Modern Task 1 PDF

Task 1 Questions on: 25 marks Roughly 12 marker 6 4 4 ➔ features of the dictatorships of Russia and Japan ◆ Russia Stalin consolidated his power by putting his supporters in key positions and transforming the country as a whole....

Task 1 Questions on: 25 marks Roughly 12 marker 6 4 4 ➔ features of the dictatorships of Russia and Japan ◆ Russia Stalin consolidated his power by putting his supporters in key positions and transforming the country as a whole. Five year plans were created in order to initiate rapid and large-scale industrialization across the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These plans resulted in famine for the peasants which as a result of their suffering,they sabotaged the fulfilment of their obligations to the state and would stash away stores of food. The cult of Stalin was a shrine that successfully associated him with every positive facet of life in Soviet Russia. Pictures of Stalin were up in every major factory and building to power the cult and dominate everyday life in Russia. The Gulag was a system of forced labour camps established during Stalin’s reign as dictator of the Soviet Union. Killed many due to extreme weather, starvation, disease and long hours of up to 14 hours per day ➔ Japan ◆ Japan was angry with the Treaty of Versailles as they did not gain all the territory it wanted; also did not receive the respect of an equal nation at the negotiations and afterwards. Japan joined the Allies during World War I to gain land. ◆ Japan's economy was severely impacted by the Great Depression. Japanese silk trade exports dropped by 50% by 1931. Half of Japan’s factories closed as a result of the great depression. Currency depreciation, fiscal stimulus, and easy monetary conditions helped Japan to recover from the worldwide depression earlier than most countries in Europe and North America. ◆ The Japanese supported the rise of militarism due to Emperor Hirohito who was a military leader who symbolically and spiritually guided the people.They believed it would solve Japan's economic problems and gained currency during the Great Depression of the 1930s. ◆ The Zaibatsu were wealthy, influential business owners who increased influence over the Japanese political environment. They coupled with dependence on Western economy, gives the impression of Westernised aristocracy betraying and cheating the poor, rural class, and also the military. Anti- western sentiment grew. ◆ Japan's expansionist vision grew increasingly bold. Many of Japan's political elite aspired to have the country acquire new territory for resource extraction and settlement of surplus population. These ambitions led to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. ◆ Japan was frustrated with Europe as The Treaty of Versailles guaranteed Japan control of the previously German territories in China. However, the European Allies rejected the racial equality clause. This rejection planted the seeds for tension to grow between Japan and the leading Western powers.  ◆ The Manchurian Crisis was an explosion that occurred on Japanese railroads. This led to the invasion of Manchuria by the Imperial Japanese Army. ➔ the initial consolidation of Nazi power 1933-1934 ◆ The Nazi regime to 1939 ◆ the initial consolidation of Nazi power 1933–1934 (ACHMH130) ◆ ◆ The appointment of hitler as chancellor ◆ Hindenburg was hesitant to appoint Hitler despite him having the most seats ◆ He was concerned with growth of the SA and fanaticism (obsession) ◆ He appoints Kurt von Schleicher instead ◆ Hitler had influential supporters ◆ Had a significant ally who was former chancellor Franz von papen ◆ Saw his appointment as a means to regain political prestige ◆ Believes hitler could be manipulated ◆ ◆ Hindenburg relents and hitler is chancellor on 30th Jan 1933. ◆ Within 2 months after that all power in germany was held by hitler ◆ Reichstag Fire Decree ◆ 27 february the reichstag parliament caught on fire ◆ Hitkler privately reveal he hoped it was a communists fault as his ideology was the opposite of communism ◆ It was a Dutch man named Marinus van der Lubbe who committed the crime ◆ Hitler immediately had Hindenburg issue the decree for the Protection of People and State (the Reichstag Fire Decree) which removed civil liberties such as suspended right to assembly , right to freedom of speech and freedom of press. ◆ There was violence getting out of control with the Nazi leaders making little, vague leadership ◆ The communist party was still not banned as Hitler wanted individual communists to be treated as criminals ◆ The reichstag fire decree was supplemented on 21 march by President Hindenburg and signed into law by using Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. This meant people could be imprisoned for making statements that were deemed to ‘harm the welfare of the Reich’ ◆ The Reichstag decree and 5 March election 1933 sped up the Nazi consolidation of power. ◆ ◆ Enabling Act ◆ ◆ Enabling act gave hItler dictatorial powers over germany and no longer required approval from president ◆ Passed through the Reichstag and Reichsrat and signed by president Hindenburg ◆ It was passed due to hitler making deals with various parties to convives them to vote for the enabling act ◆ Only party that didn't vote in favor were social democrats who tried to boycott the proceedings ◆ 14th July all other parties were banned so it was just the Nazis holding all power. ◆ ◆ The Reichskonkordat ◆ Signed by Von papen and cardinal secretary of the state on the 20 july 1933 ◆ Meant to guarantee the rights of the roman catholic church in germany as long as they subjected to the authority of the nazi party. ◆ The Night of the Long Knives/ Operation Hummingbird  ◆ Hitler called together herman Goering and Heinrich Himmler to plan the elimination of Rohm and the SA leadership 1934 as it was preventing Hitler from absolute power ◆ Would leave Himmler as leader of the SS ◆ Operation was successful and Rohm was arrested and shot. ◆ President Hindenburg Died August 1 which left Hitler with the position of Chancellor and President meaning absolute power ➔ the various methods used by the Nazi regime to exercise control including laws and repression ◆ Repression Nazis did not hide their use of violence and brutality against their opponents Punishment for opposition was on the spot beating, fines, jail, intimidation or sent to concentration camps People who didn't donate to Nazi charity appeals, greet others with ‘Heil Hitler’, and display the Nazi flag on celebratory occasions. In March 1933 the law against malicious Gossip was made that jailed people who made even the smallest negative comment on the Nazis. This law created absolute power and control over the Germans as it was a very harsh law and could be easily misinterpreted. Himmler's police services reacted to information supplied to them by ordinary Germans who took it upon themselves to denounce enemies of the regime. Motives for the denouncing included patriotism, to prove one's loyalty to the regime and avoid attention from the police or settling a personal grievance. Hitler encouraged spying and dobbing people in. The denouncing became normalised and started to atomise Germany. It resulted in distrust between Germans, including family, colleges, and friends. This effectively resulted in the nonexistence of Nazi opposition. During the early months of the Nazi regime the SA was most feared. They were allowed to inflict violence on whoever they chose. However the power of the SA was diminished after the Night of the Long Knives and murder of Rohm as they had no leader. Then it was the SS led by Hienrich Himmler the people feared. Himmler's SS were younger and more educated therefore increasing the terror Germans faced after the falling of the SA. The men in the SS had to marry aryan women and they ran the concentration camps. Men in the SS who worked in the camps were instructed to feel no sympathy for the prisoners and develop a hatred for them. It was taught as ‘hate indocrication’.The SS had its own security service called the SD. The concentration camps used punishment in the camps to reinforce fear amongst the prisoners so they the nazi regime could easily control them once they were released as they realised they would get the same punishment once released. The concentration camps held potential political opponents during the beginning of the regime but then held social undesirables such as criminals and racially degenerate. 1936 Berlin Olympic Games HItler saw these games as an opportunity to promote his ideology of racial supremacy and anti semitism. The Nazi newspaper clearly wrote Jews must not be able to partake in the games. German anti semitic media was toned down Leni Riefenstahl promoted Nazi regime through film of the games ◆ Laws The nazis were continuing on from the immense bureaucratic structure from the weimar They developed a system of party structures which were essentially extra legal as they relied on the authority of the fuhrer.  Throughout 1933 there was clashes between the actions of the state and those of the nazi party Hitler decreed that all laws emanating from Reich ministries had to go through Hess’s office. the chief of staff ibn Hess’s office martin bormann had control of the management of hitlers headquarters in bavaria. Bormann was able to increase his own influence by determining access to Hitler. The real distribution of powers within the nazi regime had become a matter of personalities rather than constitutional rules. ➔ the impact of the Nazi regime on cultural expression in Germany ◆ The Nazi regime to 1939 ◆ the impact of the Nazi regime on life in Germany, including cultural expression, religion, workers, youth, women, minorities including Jews (ACHMH131, ACHMH132) ◆ ◆ Everyday life in 1930s germany and Nazi social programs was built on the idea of Volksgemeinschaft (racially pure german state imagined by Nazis) ◆ Racial hierarchy put Ayrans at the top and jews, handicapped, homosexuals at the bottom ◆ Racial purity, sacrifice and duty helped establish this racial utopia. ◆ To establish totalitarian order the nazi party aimed to permeate all aspects of everyday life. Society was reconstructed and traditional ties of religion, class and family were disrupted and undermined. ◆ ◆ Cultural Expression ◆ Art, film, music, literature, and architecture reflected a romanticized German past favoured by the Nazis. ◆ On the 10th of May the Burning of Books acts occurred by the Nazis that aimed to destroy intellectual foundations of any non-German ideologies. This act removed books that opposed nazi ideology such as marxism, sexuality, pacifism, and art ( as art was a contemporary form of communicating ideas through visuals which could be portraying non german messages). ◆ Visual Arts was another form of opposition ideologies that Hitker wanted banned. ◆ Initially they limited the practice of artist and artmaking by closing Bauhaus design school and removal of unacceptable works from galleries.in 1937 the Nazis collected and exhibited 650 works of art confiscated from public museums in germany. They created a degenerate art museum for the unacceptable works. ◆ Architecture of the time was considered by the Nazis to be corrupted and the party advocated a preferred style inspired by ancient Greece and rome. Examples of this new architecture can be seen in the new stadium for the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. Other projects included a boulevard, great hall, and train station. ◆ ◆ ➔ opposition to the Nazi regime ◆ Not unified front ◆ Depending on different factors of culture, age ◆ Civilian opposition was most common amongst young people particularly university students ◆ The systematic use of terror, threat of violence, concentration camps, informants, and security apparatus of policing (the gestapo and the security service) SD meant that the expression of opposition was rarely public or visible.  ◆ The political opponents took stances against the National socialist power as the social Democrats voted against the introduction of the enabling act in 1933. This was one of the few public displays of opposition and it occurred at the beginning of the regime. ◆ Members of the social democrats and communist parties created networks across Germany and distributed pamphlets telling people to flee. ◆ Opposition was also seen in the acts of violence such as people trying to assassinate Hitler. For example the most successful was a man Georg Esler who planted a bomb at Hitlers annual commemorative speech on November 8 1939. However Hitler left the building 13 minutes before the bomb exploded. Esler was captured and sent to concentration camps until his execution. ◆ The idealised National socialist childhood was Nazi sanction education which involved youth movements, military service or motherhood. ◆ The Political Left was the strongest opposition to the Nazis which included the ◆ Social Democrats showed opposition by voting against the Enabling act. Had secret underground networks to organise strikes, anti nazi propaganda and aid victims of persecution. The Nazi regime targeted SPD imprisoning, torture, and executions. ◆ German Kommunists party had street violent confrontations with the Nazi supporters such as the SA in urban working class areas. KPD was outlawed after HItlers’s rise to power but held underground resistance, distributed anti nazi leaflets, strikes, and engaged in sabotage ◆ Edelweiss Pirates a group of big teen gangs who rejected militarisation of Hitler youth. Embarrassment to Nazi regime rather than major threat. ◆ Marxists, trade unionists, and socialists. They were targeted by the Gestapo as they encouraged sabotage. ◆ General discontent, Political activism, Attempted coups ◆ Little of it posed a serious threat to the power of Hitler and his regime because it was so difficult to oppose hitler ◆ Difficult to oppose because of the methods of control of the regime and repression over germany resulted in that people didn't know who to trust ◆ If friends and family opposed then they were at risk too ◆ Swing movement was made up of middle class German youth who rejected nazi ideology by embracing British and American swing music, jazz and dance styles which the Nazis seemed degenerate. ◆ Oppositions were arrested, interrogated and sent to concentration camps. ➔ One unseen source