Finals Prep World History: Unit 12+13 - The Rise of Totalitarian States+World War 2

Who was Vladimir Lenin inspired by during the Russian revolution?

He was inspired by Marx and tried to follow it so that he could lead with communism successfully

How did Hitler and Nazism become popular in Germany prior to WW2's beginning? How does this connect to the Treaty of Versailles?

Because of the poverty and chaos caused by the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler made promises to bring order to Germany by improving the economy and society as a whole, claiming to get back at all who wrote the treaty

He was put in jail but during his time in prison, he wrote Mein Kamph and it was very popular, becoming the foundation for Nazism

He was able to easily manipulate the Germans into being anti-simetic and blindly following him and the Nazi regime

What events caused WW2 to begin?

Germany took over and annexed Austria, wanting to take over Czechoslovakia next

They were given Sudetenland due to appeasement and influence by Britain and France, but broke their promise and took over all of Czecho after that

Germany didn't stop there, instead they decided to take over Poland, which is when France and Britain finally declared war on them

What brought the U.S into the war?

Japans Pearl Harbor attack brought the U.S officially into the war and pushed them to start fighting, but prior to it, the U.S had been sending supplies to help the allies, just without any troops engaging

What caused the Holocaust?

Hitler blamed all of Germany's defeat and suffering on the Jewish people, pitting everyone against them

He decided to create his pure Germany by sending them to concentration camps, which turned to death camps and became what is now known as the holocaust

Totalitarianism

Occurs when a one party dictatorship attempts to regulate every aspect of its citizens' lives

Joseph Stalin

Leader of the Soviet Union who lead as a dictator after the death of Vladimir Lenin

Led with communism and heavily censored media, threatened with Gulags, and encouraged purges

Adolf Hitler

Leader of Nazi Germany who led with anti-semetic views and encouraged the unfair treatment of unpure Germans

Anti-Semitism

Hostility, prejudice, and discrimination against jewish people for no reason other than hatred

Mein Kamph

Hitler's book written in jail discussing his hatred of jewish people, marxists, politicians, and business leaders, blaming them for Germany's prior defeat

It would become the basis for Nazi ideology

Benito Mussolini

The organizer of the fascist party who promised to end corruption and replace the chaos caused by WW1

Gained power to lead Italy and took control of the press, economy, and rigged elections

Ran it with fear and trained men, women, and children to continue his teachings so that his country could be full of supervised order

Fascism

Extreme nationalism over individuals

Glorifies violence and blind loyalty to the state

Led by a dictator

Opposes communism

Black Shirts

The unofficial military wing of Mussolini's Fascist party

Munich Conference

Britain and France choose to be civil with Germany and encourage Czechoslovakia to hand over Sudetenland in hopes that Germany would keep their promise of not taking over any more land

Appeasement

Giving into the demands of the aggressor to keep peace

Holocaust

Systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of 6 million Jews - and nearly 6 million others - by the Nazi regime

Blitzkrieg

Meaning lightning war

When the Germans used tank and air power technology to strike a devastating blow against the enemy

Used several times in several different countries

D-day

June 6, 1944

the largest land, air, and sea battle in history

The invasion of France with 156000 troops on the beaches of Normandy, in order to free them from the Nazis

In only one week, a beachhead was established