The rise of dictatorships after WWI

There are two main ways the development of dictators can be considered

• Conditions across Europe were conducive to the growth of dictatorships, such as the impact of World War I and the economic depression

• Each nation that became a dictatorship was unique, and must be examined individually

Why dictatorships in the inter-war period

• Pre-war factors

  • The growth of nationalism and its links to pseudoscientific racial theory

    • Growth of media, education and technology made the propagation of Social Darwinism possible

    • All inter-war dictatorships, apart from Russia, were nationalist and embraced racial ideology

  • The spread of education and the development of technology

    • Although it did not create dictatorships, it created an environment where the rise of dictatorships was made possible by providing the means for large-scale political activity and dissemination of radical ideas

  • The development of mass society/institutions/culture

    • Political parties, trade unions, consumerism were formed on a mass basis

• The impact of World War I

  • Brutalisation of war

    • Returning veterans joined para-military groups and politics became more violent, conducive to the rise of dictators

  • Government propaganda

    • Wartime propaganda set the example for dictators

  • Government controls

    • Populations were used to government intervention after ‘total war’ policies

• The impact of 1919

  • The dissatisfaction and anger felt by the outcomes of the peace settlements

    • Italy and Germany were easy targets for radical nationalist figures who had revisionist aims

  • The growth of national resentment against minorities and from minorities

    • Minorities in new countries and the prevalence of racist thinking provided scapegoats for parties espousing nationalism and racial cleansing

  • Some of the 1919 arrangements led to conflicts that promoted military influence

    • Military rulers promoted themselves amidst internal and international conflicts, such as Spain’s Francisco Franco

• Post-1919 issues

  • Growth of racism

  • Economic factors

    • Post-war recessions, World Agricultural Depression from 1926 and the Great Depression after 1929 created mass distress

    • This made the allure of a strong ruler appealing, and although it didn’t put these people into power, they would not have gained power without it

  • Flawed democratic systems

    • The prevalence of systems of proportional representation was fair, but untenable as no party ever won a majority

      • Coalitions became the normal form of government, which was unstable and involved endless debate about positions

    • Many people sought a system or person who could transcend petty politicking

      • Demagogues appeared in many countries offering simple solutions to complex problems, playing on fears and insecurities

Russia was the first country to establish a lasting dictatorship in the interwar period, and differed significantly from its counterparts

• The only left-wing regime amidst right-wing dictatorships

• One of three, among Germany and Italy, which aimed to implement a specific ideology

  • Early Bolsheviks in Russia were idealistic Communists with their pursuit of Marxist-Leninism, a classless communist society

The Bolshevik rise to power

• With the outbreak of war in August 1914, the country loyally supported the tsar

• Defeat at Tannenberg in August 1914 began a series of failures due to poor leadership and lack of supplies

• By late 1916/early 1917, desertions and mutinies were mounting, and food shortages and political paralysis on the Home Front

  • Tsarina Alexandra was hated for her German ethnicity, and Rasputin’s influence in government affairs saw police and troops join rioters and strikes

• February Revolution saw the tsar lose all power and influence, and on 2 March, he abdicated, ending the Romanov dynasty

• From February to October, power was shared uneasily between the Provisional Government, formed from the remaining Duma, and the Soviets of Workers and Soldiers

• The Provisional Government was led by Alexander Kerensky, whose greatest error was to continue the war

  • Lenin’s April Theses argued for ‘peace, bread and land’, increasing their popularity and encouraging Bolshevik seizure of power

  • The October coup was well organised by Trotsky, although Bolshevik hold on power was tenuous

• By mid-1918, Russia was in a civil war as the Whites combined to destroy the Reds, raging until 1921 with Bolshevik victory

  • Trotsky led the Bolshevik army while Lenin implemented ‘War Communism’ to maintain food and supplies for towns and the army

Lenin was 47 when the Bolsheviks seized power; however, a failed assassination attempt in 1918 by Socialist Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan saw his health never recover

How did this impact the Party?

• By 1922, Lenin was deteriorating, and a series of strokes left him debilitated by 1923, eventually dying in 1924

• The Bolshevik Party, now the Communist Party, had changed since 1918

  • Originally, party debates were needed, and even Lenin had to argue to gain acceptance of his ideas

    • However, the strains of Civil War and War Communism meant that there was no room for debate and argument

    • The 10th Party Congress ended ‘factions’, as members were no longer allowed to dissent from party decisions, or else face expulsion

  • Trotsky ended democratic military reforms that had been introduced in the wake of the revolution

    • Ranks, uniforms, corporal punishment and the death penalty were brought back in the Red Army

  • The violence and terror of the Civil War became a part of Soviet life

  • The party grew in membership and bureaucratisation, as it needed a whole series of structures, committees and hierarchies to run the large country

    • Stalin controlled the party bureaucracy, and thus the party

      • By 1922, he was the Commissar of Nationalities, ran the Peasant and Workers’ Inspectorate, which had the power to remove ‘corrupt’ party members, a member of the Politburo and General Secretary, controlling party membership

    • However, Trotsky seemed the most likely successor, due to his dynamic, charismatic and intelligent personality that led the Reds to victory

      • Many in the party viewed him as arrogant, ultimately allowing Stalin to outmanoeuvre him in the struggle for power

        • Stalin manipulated ideological debate and played off different party figures through his control of the party

By the late 1920s, Stalin defeated all rivals for leadership of the party and was hailed the ‘Lenin of Today’; he continued to have supreme control over the party until he died in 1953

What did this look like and how was this achieved?

• Every aspect of Soviet life was dominated by the party, including factories, collective farms, education, trade unions, sport, the arts and youth organisation (Komsomol)

  • The only acceptable views were the party’s, and history books were rewritten to emphasise Stalin’s role and remove Trotsky

  • Socialist realism propagated that artistic endeavours be positive and promote the interests of the party; anything that deviated was banned

• Five Year Plans were created which dictated the direction of the economy, preferring heavy industry over consumer goods

• A cult of personality grew around Stalin, as there were images and statues of him in every building and village

• Ultimately, Stalin’s dictatorship relied on terror and force, which while they existed before the 1930s, grew enormously under his rule

  • The secret police (NKVD from 1934), which had initially been created in 1917 as a temporary measure (the Cheka), became a permanent part of life

  • Labour camps were established in Siberia and the Arctic

  • Millions died during Stalin’s dictatorship, especially with the purges

  • Despite the use of terror, many citizens supported the regime and the construction of a socialist world

Although Italy emerged from the war as victorious, and Vittorio Orlando was considered one of the ‘Big Four’ in Paris, his influence was minimal compared to the other major powers

How did this pave the way for dictatorship to emerge?

• Italy left the Paris Peace Conference deeply dissatisfied, as territorial gains promised in the 1915 Treaty of London, which encouraged Italy’s participation, were not entirely honoured

• The future fascist leader Benito Mussolini would make revision one of his prime goals

Italy’s political and economic system was in a mess

• Unemployment was rising, and inflation was out of control

• Northern industrial regions were striking

• South remained mired in poverty and Mafia control

• Italy was a new country, unified in the 1860s, and its constitutional system was at times unworkable

  • Governments and prime ministers were unstable, and elections took months

  • This was worsened after the Socialists, the largest party, refused to join a government that would impose austerity measures

  • Italian politics led to widespread violence on the streets

• There were also fears that Italy would face a communist uprising, like in Russia, and similar to the failed uprisings in Germany and Hungary

It was against this backdrop that Benito Mussolini moved towards taking power

• Mussolini’s involvement with socialist politics ended after they opposed Italy’s involvement in World War I, and he served in the army until 1917, when injured

• In 1919, Mussolini formed the Fascio di Combattimento, one of a series of nationalist veterans’ groups, which would later form into the Fascist Party

  • Mussolini’s supporters wore distinctive black shirts

• Mussolini was seen as a strong man who could bring order and discipline into Italy, and veered towards rich conservative figures, since the Communists and Socialists had the support of the working classes

  • Mussolini ordered his supporters to ‘march on Rome’ in October 1922

    • This gamble paid off, even though the Fascists had 35 out of 535 deputies in the parliamentary chamber

    • Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister by King Victor Emmanuel III, and parliament gave him full powers for a year

      • Within a couple of years, the Fascist Party was Italy’s only legal political party

Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship was not as pervasive as Stalin’s or ideological as Hitler’s

What did it look like?

• No opposition was permitted, with ‘Black Shirt’ thugs patrolling, and active opponents fled, although it occurred less than in other European dictatorships

  • State-sanctioned violence was effective in quelling dissent, especially with the murder of socialist Matteotti in 1924

• Press freedom disappeared, and a personality cult was developed around ‘Il Dulce’

  • His image and writings were ubiquitous, and he remained popular until the war

• Powerful groups within Italy were happy to support Mussolini against Bolshevism, particularly resolving the strained relations with the Catholic Church with the Lateran Accord of 1929

  • The Pope officially recognised the Italian state, and the Vatican State in Rome was created

• Mussolini attempted to create a ‘Corporate State’, where representation in parliament was based on ‘corporations’, twelve for employers, twelve for workers and one for professional people

  • Attempted to resolve Italy’s disharmony between social classes

• Mussolini, similarly in Russia and Germany, emphasised mobilisation and indoctrination of young people

  • Italian youth was placed in the ‘Avanguardia’ and the ‘Giovani Italiane’ for boys and girls

Consolidating his domestic position, Mussolini focused on foreign policy and his role as an international statesman

Where can this be seen?

• Seen with his role at the Locarno Conference in 1925 to guarantee Western European Frontiers

However, in the 1930s, Mussolini pursued aggressive foreign policy aims, not only to revise peace settlements, but for Italy to rediscover the imperial greatness of the Roman Empire

This can be seen in…

• In 1923, Italy bombarded the Greek port of Corfu following the murder of Italian border commissioners

• Italian interference in Albanian affairs was common, resulting in its invasion in 1939

• Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1936 was the most notable example

Since the 1868 Meiji Restoration, Japan’s government was dominated by nobles and military figures, but in the post-war period, there were indications that Japan was becoming more democratic, and commoners began filling out cabinet positions

How did Japan emerge from WWI

• Japan emerged from the war in good economic shape, now a creditor, not debtor nation, and captured western markets in Asia

However, issues began to emerge which threatened this democratic development

• Japan’s economic good fortune did not last as a post-war recession began

  • Western powers began imposing tariffs, and Japanese goods were unable to compete with the West

• Japan’s increasing population put strains on food supplies, leading to riots

• The gap between rich and poor increased as industrial conglomerates became wealthier

• Japan’s international position was suffering, as many in Japan felt insulted

  • The failure to achieve the racial equality clause and US restrictions on Japanese immigration in 1924 made nationalists frustrated with cooperation with the West

• Japan’s politicians did not set a good example; bribery and corruption were commonplace 

The Great Depression that followed the Wall St Crash in 1929 impacted Japan significantly, as they were dependent on imports for key products and relied on exports of textiles and silk

How did this influence Japan?

• These goods plummeted significantly, causing distress across the country

• Members of patriotic societies and the military began to believe Japan’s problems of overpopulation, food shortages and economic stagnation could be solved through expansion

  • Members of the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria concocted an explosion on the South Manchurian Railway

  • This led to the invasion of Manchuria, which the civilian Tokyo government was forced to accept

    • These patriotic and military societies began to dominate Japanese politics, resorting to terror and assassinations

Dictatorship in Japan was different in Japan, as there was no single head of the party; rather, on the surface, the civilian government seemed to continue to operate, but the military was in control

What did this look like?

• Violence afflicted Japanese politics daily

• The economy did improve, but Japan’s international trade never recovered

  • This was significant because Japan’s military came from the peasantry and was affected by this, leading to aggressive foreign policy

    • Manchuria became the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932

    • Japan bombed Shanghai in 1933

    • In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale invasion of mainland China

      • Japanese leaders claimed to be creating a ‘Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere’ in Asia, free of western influence, but in reality, were creating a Japanese Empire

• The military was not united, but existed in various factions

  • The Control Group and the Imperial Way were the two main ones

    • The Imperial Way attempted a coup in 1936, which ultimately failed and led to its leaders being executed

    • This only increased the influence of the Control Group

What was one feature Japan shared with European dictators

• the importance of propaganda and education

  • Emperor Hirohito was revered and given divine status, and although all Japanese pledged themselves to him, he had little say in the development of policy in the 1930s

  • Schools, the media and patriotic societies insisted on unquestioning loyalty to the emperor and promoted traditional Japanese values of loyalty, obedience, respect and patriotism, while western values and ideas were suppressed