rejection of democracy

absolute monarchy

• type of authoritarian system

• autocratic monarch (one person with absolute control) from a ruling family

• power is based on religion, divine right, tradition

• ex. King Luis XVI

autocracy

• type of authoritarian system

• single ruler exerts majority of control

• power based on the leader, backed by the police and military

• “my way or the highway”

• standard oil founder John D. Rockefeller

• US President Richard M. Nixon

• Stalin, Hitler

Oligarchy

• government controlled by a few influential members

• elite family, ethnic minority, or social group rules

junta

• type of authoritarian system

• military dictatorship

• key positions in government held by military

• government exists to support regime and appear legitimate

• Egypt, Fiji, Madagascar

minority tyranny

• type of authoritarian system

• minority group enjoys power/rights, while restricting rights of majority group

dictatorships

(authoritarian/totalitarian)

• governments that REJECT LIBERALISM completely:

• people should give up liberty, equality, and rights to benefit the common good

• strength of a single leader is better than the inefficiency and weakness of democracy

vision and controlled participation

• technique of dictatorships

• government controls all aspects of society

• unions, political parties, etc. are banned

• justified by the need for “unity”

• elections rigged, voting tracked/corrupted

propaganda

• technique of dictatorships

• controlling all public information to:

• - shape society around the ideology of the leader

• - ensure leader and ruling party are viewed positively

• art, music, literature are controlled and censored

• media controlled to support leader and government

• communication with outside world is strictly controlled

indoctrination

• technique of dictatorships

• “educating” the public - especially youth - to conform to the values of the leader and ruling party

• schools controlled — youth “serve” the nation via the military or state controlled groups

• history, science, etc. revised to support the leader

censorship

• technique of dictatorships

• using violence and intimidation to maintain power:

• - eliminate opponents and unwanted groups

• - eliminate a DISSENT (criticism of gov.)

secret police

• technique of dictatorships

• eliminate opponents to the state and intimidate citizens

• prisons used to punish those who defy the government

scapegoating

• government targets

• vulnerable minorities as "threats to the nation"

• blamed for nation's problems

• deflects blame away from leader

• creates hatred towards opponents

• reinforces need for loyalty

purge

• technique of dictatorships

• the elimination of real or perceived enemies of the state, together with the use of secret police, these reveal the use of force and terror as a mechanism for control in society

crisis

why individuals surrender civil liberties

• things that jeopardize:

• - safety and security

• - economic security

• - well-being

authoritarianism

• why individuals surrender civil liberties

• helps solve crisis

• keeps it from escalating, reassures people, quick/decisive

totalitarianism

• use of government to exert complete control over EVERY aspect of people's lives

communism

• Draws support from working classes.

• Makes decisions in the interest of the working class.

• Desire to help working class around the world. (international)

• State ownership of the means of production.

• Nationalities unimportant (equally)

fascism

• Draws support from lower classes & business.

• Makes decisions in the interest of the state.

• Focuses activities on the state.(national)

• Corporate state (private enterprise)

• Elitism

• Ultra-nationalism(ethnocentric)

• racist

Hierarchical Structure

Commonalities

between communism/fascism

• New technologies made totalitarianism possible and allowed rulers to maintain an extreme degree of control over their populations

• Turned away from the individual and away from limited democratic governments

• Both had one party rule (no other political parties allowed)

• Both favored a collective, all-powerful state

Germany After WWI

• Growth in popularity of fascism

  • Italy & Germany

• Liberal democratic governments seen as weak

  • Led to WWI

  • Unable to solve problems of wars aftermath

• Harsh terms of Treaty of Versailles

  • De-industrialization & war reparations

• Germany forced to accept sole blame for WW 1 – and all financial liabilities

• Germany loses territory

• Led to cut military to almost nothing, Rhineland forcibly occupied

• Weakness of Weimar Republic

  • Massive unemployment

  • Drop in living standards

  • Hyperinflation

Interwar Years

Germany in the 1920’s was in political chaos. There was no clear leadership and many people vying for power.

On top of this, there was a great fear of communism.

Things only worsened when the Great Depression hit in the 1930’s. Germany was in desperate need of a solution to her problems.

Blame Game

Germany: A Defeated Nation

• Humiliation, resentment, fear over losing the war & over the Treaty of Versailles

Germany Rejects Liberal Values:

• Democratic gov’t blamed for losing the war and signing the Treaty of Versailles

• WW1 victors were all Liberal nations – easy targets of blame for both left and right wing extremist groups

Economic Depression

• Treaty of Versailles - $33B reparations made an already weak economy worse

• Production halted by crisis in the Ruhr 🡪 massive inflation/unemployment

• U.S. helped temporarily – but 1929 Crash sent economy tumbling again

• Hitler & Nazis blamed greedy corporations, Jewish financiers, and the government

Adolf Hitler

• Born in Austria in 1889

• Fought in WWI

  • Beliefs about supremacy of German race formed

• Fascists very aware of ethnic distinctions

  • Want their nation or group to be dominant

  • Eugenics/Social Darwinism

Beer Hall Putsch

• Hitler now leader of National Socialist or Nazi Party

• Tries to seize power in coup in Munich Beer Hall

• Fails and Hitler is placed in jail

  • Lacks military support

Rise to Power

Hitler is released from jail in just eight months. He uses the publicity to draw attention to the Nazi cause and gain the support of more followers.

Taking Control of Government

• Nazi Party continues to gain popularity

• Hitler only party leader with decent solutions for Germany

  • Fascists believe society has a shared purpose

• In 1933 – Hitler was made Chancellor out of a belief that his popularity would unify a dysfunctional Reichstag.

Death of President Hindenburg

• Removed the only other politician that rivalled Hitler’s popularity.

• After Hindenburg’s death, Hitler combines the roles of chancellor & president and becomes “fuhrer” (leader)

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already used to Authoritarianism

• Germany unified under centralized rule of The Bismarck – many saw authoritarian governments as benevolent

• Nazis promoted values that many Germans longed for and embraced after the social and economic chaos following WW1:

  • NATIONALISM (pride)

  • MILITARISM (strength)

  • LAW AND ORDER (stability and safety)

Reichstag Fire

• Reichstag burned down – driving Germans into a panic

• A “communist” was found nearby, who “confessed” to setting the fire.

• Hitler called the fire a Communist plot to overthrow the Government.

• Hitler had the Communist Party banned, eliminating his main political opponents.

Enabling Act

• Gave Hitler executive (absolute) control

• Hitler justified it by saying he needed sweeping powers to protect Germany from its enemies.

• Many in the disagreed but intimidation from the SA brown-shirts forced them to conform – Act was passed with only 91 against

• Enabling Act gave Hitler the right to enact law by decree for four years and gave police extraordinary powers

• Hitler’s first act was to ban political parties, claiming they were a threat to national security

Night of the Long Knives

• took place between June 30^TH and July 2^nd 1934.

• Hitler moved against the SA – who had begun challenging his leadership and demanding more power. Hitler also targeted more conservative elements who disagreed with his policies.

• Over 100 people were killed for political reasons by the “Blackshirt” SS and Gestapo – more than 1000 were arrested and sent to prison camps.

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Oath of Loyalty

• Every soldier in the military was then required to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler.

Nazi Germany

Nazi fascism

first

____ step of Hitler’s rise to power

NAZIS WIN SEATS IN THE REICHSTAG

second

____ step of Hitler’s rise to power

HITLER IS APPOINTED CHANCELLOR

third

____ step of Hitler’s rise to power

THE REICHSTAG BURNS DOWN

fourth

____ step of Hitler’s rise to power

HITLER PASSES ENABLINGACT

fifth

____ step of Hitler’s rise to power

HITLER PURGES INTERNAL OPPONENTS ON NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES

sixth

____ step of Hitler’s rise to power

PRESIDENT HINDENBERG DIES

seventh

____ step of Hitler’s rise to power

SOLDIERS SWEAR OATH OF LOYALTY TO HITLER

Nuremburg Laws

• “Denaturalization” laws that were used as a basis for racial discrimination against Jewish people

• Some laws included:

  • Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood is forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if concluded abroad.

  • intercourse between Jews and subjects of the state of Germany or related blood is forbidden

  • Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors

Kristallnacht

• On November 9, 1938 a massive coordinated attack on the Jews occurred through the German Reich.

• Mob violence broke out as the regular German police stood by and crowds of spectators watched.

• Nazi storm troopers, along with the SS, beat and murdered Jews, destroyed their businesses and homes, and terrorized and tortured Jewish women and children. 25,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps..

Warsaw Ghettos

• first established in 1940 when its estimated population was 440,000 but as people were deported to concentration camps the population decreased to about 70,000

• It was filled with disease and starvation and the people who lived within it were in constant fear of random killings

• The Warsaw ghetto was the largest of all the ghettos in which Jewish people were sectioned off from the rest of the population.

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Death Camps

• Used for the sole purpose of executions

​

• Largest camp was Auschwitz-Birkenau (also used as a work camp)

​

• Prisoners were executed mainly in gas chambers and mass shootings

Concentration Camps

• Were built to torture the people within and use them as cheap labor

• Housed political prisoners and “undesirables” (Jews, homosexuals, outspoken journalists)

• Camps became larger to house more prisoners after the start of WWII and became more violent

• Nazi doctors began using prisoners for medical experiments

Holocaust

• “Final Solution” - liquidation of all Jews, Gypsies, and most Slavs in Europe. (including opponents of the Nazis)

• Death camps were created to rid the Third Reich of “the unwanted”.

  • To kill Jews, Romas, Religious Leaders and other Dissenters, Homosexuals, Disabled People, and all non-whites

  • Auschwitz (12,000/per day)

  • 67% (6M) of Jewish population in Europe annihilated. 90% in Poland and Germany