (Brian Johnson)
Russian flag on Reichstag
Russian flag on Reichstag
After forcing the Germans back for almost two years, Soviet troops reached Berlin in April
1945. Although it required a day of heavy fighting and bombardment, the Soviets took the
Reichstag building, in the heart of the now devastated German capital, on April 30. Here
two Soviet sergeants, Yegorov and Kantariya, plant the Soviet flag atop the Reichstag,
symbolizing the Soviet victory in the decisive encounter of World War II in Europe.
Seizing the Pacific
• Coral Sea (1942)
• Midway Island (1942)
– Turning Point in Pacific
• Step by step lessons Americans learn
–
–
–
–
–
Bushito code (POW treatment)
Soldiers do not surrender (Tarawa)
Civilians don’t surrender (Siapan)
Suicide warfare (Kamikaze)
Costs of invading home islands????
Battle in Philippine Islands
Battle in Philippine Islands
This painting by Charles McBarron, Jr., shows the action at Red Beach on October 20,
1944, in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Islands. It captures the danger and
courage of U.S. troops, who had to storm well-fortified Japanese positions again and again
in their long island-hopping campaign. The officer exhorts his men, and death is all around.
(The Granger Collection, New York)
Pacific non-Strategy
• No strategy led to a two pronged focus
– Douglas MacArthur – Philippines
– Chester Nimitz- Central Pacific
• Iwo Jima
• Okinawa
• strategic bombing
– fire bombing of Tokyo and civilians (more
die in 1 day than by A bombs)
• "unconditional surrender"
American troops attempt to secure a beachhead on a Pacific island.
American troops wade ashore at Butaritari in the
Gilbert Islands, November 1943.
"Flag raising on Iwo Jima." Joe Rosenthal, AP, February 23, 1945
NARA Still Picture Branch
Atomic Power and the
Japanese Surrender
• Manhattan Project
– Albert Einstein
– Los Alamos, New Mexico
– Harry S. Truman (WW I vet)
• Wanted to save American lives as 1st priority
• The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan
in August 1945, forcing the Japanese to
surrender.
• Hiroshima (1945)
• Nagasaki (1945)
Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945
Map: The War in East Asia and the Pacific
The War in East Asia and the Pacific
After a series of conquests in 1941 and 1942, the Japanese were forced gradually to fall back before advancing U.S.
forces. When the war abruptly ended in August 1945, however, the Japanese still controlled much of the territory they
had conquered. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.)
Atomic bombing of Nagasaki
Atomic bombing of
Nagasaki
When this photo of the
atomic
bombing
of
Nagasaki was taken on
August 9, 1945, from an
observation plane 6
miles up, 35,000 people
on the ground had died.
(By courtesy of the
Trustees of the Imperial
War Museum)
Hiroshima survivor remembers
Hiroshima survivor remembers
Yasuko Yamagata was 17-years-old when she saw the brilliant blue-white "lightning flash" that
became a fiery orange ball consuming everything that would burn. Thirty years later Yamagata
painted this scene, her most unforgettable memory of the atomic attack on Hiroshima. An incinerated
woman, poised as if running, her baby clutched to her breast, lies near a water tank piled high with
charred corpses.
Conclusion
• Hitler gave the world a glimpse of the
modern totalitarian state.
– The Nazis gave an illustration of how a
nation’s people can be manipulated under
the appropriate economic and social
consequences.