Totalitarian States: Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin

• Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin created totalitarian governments.
• Stalin led the Soviet Union, Mussolini led Italy, and Hitler led Germany.

Totalitarian States Characteristics

• Censorship was heavily implemented.
• Propaganda was widely used.
• Terror and fear were used to control the population.
• The government had complete control of the economy.
• Fascism in Italy was led by Mussolini, featuring a dictator, extreme nationalism, and government control of the economy.
• Nazism in Germany, led by Hitler, was characterized by a dictator and fueled by racism and antisemitism.

Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power

• Step 1: Blaming a group for societal problems, specifically targeting the Jewish people.
• Step 2: Criticizing the current government, the Weimar Republic.
• Step 3: Promising a better future for the nation.
• The Nazi party's popularity increased, notably after Hitler's release from prison following a failed coup.
• Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" ("My Fight") to express his political views, further boosting his popularity.
• Hitler was democratically elected in 1933.
• Massive public works projects were created, significantly reducing unemployment by employing many men.
• The Nazi party controlled every aspect of German life, including the economy, religion, and education.

Jews & Minorities

• The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 deprived Jews of citizenship, prohibited marriage with non-Jews, banned attendance at German schools, outlawed practicing medicine, and forbade publishing books.
• "Gypsies", homosexuals, dark-skinned peoples, Catholics, and disabled people were persecuted for not fitting Hitler's ideal "Aryan race".
• Hitler envisioned a world with only one master race - Aryan, viewing other races as weak and inferior, warranting elimination.
• Hitler ordered forced sterilization.

War Is Brewing

• In the mid-1930s, tensions rose in Europe as leaders grew wary of Hitler's intentions.
• In 1935, the U.S. passed Neutrality Acts, declaring neutrality in any warring nations' conflicts.
• From 1936, Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by building up the German military and positioning troops on the border with France.
• European leaders initially spoke out but did not act to maintain peace.
• In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria without any action from world leaders
• Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia with no actions taken by world leaders.
• Appeasement was a policy of avoiding war by giving in to an aggressive nation's demands.
• Appeasement reasons: fear of modern technology's destructive power, widespread economic depression prioritizing domestic issues and faith in diplomacy and compromise.

The Three Amigos (Axis Powers)

• Germany (Adolf Hitler)
• Italy (Benito Mussolini)
• Japan (Tojo Hideki)
• The Axis Powers promised mutual support.

The Spark

• France and Great Britain warned Germany against invading Poland.
• Hitler invaded Poland, prompting France and Great Britain to declare war on Germany in September.

The Allies

• Winston Churchill: Great Britain
• Josef Stalin: Soviet Union
• Charles de Gaulle: France
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR): USA
• Blitzkrieg was a rapid military strategy.
• Luftwaffe was the German air force used to bomb cities.
• Island hopping was the Allied strategy in the Pacific, capturing one island at a time.
• Citizens sought shelter in underground bunkers or fled to the countryside.
• "Operation Sea Lion" (1940) was Hitler's plan to invade Great Britain by air and sea, which never materialized.
• "Operation Barbarossa" was Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, catching Stalin and the Soviets unprepared.
• "General Winter" caused extreme cold, with temperatures dropping to -40 degrees where thousands of German soldiers froze to death.

Stalin's rise of power

• After Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin became the leader of the Soviet Union through political maneuvering.
• Stalin eliminated political rivals through propaganda, exile, and assassination.
• By the 1920s, Stalin established a totalitarian dictatorship.
• Stalin had complete control over politics, economy, and society
• Under Stalin's rule, the Communist party was the only party in power.
• Stalin's 5-year plans focused on rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture, leading to famine.
• Stalin used secret police and Gulags
• Gulags were forced labor camps in Siberia and other remote areas and used for political prisoners, criminals, and anyone deemed a threat to Stalin’s regime.
• Gulags had Harsh conditions including extreme cold, forced labor, starvation.
• Over 1.5 million people died between 1930-1958 in gulags

War In The Pacific

• Japan, under Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, aimed to build an empire in Asia
• Japan invaded China, Philippines, Malaysia, and other Pacific islands.
• On December 7, 1941, Japanese suicide airplanes (Kamikaze) crashed into US ships stations in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
• On December 8, 1941, the USA declared war on the empire of japan.

Rules and Restrictions

• Nuremberg laws (1935)
• In 1939, the German military ordered all Jewish citizens of Poland to wear the Star of David on their clothing
• Ghettos were designated areas where Jews were forced to live, separating them from the rest of the population
• Ghettos were overcrowded, had poor sanitation, limited food supply and widespread diseases
• The ultimate goal of the Nazis for these ghettos was to be a temporary stay before deporting Jews to concentration camps, “The Final Solution”
• Concentration camps/extermination camps were established to imprison, exploit, and exterminate Jews and other targeted groups
• Prisoners were subject to forced labor, starvation, torture, experimentation, inhumane living condition
• Some camps were specifically designed for mass murders using gas chambers
• Over 6 million people died as a result