Rise of Totalitarianism Quiz

Vladimir Lenin

Revolutionary who will lead the Russian Revolution and the eventual transformation of Russia into a communist state

Leon Trotsky

Leader of the Red Army, but later labeled as enemy of the state and forced into exile. Will die in Mex

Joseph Stalin

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1924-1953

Gulag

Soviet network of forced labor camps established by the Communist Party for political opponents and perceived enemies of the state

Collectivization

A policy of forced abandonment of individual and family farms in favor of large-scale, communal agriculture

Kulak

Wealthier Russian peasants during the late Russian Empire and early years of the Soviet Union

Holodomor

A term meaning “death by starvation.” Ukrainians utilize this word to describe the famile orchestrated by the Communist Party from 1932-1934

Gareth Jones

British reporter who at the risk of his own life snuck into Ukraine to report on the devastating forced-famine occurring there

Weimar Republic

German gov’t established post- WWI

Reparations

the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.

Hyperinflation

rapid and unrestrained price increases in an economy, typically at rates exceeding 50% each month over time.

Brownshirts

the early Nazi militia founded by Hitler in Munich in 1921, known by the color of their uniforms.

Beer Hall Putsch

Failed coup d’état by Hitler and the Nazis in 1923

Reichstag

Lower house of the German parliament

Fascism

mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single, powerful leader over the individual citizen.

Totalitarianism

a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regulation over public and private life.

Eugenics

the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.

Appeasement

a diplomatic policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power to avoid conflict.

Anschluss

Union with Austria

Sudetenland

Region of Czechoslovakia that Germany annexed in 1938

Lebensraum

German term for living space; A Nazi concept of expansionism & nationalism to establish a sustainable empire to last 1,000 years.

Anti-seminitism

Hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people

Deicide

Act of killing God

Ghetto

Designated area of a city/ town where a religious or ethnic minority is forced to reside

Nuremberg Laws

legislation passed in 1935 that formerly established who was considered a Jew & stripped Jews of their German citizenship & other basic rights.

Kristallnacht

“Night of broken glass.” A pogrom that killed hundreds of Jews, destroyed many more synagogues and Jewish businesses within the 3rd Reich.

List & explain three problems/issues that were plaguing the Russian Empire on the eve of their revolution.

1. Peace, land, and bread

   1. Internal turmoil and anger about Treaty of Versailles

      1. Government corruption/ weak democratic government that society had no faith in

      2. Post WW1: low morale, economic strain, casualties, etc.

   2. Lost land in Treaty of Versailles and wanted to expand. Plus peasants wanted land distribution, because most farmland was controlled by nobility, while they were starving

   3. Food shortages fueled protests and strikes

Describe what the Five-Year Plan was along with its goals.

• Stalins’ plan aimed to industrialize Soviet Union

• Traded surplus of food to get modern machinery and technology

  • Forcefully took grain from towns and villages, starving soviet citizens, especially non-Russians (kazakhs and Ukrainians)

• Collectivization of family farms and private lands

• Kulaks (more fortunate peasants) persecuted

• Suppression to take away nationalistic feelings

List & describe two reasons why Stalin targeted & persecuted Ukraine in 1932-1933.

1. Grain to fund industrialization

   1. “Bread Basket of Europe”

   2. Collectivization

   3. Starvation/ famine (Holodomor)

      1. Physiological impact (not selves, even eat children!)

2. Destroy Ukrainian nationalist/ independence sentiments

   1. Saw collectivization refusal as threat to Soviet authority

   2. Avoid uprising

After the deaths of millions in Ukraine, Stalin will initiate a resettlement program that forced hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians to reside in southern & eastern Ukraine. What implications does this have in the present-day?

Stalin moved ethnic Russians into Ukraine who would be less resistant to soviet occupation. Today Russia continues to try to take over Ukraine, seeing it as theirs because of the many Russian people living there.

List & explain two issues plaguing the Weimar Republic during the early 1920s. 

1. Far left and right groups looked to bring down the Republic

   1. Republic forced on them after WW1

   2. Ex. Spartacist uprising/communist revolution (left)

   3. Ex. Kapp Putsch (right)

   4. Believed they’d been stabbed in back after WW1

2. Bad economy/ hyperinflation

   1. Printed more money for reparations, leading to hyperinflation

Analyze Hitler’s rise from a messenger boy in WWI to the leader of Germany by 1933.

• Young soldier in WW1, increasing anti Semitic views and desire to lead government

• Hired by government to spy on German Workers Party, but realized their interest aligned with his so joined them and quickly rises up within the group

• In 1923 Hitler and the brownshirts launch the Beer Hall Putsch to overthrow government

  • Fails and Hitler sentenced to prison, but only serves 9 months

    • Writes Mein Kampf

• Effects of Great Depressions cause support for him to skyrocket

• Becomes most popular party and Hitler sworn in as chancellor in 1933

List & briefly describe three core pillars of totalitarian regimes.

1. One political party (all others illegal)

   1. Ex. Nazi party

2. State over the individual

   1. Good for whole country over individualism

3. Extreme censorship and propaganda

   1. Ex. Anti Semitic mass media

4. Intimidation and violence to coerce citizens to obey

   1. Suppression and forced famine in Soviet Union

How did eugenics and race play a large role in Nazism?

• Believed Germans were superior and tried to make Germany great again

• Hitler desired pure German bloodline

  • Nurnberg laws

• Violence against Jews and other minorities

  • Kristallnacht

Explain the concept of appeasement, and do you believe it is a useful aspect of foreign policy & diplomacy.

• Appeasement is giving someone what they want, so they stop asking/ attacking

• Western leaders, led by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appease Hitler instead of punishing him for violating treaty of Versailles

  • Give him Sudetenland and he says he won’t try to take more land (but does anyway)

• Not useful, because at some point it will a country will probably want more

List & explain three ways Hitler & Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles in the 1930s.

1. Remilitarization of Rhineland

   1. Rhineland banned from containing armed forces/ fortification under Treaty of Versailles

   2. After Franco-Soviet pact Hitler sent 3 battalions into Rhineland, claiming it a defensive move

   3. Ordered immediate withdrawal if France retaliated, but France refused to do so without Britains approval, so no opposition

2. Anshulss

   1. Versailles said Germany couldn’t have alliance with Austria

   2. Germany marches fro Germany to Austria

   3. School children salute armored cars and Austrian guards welcomed Germans

   4. Hitler desired to annex Austria

3. Annexation of Sudetenland (and Czechoslovakia)

   1. Hitler wanted Czechoslovakias good army, equipment and munition plant

      1. Used Sudetenland, where many of German decent lived, as an excuse (wanted German speakers under Reich)

   2. Hitler assured if got Sudetenland wouldn’t try to get more land, but did

Describe the key takeaways from the Nuremberg Laws of 1935.

• Defined Jew as a person with 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents and people with 1 or 2 Jewish grandparents as mischilnge (mixed/ neither German nor Jewish)

• Jews, Roma and Black people could not be citizens of Germany nor marry or have sexual relations people of German or related blood

• Made Jews legally different from Germans

• Gave way to Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names (Jews could only be named certain names), Decree of Passports of Jews (passport mush state they’re a Jew), and Police Regulation of Marking of Jews (Jews must wear star on clothes saying they’re Jewish)

Explain how propaganda played a large role in the Nazi machine to help disseminate their ideas.

• Rallies use propaganda to create new community

  • Manufacture adoration, bask in it and broadcast it

• Media controlled by governmeny

• Newspapers, radios, movies, etc. spread false claims faster than ever

  • Expand facism and anti-semitism

Describe the significance of Kristallnacht.

• State sponsored violence, vandalism and arson

  • Broke into homes, set fire to synagogues, beat Jews, arrested Jews etc.

• Many Jewish died and around 30,000 Jews were arrested/ sent to concentration camps and were only released if agreed to leave Germany with families

• Many Jews concluded there was no future for them in Germany

• Increased anti-semitism

• US recalled US ambassador to Germany