Totalitarianism and World War II Overview Canada

totalitarianism

• A system of government where the state has total control over all politics and society.
• single leader / dictator without democratic restrictions.
• No opposing ideologies

Benito Mussolini

• established Fascist Party + Blackshirts in Italy

Blackshirts

Gangs of fascists created by Mussolini that attacked communists and socialists on the streets for intimidation.

Stalin's first step

collectivize agriculture, seizing all privately owned land

Joseph Stalin

• leader of Soviet Union Communist Party
• ignored needs of people

role of the secret police in Stalin's regime

They arrested anyone considered a threat to the government.

How did Adolf Hitler rise to power in Germany?

Hitler persuaded Germans that he could save country from the Depression

Adolf Hitler

• leader of National Socialist Gern Workers' Party (Nazis)
• became chancellor (highest/high position) of Germany

Gestapo

Hitler's secret police to keep him in power

"master race"

- Hitler's idea that German Arayans were the superior race.

- Non-Aryans (Jewish ppl, Roma "Gypsies", Slavs) considered inferior

Nuremberg Laws

- Laws passed by Hitler that forced Jewish people to wear the Star of David

- banned marriage between Jews and Aryans, and prohibited Jews from being lawyers or doctors.

Francisco Franco

• General that led fascist rebels (Nationalists) to overthrow elected socialist government in Spain
• supported by Hitler + Mussolini to win civil war and become ruler

Emperor Hirohito

• Emperor of Japan
• power rested in military + Zaibatsu

Zaibatsu

large family-run corporations

Hitler's violations of Treaty of Versailles

• 1st violation: Hitler ordered troops into Rhineland (was demilitarized + put under French protection)
• 2nd violation: Germany annexed/took over Austria

Munich Agreement

An agreement where Hitler was allowed to annex Sudetenland in exchange for a promise not to invade Czechoslovakia, which he later broke.

non-aggression pact

Hitler + Stalin pledged not to fight each other and agreed to split Poland, which was broken when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

League of Nations

An organization formed at the end of WWI to maintain world peace, but it was too weak to enforce its resolutions.

What was Canada's stance during the 1930s regarding international conflicts?

Canada practiced isolationism, avoiding involvement in global conflicts.

antisemitism

• Jewish refugees seems as burden cuz of rising unemployment (they're stealing our jobs)
• supported hitler + dictators

What was the S.S. St. Louis incident?

A ship carrying Jewish refugees from Germany was denied entry into Canada and forced to return to Europe, where many passengers died in concentration camps.

Victory Bonds

Bonds encouraged by PM King to finance the war and avoid inflation after WWI.

Wartime Prices and Trade Board

• froze all wages and prices to try to prevent inflation.
• Income taxes increased
• Programs helped families - unemployment insurance + Family Allowance

cradle to grave

social security from birth to death

Natural Selective Service program

Allowed women to work in factories + daycare centres in Ontario + quebec

Canadian women's Army Corps (CWAC)

- Women joined working as clerks, drivers, nurses

- By 1946, 1/3rd of women were employed

Natural Resources Mobilization Act

An act that allowed conscription for home defense and was a response to public demand for more government action during WWII.

Mackenzie King + conscription crisis

Held a plebiscite (vote) to see views on conscription, everyone but Quebec agreed

internment camps

- They were used to detain Japanese Canadians due to rising anti-Japanese sentiments after the Pearl Harbor attack.

- Forced to move to camps, families separated, lost possession of property

war brides

foreign women who married Canadian troops serving overseas and then immigrated to Canada after the war

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP)

A program where Canada hosted training for pilots and personnel from across the Commonwealth, training over 130,000 individuals.

the Allies

Great Britain, France, Commonwealth countries

the Axis

Germany, Italy, Japan

Blitzkrieg tactic

A military strategy of surprise attacks using fast-moving and coordinated assaults by tanks and aircraft.

Operation Barbarossa

Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, which broke the non-aggression pact and aimed to acquire resources.

- Soviet's joined Allies' side

Battle of Hong Kong

Canadian troops were sent to reinforce Hong Kong but were overwhelmed by Japanese forces, resulting in high casualties.

Battle of the Atlantic

Germany's naval attempt to cut off British supply ships by using "wolf packs" of u-boats. Allies sailed in convoys to protect vessels. Believed to have won

Bomber Command

The section of the RAF (Royal Air Force) that directed the strategic bombing of Germany.

- Target city reasons: retaliate for German air raids on English cities, diminish German morale, destabilize German industrial centres

Dieppe Raid

Raid by German convoy on the French port of Dieppe to ship carrying Canadian soldiers. High casualties

Battle of Ortona

The capture of the Italian city Ortona by Canadian soldiers.

• Steep, rubble filled streets

D-Day (Operation Overlord)

The Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944, where Canadian soldiers landed at Juno Beach. Made way past German defences (concrete barriers, barbed wire, land mines)

- successful, but high casualties

Liberating the Netherlands

German troops destroyed port cities of Amsterdam + Rotterdam and flooded countryside, food + fuel supplies cut off and ppl were starving

- Canadians hailed as heroes in parades after driving out Germans

VE Day

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day, celebrated on May 8, 1945, when Germany surrendered to the Allies.

Manhattan Project

A top-secret project to develop atomic bombs, which resulted in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Holocaust

The genocide of over six million Jews and other 'undesirables' by Nazi Germany during WWII, referred to as the 'Final Solution'.