Totalitarian Regimes

• Totalitarianism- government where all aspects of life are controlled by the state

• Fascism- extreme nationalism

• post-WW1

  • Inflation brings much poverty

    • Back to the stone ages

  • This was especially true in Germany

    • 1 in 3 german women engaged in prostitution for food

  • This causes the Communist party to gain momentum

    • As USSR was developing

    • They don’t become the majority, but they become very popular

Italy

• Early 1920s, communism is on the rise

• Strikes, rallies, marches became routine and Italian communists called for a complete overthrow of the Italian parliamentary government

  • Inspired by circumstances in USSR

  • Stalin’s “worker’s paradise”

• Many Italians began to fear their country would become communist, and feared the events in the USSR

• One group of former socialists are physically confronting the communists

  • Fascists

  • Not in government, so they don’t need to follow the government’s rules

  • Bring weapons to communist rallies

  • Though italians did not personally associate with fascists, but they supported them out of hatred to the communists, so they turn a blind eye to their actions

• 1921- Fascists get a political face

• Benito Mussolini

  • Former socialist, newspaper editor, highschool teacher

  • Appealed to the people and King Emanuel III to put fascists in charge of Parliament

    • March on Rome

    • 250,000 responded and marched on Rome to convince Emanuel

• By dressing similarly to each other, fascists create a military image for themselves

  • Appealing to Italians because of recent military failures

Mussolini in charge

• Get rid of communists

• Fix the economy

  • Put the communists in power in the first place

• Restore Italian military pride

  • National image, pride

• Italian communists are arrested, assaulted, forced to flee to other countries (USSR) and sometimes killed

  • Welcomed by the USSR

    • Propaganda

  • Immediately after coming to power

  • Realize they can use this against ANY rival

  • Develops totalitarianism

• European economies begin to improve around the time of the fascist rise

  • Appears like Mussolini had done what he promised, even though he didn’t really do anything

Japan

• Not affected by European inflation

• Had become more democratic since the Meiji Restoration

  • Modernized and westernized– which included democracy

  • Japanese traditionalists opposed this movement

  • Diet- Japanese Parliament

• 1920s- Japan experiences a roaring 20s, economic partnerships with the United States

• 1929 sees beginning of Great Depression

  • Because of affiliation with USA, Japan suffers

  • Traditionalists use as ammunition for their cause

    • Blame USA and democracy

  • Japanese army in China already disliked the Diet for war conditions

    • Coup d’etat topples the diet and military leaders rule on behalf of the emperor, Hirohito

      • General Tojo- Japanese Prime Minister

        • Has full license to expand imperial interests in China

• September 1931- Japanese invade Manchuria

  • What Russians had been colonizing 

  • Japanese had previously been patrolling railroad track

    • Parts are blown up, used as pretext to invade

  • Set up puppet regime in Manchuria

  • Opening shots of WW2

  • League of Nations gets pissed

    • Investigate Japanese actions- determine this is not justified

    • Condemns Japan

      • …okay that’s it

      • League of Nations has no military or any ability to do anything

    • Pattern emerges of totalitarian regimes testing how far they can go

      • Like a toddler

    • A particular group takes notice of this…. And a certain art student…… a painter….. A man who painted………

Germany

Circumstances in Germany

• Devastated by WW1, hardest economic hit

  • Compounded by shame of losing (War Guilt Clause)

  • British and French are rubbing it in

    • Foreigners with money coming in to buy stuff (including people??)

  • Harsh reparations imposed by allies

    • Specifically 33B

  • Inability to maintain control and order

    • Army limited to 100,000 men

• German communist party becomes largest outside of USSR

  • 20% of Reichstag 

  • Encourages violence

    • Especially during election cycles

  • Basically a larger version of what happened in Italy

• German republic was very weak

  • Weimar Republic

    • Modeled off of USA

    • Made too weak

    • Elections occur every year

  • Reichstag in chaos

  • Limited army, poor economy, and weak government leads to lawlessness

  • Multi-party system

    • Over 20 political parties, no absolute majority

      • Best you can hope for is a plurality (33%)

    • Often physical confrontations during elections

      • Large chance of assassination

• Fascists in Munich

  • Small group, dress similarly

  • Founding members are former socialists

    • Where fascism originates, where the similarities end

  • Identify as political party

    • National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiters Partei

      • National Socialist German Workers’ Party

      • Nazis

  • Very unknown except in Munich, considered ridiculous, largely dismissed

  • Gets attention of Weimar Republic: suggest succession of Bavaria

    • Unconstitutional

    • Hitler

    • Here where Weimar Republic contracts spy network to investigate Nazis

      • Recovering in Munich from WW1, Adolf Hitler goes to investigate the Nazis

    • Hitler submits report that dismisses the Nazis as a credible threat

      • Hitler has become enchanted by their ideology

        • Starts to attend Nazi meetings

        • Hitler is really the most reasonable person there, emerges as leader

          • Not a drinker or brawler

  • November 9, 1923, Hitler and Nazis attempt to lead a rebellion that Bavaria is independent

    • Weimar army has been tipped off, kill 9 Nazis, scatter the rest

    • Bier Hall Putsch

    • Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders are arrested

      • Light sentences

    • Nazis become nationally known

      • Viewed like the Jerry Springer show

• Mein Kampf- “My Struggle”, written by Hitler in jail

  • First written Nazi ideology

  • Based on Social Darwinism

    • Germans and others were a different species from other people- Nordics

      • Used Nordic religion and symbolism to promote the idea of a “state religion”

      • Created the Great Civilizations of the world

        • Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, India, Mesoamerica

        • Collapsed because “Cultural Creators” interbred with “Cultural Transmitters” and “Cultural Destroyers”

          • Cultural creators- German, Scandinavian, English

          • Cultural transmitters- Italians, French, etc.

          • Cultural destroyers- slavs, Native Americans, Africans, everyone else

      • First Reich- Hapsburg empire

        • Collapsed when incorporated cultural destroyers (slavs)

      • Second Reich- Kaiser Wilhelm

        • Collapsed when November Revolution occurred (created Weimar Republic)

          • Orchestrated by Semitic people

            • People from middle east ie Jewish people

            • Cultural destroyers

          • The stab in the back according to Nazis

      • Nazis would create the Third Reich

        • Would spread eastward and colonize a new empire

        • Enslave the slavic people

        • Lebensraum

  • Hitler remains in jail for only 7 months

• Hitler becomes a nationally known figure

• Paul von Hindenburg- elected as president in 1925 by the Weimar Republic

  • Represented tradition combined with modernity 

  • By 1928, the German economy has improved- Communists had failed, Nazis become obscure

1929 onwards

• Germany is hit harder than anywhere else

• New depression, complete knee-jerk reaction

• Communist party reaches over 15% of seats in Reichstag

  • +Socialists=over 20%

  • If they pool resources, game over, communists win

  • Nazi party achieves some political success

    • Lesser of two evils

    • Nazi party officials hire coaches to teach Hitler how to do public speaking

      • Hitler practices

• 1930 election- Nazis win 107 seats

  • Less than 20% but its substantial enough

• 1931- six more seats

  • Fear that maybe this was their heyday

• 1932- Nazi party wins 230 seats

  • Roughly 30%

  • They’ve won the plurality

• To win the majority, they ally with the Communists

  • Goal is to shut down Reichstag

  • Advance vote of no confidence for chancellor

• Hitler elected Chancellor

  • The president hates Hitler and Nazis and Communists

  • Conservative political parties begin to form alliances with Nazis

    • Nazis assure them they won’t mess with their money despite wanting to create Socialist society

  • “What if we give the dog the bone, allow the Nazis to put Hitler in? He’ll get rid of the Communists! If the Communists are gone, no one’s gonna vote for the Nazis again!”

    • Chancellor has no real political party anyway

  • Hindenburg appoints Hitler as Chancellor in January of 1933

    • Drives to Hitler’s office, waits by his car, says “congrats” and leaves

    • Operating on assumption that Nazis will be gone in a year

  • Does not have control of Germany, but is an amazing political victory for Nazis

• Hitler began to receive word that the Nazis were about to lose seats in the Election of 1933

• Burning of the Reichstag

  • February 1933

  • Communists were blamed for the fire and two were arrested

    • This is true! But these communists had terrible timing

  • Hitler goes to Hindenburg and requests emergency powers within the German constitution

    • Suspend elections and to pass laws without majority rule

    • Granted with the idea that they’re going to go after the Communists

      • Communists are hunted down

        • Put into facilities known as Concentration Camps

          • Not extermination camps

          • More like a Soviet gulag, political prison

    • Hitler is buying time and is able to suspend individual freedoms

  • Nazis start going after other political rivals

    • Turning on conservatives they had allied with, along with socialists and socialist democrats

  • July Election- bump of Nazi seats in the Reichstag

  • Powers were meant to be only temporary

    • Chancellor was meant to surrender powers at an agreed upon time

• Hindenburg dies

  • No foul play, died of old age

  • According to german constitution, immediate elections

    • Chancellor does not become president

    • However, due to emergency powers, hitler suspends these elections

• Weimar dies- Hitler declares himself Fuhrer

  • Means leader

  • Weimar republic is dead

Hitler in Control

• Germany is under Nazi control

• Early implementation of racial beliefs

  • Pass a series of policies

• Nuremburg Laws

  • Nuremburg is the quintessential “Nordic” place

  • German Jews are stripped of citizenship, not protected by law

    • Forced to identify themselves as Jews by wearing the Star of David

    • Property is now forfeit of the state, forced to live in small enclosed areas of cities into ghettos

      • Call back on the Romans casting out the Hebrews 

      • Emergence of the mentality that “if its not messing with me, why should I get involved?”

        • Germans do not intervene

        • “When they came for the Communists, I was not a Communist so I said nothing. When they came for the Jews, I was not a Jew so I said nothing. When they came for me, there was no one left to say anything.”

      • Came for other religious groups

        • Goal was to replace Christianity with Nordic mythology

    • Germans applying for Nazi party membership, you’d need to prove that 8 generations back, you are of pure nordic pedigree

• With the failure of the LEague of Nations, other totalitarian regimes will test the resolve of the organization

• Back to Mussolini

  • Italians were upset by their failed conquest of Ethiopia

  • Mussolini orders updated Italian military to invade Ethiopia

    • Invasion of Ethiopia- 1935

      • League of Nations determines that Italy is not justified and condemns them

      • Emperor of Ethiopia makes a famous speech- “It is us today, it is you tomorrow.”

        • This is the guy Bob Marley worshipped yk yk

          • Rastafarianism

• Remilitarization of Rhineland

  • Hitler violates the Versailles Treaty in 1936

  • Area between Germany and France

  • Had Britain and France made some demonstration of force, he would have backed off

    • They don’t

• Spanish Civil War

  • Pro-democracy vs fascist vs Communist

  • Fascists get supplies and soldiers from Germany and Italy, communists get supplies from Stalin, pro-democracy get barely anything

  • Fascism takes control- 1936

    • Led by Francisco Franco

  • Testing ground for WW2

  • Witnessed by Pablo Picasso

    • Bombing of spanish town of Guernica 

    • Instance of total war

• 1936- German soldiers swear personal allegiance to Hitler instead of Germany

  • Hitler orders rearming, surpassing the 100,000 man limit

• Fascists movements funded by Nazis

  • Austria has its own Nazi party

  • France- Cross of Fire party

    • Included religious figures

  • Belgium

  • Holland

  • Norway

  • England

  • United States

    • German-American League

      • Most famous rally occurs in Madison Square Garden 

Axis Powers

• 1936- Germany, Italy, and Japan join in this alliance

  • Despite Nazi racial theory, Nazi theorists go back and classify Japanese and Italians as Nordics

• Invasion of China- 1937

  • Official start of WW2

  • First instance of Japanese mentality towards conquered people

    • Believe just as much in Social Darwinism 

    • Bechito Code- seppuku

    • View people of China as less than human

      • Nanking- Chinese city where Japanese tie up POWs and use as live bayonet practice

      • Launch into frenzy of brutality

      • Babies taken from mothers and thrown against walls, sexual assault of women and children, beheading competitions between Japanese officers (over 100 each)

  • China has the second most casualties by end of WW2, 25 million

• Annex of Austria- March, 1938

  • Nazis are welcomed in by Austrian Nazis

  • Anschluss

  • Austria becomes nothing more than a province– no longer independent

• Krystallnacht

  • Night of Broken Glass- November 9, 1938

  • Sponsored and promoted night of violence against Austrian and German Jews

  • Many Jews with the means flee

    • Including Albert Einstein

• Sudetenland- Hitler claims a small area of Czechoslovakia

  • October 1938

  • 3 million ethnic Germans

  • Munich Conference

    • Chamberlain allows Hitler to take the area in an act of appeasement

  • German troops enter Sudetenland….

    • Invasion of Czechoslovakia

      • Yeah, the whole thing

• 1939

  • League of Nations is ineffective

  • Britain and France are watching Hitler’s aggression grow

  • Beginning of WW2