Rise of Dictatorships & World War II

Benito Mussolini, Il Duce

Social journalist before WWI then an Italian dictator who rejected socialism because they rejected war. Created fascists and was leader of Italy, the first Fascist regime during WWI. Fired 1943 then fled north under German protection, killed on April 28th, 1945

Black Shirts

a member of a fascist(usually italian) organization; used as a distinctive part of uniform. Attacked the Socialists because they didn't like them. Marched to Rome because government wasn't meeting the peoples needs.

March on Rome

(Oct 22-29 1922) Led by Fascist Party who took over Rome, Milan, and Bologna. Brought Mussolini to power and marked the beginning of the end of parliamentary government, and the emergence of Fascist dictotorship and institutionalized violence.

totalitarianism

System of government that is centralized and dictatorial. Requires complete loyality to the state.

fascism

Political system that is an extreme right wing to the totalitarian political system. Glorifies the state and totally subordinates the individual to the state's needs by dictating while having nationalism and the use of force. Italy was the first Fascist state, followed in 1930's by Germany and Spain.

Five-Year Plans

Plans introduced by Joseph Stalin to develop the Soviet Union soon. Started in 1928 and set goals for the output of steel, electricity, machinery, and most other products and were enforced by the police powers of the state. Eventually resulted in famine

command economy

economy where production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined by a government.

Collectivization

Policy enforced by the Soviet Union, acting as a part of the 5 year plan. Policy aimed to consolidate individual lands and labor into collective farms such as kolkhozy or sovkhozy.

kulaks

Wealthy peasant who could own land and hire others. Were able to resist collectivization but were mostly were arrested or killed.

terror famine

Stalin was angry at the kulaks for resisting collectivization which he then took their lands and sent them to labor camps. They responded by only farming enough for them, resulting in him taking their grain. Combined with no grain and poor harvests, millions died. (5-8million died in Ukraine alone)

gulag

a system of brutal labor camps

the Great Purge

(1936-1938) there was a series of public trails where former communist leaders confessed to crimes and were sent to a Gulag.

cult of personality

when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods to create an idealized, heroic, and at times worshipful image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise

socialist realism

realistic art or writings that shows the person or thing in a positive or heroic light

Russification

a policy promoted by Stalin that makes a nationality's culture more Russian

Comintern

its purpose was to encourage world-wide revolution, and ended up aiding revolutionary groups and urged colonial people to rise up against imperialist powers

Weimar Republic

a constitution created by the German leaders, it created a democratic government with a parliamentary system led by a chancellor. It gave women the right to vote and included a bill of rights.

Adolf Hitler (Fuhrer)

a German army veteran and leader of an extremist party. While in Vienna, grew a prejudice against Jewish people. Saw the Weimar Republic as weak, became the leader of the National Socialist German Workers, or Nazi, party. Organized this supporters into fighting squads.

Mein Kampf

written by Hitler, it became the book of Nazi goals and ideology filled with his obsessions with nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism (prejudice against Jewish people). It also had his ideas that Germans were superior.

Lebensraum

Hitler's theory based on a drive to acquire "living space" which was maintaining that as nation's power depended on the kind of land it occupied for the German people. His rationale for invading Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Third Reich

a 1930's government started by Adolf Hitler, the third German empire and lasted till 1945

S.S.

special police force in Nazi Germany founded as a personal bodyguard for Adolf Hitler in 1925

Gestapo

the secret state police force of the German Nazi state, notorious for its terrorism and brutality towards their operations and methods

Nuremberg Laws

Placed severe restrictions of Jews, prohibited from marrying non- Jews, attending schools or universities, holding government jobs, practicing law or medicine or publishing books.

Kristallnacht

November 9 1938 "the night of broken glass" where the Nazi went destroying Jews property such as shops and killing many of them

Knight of Long Knives

June, 30, 1934. On this night, Hitler sent his elite guards which were the black shirts to kill the Storm Troopers which was his own political party that he was afraid that they would be enemies in the future.

Final Solution

The answer to the Jewish and undesirables "problem." It was consisted of Jews being deported to labor and concentration camps in an attempt to kill off the Jewish race with the most benefit to the government. The Propaganda helped the public accept it.

Hitler Youth

Youth organization which was given special attention because the early indoctrination of the nation's youth would lay the foundation for a strong totalitarian state. Taught girls how to be mothers and take in boys that had national and militaristic values.

Appeasement

A policy advocated by Britain and France that granted Hitler everything he could reasonably want and in order to avoid war with Germany between 1933 and 1938, hoping to remain peace with them.

Pacifism

The belief that violence is unjustifiable under any circumstance (including war), so all disputes should be settled by peaceful means.

Neutrality Acts

Laws passed in 1935, 1936, 1937, & 1939 as result of growing turmoil in Europe and Asia, to limit U.S. involvement in future wars. Repealed in 1941 because of German submarine attacks on U.S. vessels and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Francisco Franco

Spanish general, dictated Spain (1939-1975), conservative and monarchist that created a republic in 1931. Much of success comes from the support received from Hitler and Mussolini (Axis) during the Spanish Civil War, where he was the leader of the rebels or nationalists. His dictatorship was unpopular in Western Europe after 1945 when he refused to give full Spanish support to the Axis cause however, it enabled him to survive.

Spanish Civil War

1936, war between the leftist Republicans, who were in government at the time, and the Nationalists. The right wing Nationalists were led by the army and had the support of the Catholic Church, monarchists, and large landowners. Ending in victory for the nationalists, regarded as victory for Hitler and Mussolini and defeat for the cause of the democracies.

Anschluss

Term used to describe the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938.

Sudetenland

The Sudetenland is the German name to refer to those northern, southern, and western areas of Czechoslovakia, inhabited primarily by German speakers, includes border districts of Bohemia, Moravia, and parts of Czech Silesia within Czechoslovakia, since they were part of Austria until the end of World War I.

Neville Chamberlain

British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from (1937-1940). Known for appeasement foreign policy, signing the Munich Agreement in 1938, and leading Britain through the first eight months of World War II.

German Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Said there would be peace between Germany and Russia, also agreed to split Poland between them when it was over.

Blitzkrieg

Hitler's "lightening war." military strategy of using air, man, and tank power to strike and enemy quickly and mercilessly.

Luftwaffe

German Air Force during the Battle for Britain.

Phony War

(1939-1940) war in the West during winter where Hitler did carry out his attack to the French and the Anglo-French Allies did not move against Germany

Dunkirk

1940; After Hitler conquered France and trapped the British soldiers, the British were able to ferry the British soldiers across the English Channel to safety.

Vichy France

The capital of the "puppet state" in Southern France that was made by Germans after they captured Northern France during Dunkrik

Charles de Gaulle

A French general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister for UK in 1940-1945. Inspired the British to resist the Nazis. Fell off a 29 foot bridge when he was 18.

the 'Blitz'

Derived from the German word Blitzkrieg or lightning war. Term used by British press for air raids over Britain. The German targeted civilian centers and industrial areas.

Operation Barbarossa

Code name for the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Four million Axis personnel invaded the Western Soviet Union. The purpose was to populate East Europe with Germans.

Holocaust

Genocide of 6,000,000 European Jewish people. About 2/3 of all of Europe's Jewish population. Motivated by an untrue belief that Jewish people wanted to control the world.

Rosie the Riveter

An icon of the women who worked in the factories of World War Two because of all the men in the war. She is a symbol of feminism. Inspired a patriotic desire in women to work.

Tehran Conference

Meeting between FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. The purpose of the meeting was to organize a strategy against Germany and Japan.

Stalingrad

A city on the boundary of Eastern Europe. It was fought over by Germany and the Soviet Union. The battle over the city was very violent and bloody.

D-Day

Also known as the Normandy landings. It was an invasion by the Allies in order to liberate Northwestern Europe from the Nazis. The invasion was planned for a long time before and it added to a victory by the Allies on the Western Front.

Yalta Conference

Meeting between the US, UK, and the Soviet Union. The reason that they met was to discuss relations of the countries and to reestablish the nations after the war.

Manhattan Project

This project produced the first nuclear bombs. It was done by the US with help from the UK and Canada. Led to the first detonation of an atomic bomb.

NKVD

A secret police force in the Soviet Union in Stalin's era. The group also contained normal police like firefighters and traffic police. The group also conducted executions outside of the Judicial system.

Lateran Pact/Accord

1929- Pope recognized Italy's possession of Rome. In return, Italy recognized Vatican City as an independent state ruled by the pope. Italy agreed to pay the papacy a substantial sum of money in settlement of any and all claims the papacy might have as a result of the Italian seizure of Rome. The Roman Catholic Church was recognized as the official religion of the state.

Beer Hall Putsch

An attempt by the Nazi Party to seize power in Munich. The revolt was easily suppressed by the police. Following the collapse, Hitler and Ludendorff were tried for treason.

Reichstag Fire

A new election was scheduled for March 1993. A few days before, on February 27th, the building was partially destroyed by this event. This might have been done by the Nazis, but they blamed the Communists.

Enabling Act

March 23, 1933. The Reichstag passed this act. It gave dictatorial authority to Hitler's cabinet for four years. Hitler moved to eliminate all possible centers of opposition.

Potsdam Conference

1945. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Harry Truman met in Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945 to negotiate terms for the end of World War II.

Heinrich Himmler

This person was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel, and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany.

Joseph Goebbels

This person was a German politician and Reich Minister of the Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.

Leni Riefenstal, Triumph of the Will

A movie filled with artful work of propaganda showcasing German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.

Wannsee Conference

On January 20, 1942, 15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials gathered at a villa in the Berlin to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question."

S.A. (Brown Shirts)

The Nazi party's main instrument for undermining democracy and facilitating Adolf Hitler's rise to power. They were the predominant terrorizing arm of the Nazi party from 1923 until "The Night of the Long Knives" in 1934. They continued to exist throughout the Third Reich, but were of lesser political significance after 1934.