1. authoritarian states

   1. Conservative authoritarianism

      1. Conservative authoritarianism had deep roots in European history and led to an anti-democratic form of government that believed in avoiding change but was limited in its power and objectives.

      2. Conservative authoritarianism revived after the First World War in Eastern Europe, Spain, and Portugal.

         1. These countries lacked a strong tradition of self-government.

         2. many were torn by ethnic conflicts.

         3. Large landowners and the church looked to dictators to save them from land reform.

      3. The new authoritarian governments were more concerned with maintaining the status quo reform.

   2. Radical totalitarian dictatorships

      1. Radical dictatorships emerged in the Soviet Union, Germany, and Italy.

      2. These dictatorships rejected parliamentary and liberal values (including rationality, peaceful progress, economic freedom, and a strong middle class), and sought full control over the masses - of whom they sought to mobilize for action.

      3. Lenin, in the Soviet Union, provided a model for a single-party dictatorship.

      4. Totalitarian leaders believed in willpower, conflict, the worship of violence — and the idea that the individual was less valuable than the state and there were no lasting rights.

      5. Totalitarianism was a permanent revolution.

      6. The USSR was totalitarianism of the left, while Nazi Germany was totalitarianism of the right.

      7. Some historians describe the totalitarian regimes of Mussolini and Hitler as fascism which grew out of capitalism.

      8. Fascism was expansionist nationalism, anti-socialism and anti-workers class movements, and the glorification of war.

      9. More recently, historians have emphasized the uniqueness of totalitarian rule in each country.

2. Stalin’s Soviet Union

   1. Stalin’s modern totalitarian dictatorships were instituted by his five-year plans — which were economic, social (and propaganda) plans to build a new socialist humanity.

   2. From Lenin to Stalin

      1. By 1921, the economy of Russia had been destroyed.

      2. In 1921, Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) reestablished limited economic freedom in an attempt to rebuild agriculture and industry.

         1. Peasants brought and sold goods on the free market.

         2. Agricultural production grew, and industrial production surpassed the prewar level.

      3. Economic recovery and Lenin’s death in 1924 brought a struggle for power between Stalin and Trotsky, which Stalin won.

         1. Stalin met the ethnic demands for independence within the multinational Soviet state by granting minority groups limiting freedoms.

         2. Stalin’s Theory of “socialism in one country,” or Russia building its socialist society, was more attractive to many Communists than Trotsky’s theory of “permanent revolution,” or the overthrow of other European states.

      4. By 1927, Stalin had crushed all opposition and was ready to launch an economic-social revolution.

   3. The five-year plans

      1. The first five-year plan (1928) to increase industrial and agricultural production was extremely ambitious, but Stalin wanted to erase the NEP, spur the economy, and catch up with the West.

      2. Stalin waged a preventive war against the better-off peasants, the kulaks, to bring them and their land under state control.

         1. “Collectivization” of the peasants’ land resulted in disaster for agriculture and unparalleled human tragedy.

         2. Collectivization in the Ukraine resulted in massive famine in 1932-1933.

         3. In the USSR, 93 percent of peasant families had been forced into collective farms (by 1933.)

         4. Peasants fought back by securing the right to cultivate tiny family plots.

         5. However, it was a political victory for Stalin and the Communist Party as the peasants were eliminated as a potential threat.

      3. The five-year plan brought about a spectacular growth of heavy industry, especially with the aid of government control of the workers and foreign technological experts.

      4. Massive investment in heavy industry, however, meant low standards of living for workers.

   4. Life and culture in Soviet society

      1. The Communists wanted to create a new kind of society and human personality.

      2. Nonfarm wages fell—by 1937, workers could buy only about 60 percent of what they bought in 1928.

      3. Life was hard, but people were often inspired by socialist ideals and did not gain some social benefits.

      4. Personal advancement came through education, and a skilled elite emerged.

      5. Women were given much greater opportunities in industry and education.

         1. The 1917 revolution proclaimed complete equality of rights for women.

         2. In the 1920s, divorce and abortion were made easy, and women were urged to work outside the home and liberate themselves sexually.

      6. Medicine and other professions were opened to them — eventually, most doctors were women.

      7. Most women had to work to help support their families in addition to caring for the home and the children; many families were broken.

      8. Culture became political indoctrination, and the earlier experimentation with art, theater, and literature came to an end.

         1. History was rewritten.

         2. Religion was persecuted

   5. Stalinist terror and the Great Purges

      1. In the mid-1930s, a system of terror and purging was instituted.

         1. Even Stalin’s wife fell victim to his terrorist actions.

         2. The Kirov murder led to public “show trials” of prominent Bolsheviks; this led to more than 8 million people being arrested — many were killed.

      2. Stalin recruited new loyal members to take the place of those who were purged; these people ruled until the 1980s.

      3. Historians are baffled as to why the purge took place — some think they were a necessary part of totalitarianism; others think that Stalin’s fears were real.

3. Mussolini and Fascism in Italy

   1. Mussolini hated liberalism, his movement was the first fascist movement — a halfway house between conservative authoritarianism and modern totalitarianism.

   2. The fascist seizure of power

      1. Before 1914, Italy was moving toward democracy with problems: Catholics, conservatives, and landowners hated liberalism, and the country was divided.

         1. Only in Italy did the Socialist Party gain leadership before 1914.

      2. The First World War and postwar problems ended the move toward democracy in Italy.

         1. Workers and peasants felt cheated because wartime promises of reform were not carried out.

         2. Nationalists felt cheated by the war settlement.

         3. The Russian Revolution energized Italy’s socialists into occupying factories and farms.

      3. By 1922, most Italians were opposed to liberal, parliamentary government.

      4. Mussolini’s Fascists opposed the “Socialist threat” with physical force (the Black Shirts).

      5. Mussolini marched on Rome in 1922 and forced the king to name him head of the government.

   3. The regime in action

      1. Mussolini’s Fascists manipulated the election and killed the Socialist leader Mattotti.

      2. Between 1924 and 1926, Mussolini built a one-party Fascist dictatorship but did not establish a fully totalitarian state.

         1. Much of the old power structure remained, particularly the conservatives, who controlled the army, economy, and state.

         2. The Catholic Church supported Mussolini because he recognized the Vatican as an independent state and gave the church heavy financial support.

         3. Women were repressed, but Jews were not prosecuted until late in the Second World War.

         4. Overall, Mussolini’s fascist Italy was never really totalitarian.

4. Hitler and Nazism in Germany

   1. The roots of Nazism

      1. German Nazism was a product of Hitler, Germany's social and political crisis, and the general attack on liberalism and rationally.

      2. Hitler was born in Austria, was a school dropout, and was rejected by the Imperial art school.

      3. Hitler became a fanatical nationalist while in Vienna, where he was absorbed by the Imperial Art School.

      4. He adopted the ideas of some fanatical Christians (e.g., Lueger) that capitalism and liberalism resulted in excessive individualism.

      5. He became obsessed with antisemitism and racism and believed that Jews and Marxists lost the First World War for Germany.

         1. He believed in a Jewish-Marxist plot to destroy German culture.

      6. By 1921, he had reshaped the tiny extremist German Workers’ group into the Nazi party, using mass rallies as a particularly effective tool of propaganda.

         1. The party proliferated.

         2. Hitler and the party attempted to overthrow the Weimar government, but he was defeated and sent to jail (1923).

   2. Hitler’s road to power

      1. The trial after Hitler’s attempted coup brought him much publicity, but the Nazi party remained small until 1929.

      2. Written in jail, his autobiography Mien Kampf, was an outline of his desire to achieve German racial supremacy and domination of Europe, under the leadership of a dictator (Führer).

      3. The depression as unemployment soared and communists made election gains.

         1. By late 1932, some 43 percent of the labor force was unemployed.

         2. Hitler favored government programs to bring about economic recovery.

      4. By 1932, the Nazi party was the largest in the Reich-stag-having 38 percent of the total.

      5. Hitler wisely stressed the economic issue rather than the anti-Jewish and racist nationalism issues.

      6. He stressed simple slogans tied to national rebirth to arouse hysterical fanaticism in the masses.

      7. He appealed to the youth. almost 40 percent of the Nazi party were under 30 years of age.

      8. One reason for his rise to power is that Brunuing and Hindenburth had already turned to rule by way of an emergency decree.

      9. Another reason Hitler won is that Brunign and Hindinburth had already turned to tole by way of emergency decree,

      10. Key people in the army and big business along with the conservative and nationalistic politicos believed that they could control Hitler; Hitler was legally appointed chancellor in 1933.

   3. The Nazi state and society

      1. The Enabling Act of March 1933 gave Hitler absolute dictatorial power.

      2. Germany became a one-party state — only the Nazo party was legal.

         1. The Nazi government was full of rivalries and inefficiencies, leaving Hitler to act as he wished.

         2. Stikes were forbidden and labor unions were replaced by the Nazi Labor Front.

         3. The Nazis took over the government's bureaucracy.

         4. The Nazis took control of universities, writers, and publishing houses; democratic, socialist, and Jewish literature was blacklisted.

      3. Hitler gained military control by crushing his storm troopers, the SA, thus ending the "second revolution."

      4. The Gestapo, or secret police, used terror and purges to strengthen Hitler's hold on power. 

      5. Hitler set out to eliminate the Jews. 

         1. The Nuremberg Laws (1935) deprived Jews of their citizenship. 

         2. By 1938, 150,000 of Germany's 500,000 Jews had left Germany. 

         3. Kristallnacht was a wave of violence directed at Jews and their synagogues and businesses.

   4. Hitler's popularity 

      1. Hitler promised and delivered economic recovery through public works projects and military spending.

         1. Unemployment dropped. The standard of living rose moderately—but business profits rose sharply.

         2. those who were not Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, communists, or homosexuals experienced greater opportunities and equality.

      2. Hitler reduced Germany’s traditional class distraction; the old ruling elites had to give way to lower middle-class people in Hitler’s train.

         1. Yet few historians believe that Hitler brought on a real social revolution: the well-educated classes held on to their advantaged position, and women remained largely housewives and mothers.

      3. He appealed to Germans for nationalistic reasons.

      4. Communists, trade unionists, and some Christians opposed Hitler; many who opposed him were executed.

5. Nazi expansion and the Second World War

   1. The chief concepts of Nazism were space and race — which demanded territorial expansion.

   2. Aggression and appeasement (1933-1939)

      1. When he was in a weak position, Hitler voiced his intention to overturn an unjust system; when strong, he kept increasing his demands.

      2. He lied about his intentions; he withdrew from the League of Nations to rearm Germany

      3. Germany worked to add Austria to a greater Germany, established a military draft, and declared the Treaty of Verlisse null and void.

         1. An Anglo-German naval agreement in 1935 broke Germany's isolation.

            In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler occupied the demilitarized Rhineland in 1936.

      4. The British policy of appeasement, motivated by guilt, fear of communism, and pacifismis, lasted far into 1939.

      5. Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1935 and joined Germany in supporting the fascists in Spain (the Rome-Berlin Axis alliance).

         Germany, Italy, and Japan allied.

         Hitler annexed Austria and demanded part of Czechoslovakia in 1938.

         Chamberlain flew to Munich to appease Hitler and agree to his territorial demands.

         Hitler accelerated his aggression and occupied all of Czechoslovakia in 1939.

         In 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed a public nonaggression pact and a secret pact that divided Eastern Europe into German and Russian zones.

         Germany attacked Poland, and Britain and France declared war on Germany (1939).

   3. Hitler’s empire

      1. The key to Hitler’s military success was speed and force (the Blitzkrig).

      2. He crushed Poland quickly and then France; by July 1940, the Nazis ruled nearly all of Europe except Britain. 

      3. He bombed British cities in an attempt to break British morale but did not succeed. 

      4. In 1941, Hitler's forces invaded Russia and conquered Ukraine and got as far as Leningrad and Moscow until stopped by the severe winter weather. 

      5. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (1941), Hitler also declared war on the United States. 

      6. Hitler began building a New Order based on racial imperialism. 

         1. Nordic peoples were treated with preference; the French were heavily taxed; the Slavs were treated as "subhumans." 

         2. The SS evacuated Polish peasants to create a German "settlement space." 

         3. Polish workers and Russian prisoners of war were sent to Germany to work as slave laborers. Most did not survive. 

         4. Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, and communists were condemned to death.

      7. Six million Jews from all over Europe were murdered by killing squads, in ghettos, or in concentration camps.

         1. At the extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, the victims were forced into gas chambers.

         2. Recent research suggests that many Germans knew of and participated in these killings.

         3. Some scholars believe that the key reason so many Germans (and non-Germans) did not protest the murders is that they felt no personal responsibility for Jews.

   4. The Grad Alliance

      1. The Allies had three policies that led them to victory.

         1. The United States concentrated on European victory first, then Japan.

         2. The Americans and British put military needs before political questions, thus avoiding conflict over postwar settlements.

         3. The Allies adopted the principle of “unconditional surrender” of Germany and Japan, denying Hitler the possibility of dividing his foes.

      2. American aid to Britain and the Soviets, along with the heroic support of the British and Soviet peoples and the assistance of distance groups throughout Europe, contributed to the eventual victory.

   5. The tide of battle

      1. The Germans were defeated at Stalingrad at the end of 1842m and from there on the Sovuets took the offensive.

      2. At the same time, American, British, and Australian Victores in the Pacific put Japan on the defensive.

         1. The Battle of the Coral Sea (1942) stopped the Japanese advance.

         2. The Battle of Midway Island (1942) established American naval superiority in the Pacific.

      3. The British defeat of Rommel at the Battle of El Alamein (1942) helped drive the Axis powers from North Africa in 1943.

      4. Italy surrendered in 1943, but fighting continued as the Germans used Rome and northern Italy.

      5. The bombing of Germany and Hitler’s brutal elimination of opposition caused the Germans to fight on.

      6. The British and Americans invaded German-held France in June 1944 but did not cross into Germany until March 1943.

         1. The Soviets pushed from the east, crossing the Elbe and meeting the Americans on the other side on April 26, 1845, Hilter committed suicide, and Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.

         2. The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, and it too surrendered.

munist (see

table below).

1. Communism in Russia (Soviet Union)

2. Fascism in Italy and Germany

FASCISM COMMUNISM*

Glorification of the state Worldwide "dictatorship of the

proletariat" (classless society)

Single party; single ruler (dictator) One party (communist) under the

control of the Politburo. Dictatorship

is not the final goal.

Condemns democracy: rival parties

destroy unity. Man is unable to

successfully govern collectively.

Condemns capitalism for exploiting

workers (“haves” vs. “have nots”)

Supports the idea of capitalism and

owning private property so long as it

serves the needs of the state.

Government controls all means of

production (industrial & agricultural).

No private ownership.

Corporate State: captains of industry

become state economic deputies

Economy is centralized under the

communist party

Aggressive nationalism Spread of communism for the benefit

of the world's working class

(Comintern)

Advocates Social Darwinism

(powerful states control weaker

ones)

Condemns imperialism: advocates a

world without nationalism with

workers united

Believes desire for peace shows

weakness of gov't

Peace is the ultimate goal

Glorification of war (military sacrifice

is glorified)

Violent revolution to bring about the

"dictatorship of the proletariat." War

is not the ends but merely the

means.

Emphasizes the inequalities among

humans

Emphasizes the perfectibility of

society. Mankind is basically good.

* While Marxist views may appear more benevolent and utopian in

theory, 20 th century communism in reality became as brutal a system

as fascism, perhaps more so considering the massive deaths in the

USSR at the hands of the government

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 3

Totalitarianism

II. Soviet Union (USSR)

A. Vladimir I. Lenin

1. Marxist-Leninist philosophy

a. Theory of imperialism: imperialism is the highest form of

capitalism as the search for new markets and raw

materials feeds bourgeois hunger for more profits.

● Conquered peoples are ruthlessly exploited.

b. "New type of party": a cadre of educated professional

revolutionaries serve in the development of political class

consciousness and guidance of the "Dictatorship of

Proletariat."

● Lenin’s view stood in stark contrast to Marx who did

not envision a totalitarian dictatorship from above (by

elites) but rather from below (by the workers).

c. Like Marx, Lenin sought a world-wide communist

movement.

● In 1919, the Comintern was created (Third

Communists International).

o It was to serve as the preliminary step of the

International Republic of Soviets towards the

world wide victory of Communism.

2. War Communism

a. Its purpose was to win the Russian Civil War (1918-

1920).

b. It created the first mass communist society in world

history.

c. The socialization (nationalization) of all means of

production and central planning of the economy

occurred.

d. In reality, the Bolsheviks destroyed the economy: mass

starvation resulted from crop failures; a decrease in

industrial output occurred.

e. The secret police—the Cheka—liquidated about 250,000

opponents.

3. Kronstadt Rebellion (1921)

a. A mutiny by previously pro-Bolshevik sailors at Kronstadt

naval base had to be crushed with machine gun fire.

b. It was caused by the economic disaster and social

upheaval of the Russian Civil War.

c. It became a major cause for Lenin instituting the NEP.

4. NEP – New Economic Policy, 1921-28

a. It sought to eliminate the harsh aspects of war

communism.

b. It was Lenin’s response to peasant revolts, military

mutiny, and economic ruin.

c. Some capitalist measures were allowed (Lenin saw it as a

"necessary step backwards").

● The gov't would not seize surplus grain; peasants

could sell grain on the open market.

4.2.I.D

PP-16

SP-5/6/10

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 4

Totalitarianism

● Small manufacturers were allowed to run their own

businesses.

d. The gov't was still in control of heavy industry, banks,

and railroads.

e. As a result of the NEP, the Russian economy improved.

● Industry and agricultural output were back to pre-

WWI levels.

● Workers saw shorter hours and better conditions.

● The temporary relaxing of terror and censorship

occurred.

5. Women

a. The Russian Revolution immediately proclaimed complete

equality of rights for women.

b. In the 1920s divorce and abortion were made easily

available.

c. Women were urged by the state to work outside the

home and liberate themselves sexually.

● Many women worked as professionals and in

universities.

● Women were still expected to do household chores in

their non-working hours as Soviet men considered

home and children women’s responsibility.

● Men continued to monopolize the best jobs.

● Rapid change and economic hardship led to many

broken families.

6. Lenin’s impact on Russian society

a. “Russia” was renamed the “Soviet Union” in 1922

(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – USSR).

b. The old social structure was abolished – titles for nobility

were eliminated.

c. Loss of influence for the Greek Orthodox Church

d. Women gained equality (in theory).

e. Russians had a greater expectation of freedom than they

had during the tsar’s regime (although expectations were

later crushed by Stalin).

B. A power struggle ensued after Lenin’s death in 1924.

1. Lenin left no chosen successor.

2. Joseph Stalin was more of a realist and believed in

"Socialism in one Country."

a. First, Russia had to be strong internally and should defer

efforts for an international communist revolution.

b. He sought the establishment of a Socialist economy

without the aid of the West.

3. Leon Trotsky was more the Marxist ideologue who believed

in "permanent revolution"—a continuation of a world

communist revolution.

● Party leaders believed Trotsky was too idealistic; Russia

first had to survive.

4. Stalin gained effective control of the gov’t in 1927 and had

total control by 1929.

● Trotsky was exiled and eventually assassinated by

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 5

Totalitarianism

Stalin’s agents in Mexico City in 1940.

C. Joseph Stalin

1. The entire Politburo from Lenin's time was eventually purged

leaving Stalin in absolute control.

2. The Five-Year Plans

a. "Revolution from above" (1 st Five-Year Plan), 1928; it

marked the end of Lenin’s NEP.

b. Objectives:

● Increase industrial output by 250%; steel by 300%;

agriculture by 150%

● 20% of peasants were scheduled to give up their

private plots and join collective farms.

● Stalin: “We are 50 or 100 years behind the advanced

countries. We must make good this distance in 10

years. Either we do it or we shall go under.”

c. Results:

● Steel production up 400%: the USSR was now the 2 nd

largest steel producer in Europe.

● Oil production increased 300%.

● Massive urbanization: 25 million people were moved

to cities.

● Yet, the quality of goods was substandard and the

standard of living did not rise.

3. Collectivization was the greatest of all costs under the

Five-year Plans.

a. Purpose: bring the peasantry under absolute control of

the communist state

● Machines were used in farm production to free more

people to work in industry.

● The gov't took control over production.

● Socialism was extended to the countryside.

b. It resulted in the consolidation of individual peasant

farms into large, state-controlled enterprises.

c. Farmers were paid according to the amount of work they

did.

● A portion of their harvest was taken by the gov't.

● Eventually, the state was assured of grain for urban

workers who were more important politically to Stalin

than the peasants.

o Collective farmers first had to meet grain quotas

before feeding themselves.

d. Results:

● Farmers opposed it as it placed them in a bound

situation (like the mirs).

● Kulaks, the wealthiest peasants, offered the greatest

resistance to collectivization.

● Stalin ordered party workers to "liquidate them as

4.2.I.E

PP-16

SP-6/8/10

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 6

Totalitarianism

a class."

● 10 million peasants died due to collectivization (7

million were forcibly starved in Ukraine).

● Agricultural output was no greater than in 1913.

● By 1933, 60% of peasant families were on collective

farms; 93% by 1938.

4. Structure of gov't

a. The Central Committee was the apex of Soviet power

(about 70 people in the 1930s).

b. Politburo: About a dozen members; dominated

discussions of policy and personnel

c. General Secretary: highest position of power; created

by Stalin

5. Stalin's propaganda campaign

a. Purpose: It sought to glorify work to the Soviet people

and encourage higher worker productivity.

b. Technology was used for propaganda.

● Newspapers like Pravda (“The Truth”), films, and

radio broadcasts emphasized socialist achievements

and capitalist plots.

● Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1914): quintessential

patriotic filmmaker under Stalin

● Writers and artists were expected to glorify Stalin and

the state; their work was closely monitored.

c. Religion was persecuted: Stalin hoped to turn churches

into "museums of atheism."

6. Benefits for workers:

a. Old-age pensions, free medical services, free education,

and day-care centers for children were provided.

b. Education was key to improving one’s position:

specialized skills and technical education

c. Many Russians saw themselves building the world’s first

socialist society while capitalism crumbled during the

Great Depression.

● The USSR attracted many disillusioned Westerners to

communism in the 1930s.

7. The “Great Terror” (1934-38)

a. First directed against peasants after 1929, terror was

used increasingly on leading Communists, powerful

administrators, and ordinary people, often for no

apparent reason.

b. The "Great Terror" resulted in 8 million arrests.

c. Show trials were used to eradicate "enemies of the

people" (usually ex-party members).

d. In the late 1930s, dozens of Old Bolsheviks (who had

been Lenin’s closest followers) were tried and executed.

e. Great Purges: 40,000 army officers were expelled or

liquidated (which later weakened the USSR in WWII).

f. Millions of citizens were killed, died in gulags (forced

labor camps), or simply disappeared.

4.2.II.A/B

PP-8

OS-9/12

SP-6/8/10

IS-10

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 7

Totalitarianism

III. Fascist Italy

A. Causes for the rise of fascism in Italy

1. In the early 20 th century, Italy was a liberal state with civil

rights and a constitutional monarchy.

2. Versailles Treaty (1919): Italian nationalists were angry that

Italy did not receive any Austrian or Ottoman territory (Italia

Irredenta), or Germany’s African colonies as promised.

● Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando angrily left the Paris

Peace Conference before it was completed.

3. A depression in 1919 caused nationwide strikes and class

tension.

4. The wealthy classes feared a communist revolution and

looked to a strong anti-communist leader.

5. By 1921 revolutionary socialists, conservatives and property

owners were all opposed to liberal parliamentary

government.

6. Fascism in Italy eventually was a combination of

conservative authoritarianism and modern totalitarianism

(although not as extreme as Russia or Germany).

B. Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) rises to power ("Il Duce")

1. Although he was the editor of a socialist newspaper during

the WWI era, he was, at heart, a nationalist.

2. He organized the Fascist party.

a. He combined socialism and nationalism: territorial

expansion, benefits for workers, and land reform for

peasants.

b. The party was named after fasces: the rods carried by

Imperial Roman officials as symbols of power.

c. Initially, his party failed to prevail because of competition

from the well-organized Socialists.

3. In 1920, Mussolini gained support of the conservative and

middle classes for his anti-Socialist rhetoric; he thus

abandoned his socialist programs.

4. Blackshirts (squadristi): Mussolini’s paramilitary forces

attacked Communists, Socialists, and other enemies of the

fascist program (later, Hitler's "Brown Shirts" followed this

example).

● This significantly undermined the stability of the

government.

5. The March on Rome in October 1922 led to Mussolini

taking power.

a. Mussolini demanded the resignation of the existing gov’t

and his own appointment by the king.

b. A large group of Fascists marched on Rome to threaten

the king into accepting Mussolini's demands.

c. The government collapsed; Mussolini received the right

to organize a new cabinet (government).

d. King Victor Emmanuel III gave him dictatorial powers for

one year to end the nation’s social unrest.

C. The Corporate State (syndicalist-corporate system) was the

economic basis for Italian fascism.

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 8

Totalitarianism

1. “Everything in the state, nothing outside the state,

nothing against the state.”

2. By 1928, all independent labor unions were organized into

government-controlled syndicates.

a. The system established organizations of workers and

employers; it outlawed strikes and walkouts.

b. It created corporations which coordinated activities

between worker-employer syndicates.

c. The authority came from the top, unlike socialist

corporate states where workers made decisions.

D. Mussolini created a dictatorship.

1. The right to vote was severely limited.

2. All candidates for the Italian parliament were selected by the

Fascist party.

3. The gov’t ruled by decree.

4. Dedicated fascists were put in control of schools.

5. The gov’t sought to regulate the leisure time of the people.

● Fascist youth movement (Balilla)

● Labor unions

● The Dopolavoro (“After Work”): social activities for the

working class

6. Italy never truly became a totalitarian regime.

a. Mussolini never became all-powerful.

b. He failed in the attempt to “Fascistize” Italian society by

controlling leisure time.

c. The old power structure of conservatives, the military,

and the Church remained intact.

● Mussolini never attempted to purge the conservative

classes.

● He propagandized and controlled labor but left big

business to regulate itself.

● No land reform occurred.

d. He did not establish a ruthless police state (only 23

political prisoners were executed between 1926 and

1944).

e. Racial laws were not passed until 1938 and the savage

persecution of Jews did not occur until late in WWII when

Italy was under German Nazi control.

7. Women

a. Unlike Russia’s more modern approach to gender issues,

Italy’s social structure emphasized a traditional role for

women.

● This also became the case in Nazi Germany.

b. Divorce was abolished and women were told to stay

home and procreate.

c. In an attempt to promote marriage, Mussolini decreed a

special tax on bachelors in 1934.

d. By 1938, women were limited by law to a maximum of

10% of better-paying jobs in industry and gov't.

E. Accomplishments under Mussolini

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 9

Totalitarianism

1. Internal improvements were made such as electrification

and road building.

2. More efficient government existed at the municipal (city)

level.

3. He suppressed the Mafia (which was especially strong in

southern Italy and Sicily).

4. The justice system was improved (except for “enemies of

the state”).

5. The Lateran Pact, 1929, resulted in reconciliation with the

papacy.

a. The Vatican was recognized as a tiny independent state;

it received $92 million for seized Church lands.

b. In return, Pope Pius XII recognized the legitimacy of the

Italian state.

F. Fascist legacy

1. Italian democracy was destroyed.

2. Terrorism became a state policy.

3. Poor industrial growth was due to militarism and colonialism.

4. Disastrous wars resulted (from Mussolini’s attempt to

recapture the imperialistic glories of Ancient Rome).

IV. Nazi Germany

A. Roots of Nazism: Extreme nationalism + racism = Nazism

1. Hyper-nationalism fed the impulse to conquer other nations.

● The alleged “stab in the back”—the Weimar Republic’s

signing of the Versailles Treaty—fed the nation’s

frustration.

2. Racist ideas

a. Racial superiority of the Aryan Race—Germanic peoples

b. Inferiority of Jews and Slavs

B. Rise of Adolf Hitler

1. He became leader of National Socialist German Workers

Party (NAZI) in 1919.

● The Nazi’s started as a tiny group of only 7 members

that under Hitler grew dramatically within just a few

years.

2. S.A. ("Brown Shirts"): Nazi paramilitary group terrorized

political opponents on the streets.

● In effect, it was the private army of the Nazis who were

very loyal to Hitler.

3. Beer Hall Putsch, 1923: Hitler failed in his attempt to

overthrow the state of Bavaria (and ultimately, Germany)

and was sentenced to a one-year jail term.

a. The issue gave Hitler national attention.

b. Hitler realized in the future he'd have to take control of

Germany legally, not through revolution.

4. Mein Kampf (1923) was written while in jail: became the

blueprint for Hitler's future plans.

a. Lebensraum (“living space”): Germany should expand

eastward, remove the Jews, and turn the Slavs into slave

4.2.II.B

4.2.III.C

PP-8

OS-9/12

SP-6/8/10

IS-10

PP-11

SP-5

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 10

Totalitarianism

labor.

b. Anti-Semitism: Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's

political and economic problems.

c. The leader-dictator, Führer, would have unlimited

arbitrary power.

5. The fall of Weimar Republic was a result of the Great

Depression.

a. Unemployment reached 43% by the end of 1932.

b. Economic chaos and political impotence played into

Hitler’s hands.

● Hitler began promising German voters economic,

political, and military salvation.

● Hitler promised big business leaders he would restore

the economy by breaking Germany’s strong labor

movement and reducing workers’ wages if necessary.

● Hitler assured top army leaders that the Nazis would

reject the Versailles Treaty and rearm Germany.

● The Nazis appealed to Germany’s youth:

o 40% of the party was under age 30 in 1931; 67%

were under 40.

c. In 1930, Germany’s Chancellor gained permission from

President Hindenburg for emergency rule by decree.

● The struggle between the Social Democrats and the

Communists contributed to the breakdown of the

Weimar gov't.

d. The Nazis won the largest percentage of votes in the

Reichstag in the 1933 elections (though not a majority).

● They demanded that Hitler play a leadership role in

the government.

e. Hitler became Chancellor on January 30, 1933; he was

appointed by President Paul von Hindenburg.

C. The Third Reich (1933-1945)

1. Hitler quickly consolidated power

a. The Reichstag fire occurred during the violent electoral

campaign in 1933.

● The incident was used by the Nazis to crack down on

the communists.

b. The S.A. stepped up its terrorism of political opponents.

c. The Enabling Act (March 1933) was passed by the

Reichstag.

● It gave Hitler absolute dictatorial power for four

years.

● Only the Nazi party was legal.

d. Hitler outlawed strikes and abolished independent labor

unions.

e. Publishers, universities, and writers were brought into

line.

● Democratic, socialist, and Jewish literature was put

on blacklists.

4.2.II.A

PP-8

OS-9/12

SP-6/8/10

IS-10

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 11

Totalitarianism

● Students and professors burned forbidden books in

public squares.

● Modern art and architecture were prohibited (dubbed

"degenerate art" by the Nazis).

2. Joseph Goebbles: minister of propaganda who effectively

glorified Hitler and the Nazi state.

● Leni Riefenstal’s Triumph of the Will (a documentary

of the Nuremburg rally of 1934) was used by the regime

as propaganda to make Hitler look larger than life and

glorify the Nazi regime.

3. “Night of Long Knives” (June 1934)

a. Hitler was warned that the army and big business were

suspicious of the S.A.

b. To please conservatives, Hitler’s elite personal

guard—the S.S.—arrested and shot without trial about

1,000 S.A. leaders and other political enemies.

c. The S.S. grew dramatically in influence as Hitler's private

army and secret police.

● Led by Heinrich Himmler

4. The S.S. joined with the political police, the Gestapo, to

expand its network of special courts and concentration

camps.

5. Hitler Youth: Nazis indoctrinated German youths with

views of German racial superiority and Jews as the source of

Germany’s problems.

a. Eventually, membership in the Hitler Youth effectively

became mandatory.

● This is an example of how totalitarian regimes

demanded participation by the masses (in contrast to

17 th century absolutism where regimes merely sought

obedience).

b. Children were encouraged to turn in their teachers or

even their parents if they seemed disloyal to the Reich.

6. Persecution of Jews

a. By the end of 1934, most Jewish lawyers, doctors,

professors, civil servants, and musicians had lost their

jobs and the right to practice their professions.

b. Nuremburg Laws of 1935 deprived Jews of all rights of

citizenship.

● Marriage or sex between Jews and other Germans

was prohibited.

● Jews could not hire German women under the age of

45 as domestic workers.

● Jews were forbidden from displaying the Reich or

national flag.

c. Other laws were passed: Jews could not use hospitals;

could not be educated past the age of 14; were

prohibited from using parks, libraries and beaches; war

memorials were to have Jewish names removed.

d. By 1939, 50% of Germany’s 500,000 Jews had

emigrated (many were the "cream of the crop").

● Huge emigration fees and confiscation of Jewish

4.1.III.D

IS-10

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 12

Totalitarianism

property helped the government to finance economy

recovery.

e. Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken Glass”), 1938

● Hitler ordered an attack on Jewish communities

(using the assassination of a German diplomat in

Paris by a young Jewish boy as a pretense).

● A well-organized wave of violence destroyed homes,

synagogues, and businesses.

● Thousands of Jews were arrested and made to pay

for the damage.

f. Holocaust: 6 million European Jews were eventually

killed during WWII—the "Final Solution" (See Period

4.6) )

7. Other victims of Nazi persecution included Slavs, Gypsies,

Jehovah’s Witnesses, communists, homosexuals, mentally

handicapped, and political opponents (totaled 6 million by

1945).

a. T4 project: 200,000 handicapped and elderly people

were murdered by 1939 in the name of maintaining

Aryan purity.

D. German economic recovery

1. German economic growth was a major reason for Hitler's

soaring popularity.

● Hitler delivered on his economic promise of “work and

bread.”

2. A large public works program started to get Germany out of

the depression.

● It included superhighways (autobahn), offices, gigantic

sports stadiums, and public housing.

3. The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, signaling Germany’s

legitimacy by the international community.

4. In 1936, Germany began rearmament and government

spending began to focus on the military.

5. Results of Nazi economic policies:

a. Unemployment dropped from 6 million in January 1933,

to about one million in late 1936.

b. By 1938, a shortage of workers existed; women took

many jobs earlier denied by the antifeminist Nazis.

c. By 1938 the standard of living for the average employed

worker increased moderately.

d. Profits of business rose sharply.

E. Nazi society: was there a social revolution?

1. The well-educated classes held on to most of the advantages

they possessed prior to the rise of Hitler

2. Only a modest social leveling occurred.

3. Like fascist Italy, women were viewed as housewives and

mothers.

a. Hitler implored German women to “make babies for the

Reich.”

b. Birth control information and abortions were forbidden

4.2.II.A

4.2.II.D

PP-8

SP-6/10

SP-6/8/14

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 13

Totalitarianism

for German women (although allowed for unwanted

groups such as Jews, Gypsies and Slavs).

c. Women were denied most meaningful occupations

outside the home

d. Only in wartime were large numbers of women mobilized

for work in offices and factories.

V. Authoritarian dictatorships in Central and Eastern Europe after World

War I

A. Attempts at parliamentary democracy failed in every country in

Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans with the exception

of democratic Czechoslovakia.

1. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman

Empire, and the weakening of Russia left the region in

transition.

2. Ethnic tensions rose in several countries.

3. Nationalists often condemned the Treaty of Versailles in its

redrawing of the European map.

4. The Great Depression further destabilized the economies of

eastern European countries leading to a surge in

authoritarianism.

B. Hungary

1. A communist revolution led by Béla Kun in 1919 ultimately

failed in 1920.

2. Hungary lost 2/3 of its territory and 60% of its pre-war

population in the Treaty of Trianon (1920).

3. Between 1921 and 1931 Miklós Horthy led an authoritarian

right-wing government.

4. In 1932, the Hungarian head of state appointed a fascist

prime minister but then staved off fascist attempts to

overthrow the gov’t.

C. Poland

1. Poland gained independence in 1918 through the support of

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson who had included Poland’s

independence in his Fourteen Points.

2. Catholic Poland included millions of Ukrainians and

Belorussians who were Orthodox Christians, 1 million

Germans (mostly Protestant) and 3 million Jews.

3. Joseph Pilsudski established a temporary dictatorship in

1918 to counter the ethnic, economic, and political tensions

in Poland.

4. Pilsudski invaded Ukraine hoping to extend Poland’s influence

eastward as a bulwark against future Soviet expansion.

a. The Soviets nearly won the war by nearly taking Warsaw

before the Poles rallied to save their new country.

b. The Treaty of Riga (1921) established the Soviet-Polish

border that lasted throughout the interwar period.

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 14

Totalitarianism

5. Poland became the first state in eastern Europe to establish a

dictatorship.

a. A parliamentary multi-party system had emerged after

1920 with Pilsudski as the leader.

b. The ineffectiveness of the multi-party system (which fell

nearly twice per year, on average) eventually led to

Pilsudski overthrowing the parliamentary gov’t in 1926.

c. Political parties remained in principal and freedom of the

press remained intact.

6. Pilsudski continued increasing the power of his military

dictatorship after 1930 by arresting opponents and

sanctioning an even more authoritarian constitution until his

death in 1935, after which army officers continued his

policies until Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939.

D. Romania

1. As a result of the Treaty of Trianon, Romania gained much of

Hungary’s former territory; 1/3 of Romania’s population now

contained Hungarians, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews.

● These ethnic minorities were unhappy to be separated

from their traditional homelands.

2. Between 1918 and 1938 Romania was a liberal constitutional

monarchy that had to defend against right-wing challenges.

3. In 1938, King Carol II established a dictatorship as a way to

defend against the rising fascist influence and fanatical

Orthodox Christian insurrectionists who were strongly anti-

Semitic.

E. Yugoslavia

1. The country emerged as the largest of the “successor” states

created out of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after WWI.

● It eventually contained Serbia (Orthodox Christians),

Croatia (Catholic), Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina (Muslim),

Montenegro, Kosovo (Muslim), and Macedonia.

2. From the outset, two competing views of emerged: a

“Greater Serb” vision of Yugoslavia with Serbia as the

dominant political player, and a federalist structure where all

nationalities and religions would play equal or proportional

roles.

3. Parliamentary democracy lasted until 1929 when King

Alexander I (r. 1921-1934) outlawed political parties and

dissolved the parliament.

4. In 1934, the king was assassinated with the help of a right-

wing Croatian party that demanded independence.

5. Croatia gained autonomy but Yugoslavia remained an

authoritarian gov’t with Serbia as the dominant state.

F. Greece established a fascist dictatorship in 1938 with the blessing

of the king.

G. Austria struggled as a parliamentary system in the 1920s but

became increasingly dominated by right-wing challenges after

1927.

AP Euro Lecture Notes Page 15

Totalitarianism

1. The Austrian parliament was dissolved in 1933 and an

authoritarian state emerged.

2. Fascism dominated politics thereafter and the Austrian Nazi

Party later facilitated Hitler’s takeover in 1938.