Dictatorships And The Second World War

DICTATORSHIPS AND THE SECOND WORLD WAREastview High School – AP European History

McKay et al., 8th ed. – Ch29 Sections 1-3

Essential Questions

What was the nature of twentieth-century dictatorship and authoritarian rule?

What are the similarities and differences between the political, social, and economic systems of Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler?

What conditions afforded the rise of these dictators in the twentieth century?

Authoritarian States

A. Conservative authoritarianism1. Conservative authoritarianism had deep roots in

European history and led to an antidemocratic 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.

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

ii. Many were torn by ethnic conflicts.iii. Large landowners and the church looked to

dictators to save them from land reform.

New Authoritarian States

A. The new authoritarian governments were more concerned with maintaining the status quo than with forcing society into rapid change.

B. Hungary is a good example of conservative authoritarianism: rule by landlords in a highly nationalistic and conservative state—without reform.

C. Portugal and Poland are also examples of conservative authoritarianism.

Totalitarianism or Fascism?

A. New radical dictatorships in the 1920s and 1930s were based on rejection of parliamentary democracy and liberal values, along with unprecedented control over the masses. Historians have proposed several ways of interpreting this phenomenon.

B. Some historians claim that the concept of totalitarianism emerged from the First World War and the Russian civil war, when individual liberties were subordinated to a total war effort.

C. Nothing was outside of the control of the totalitarian state: It was a dictatorship that used modern technology and communications to try to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural components of its subjects’ lives.

A Revolt Against Liberalism

A. Totalitarianism was a radical revolt against liberalism—which emphasized the rights of the individual and economic freedom; totalitarianism stressed that the individual was less important than the state.

B. Unlike old-fashioned authoritarianism, which was based on elites, modern totalitarianism was based on the masses.

C. Totalitarian regimes believed in mobilizing society toward some great goal.

D. Fascism is a form of totalitarianism—with emphasis on expansionist nationalism and antisocialism—but historians do not agree as to a precise definition, arguing that fascism varied from country to country.

Stalin’s Soviet Union

A. From Lenin to Stalin

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

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

3. Peasants bought and sold goods on the free market.

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

Stalin Takes Control

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

B. Stalin met the ethnic demands for independence within the multinational Soviet State by granting minority groups limited freedoms.

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

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

The Five Year Plans

A. 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.

B. 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—forcible

consolidation of individual peasant farms into large, state-controlled enterprises—resulted in disaster for agriculture and unparalleled human tragedy.

2. But it was a political victory for Stalin and the Communist party, as the peasants were eliminated as a potential threat.

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

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

Life in Stalinist Society

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

B. Stalin’s reign of terror and mass purges created fear and eliminated any opposition.

C. Propaganda and indoctrination were common features of life, and even art and literature became highly political.

D. Life was hard, but people were often inspired by socialist ideals and did gain some social benefits and the possibility of personal advancement through education.

Women in the Soviet Union

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

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

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

D. Medicine and other professions were opened to them.

E. Most women had to work to help support their families in addition to caring for the home and the children.

Mussolini & Fascism in Italy

A. Mussolini hated liberalism; his movement was the first fascist movement—a half-way house between conservative authoritarianism and modern totalitarianism.

B. The fascist seizure of power1. Prior to 1914 Italy was

moving toward democracy but with problems: Catholics, conservatives, and landowners hated liberalism and the country was divided.

2. Only in Italy did the Socialist party gain leadership prior to 1914.

Mussolini Takes Control

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

B. Workers and peasants felt cheated because war-time promises of reform were not carried out.

C. Nationalists felt cheated by the war settlement.

D. The Russian revolution energized Italy’s socialists into occupying factories and farms.

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

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

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

Mussolini’s Regime in Action

A. Mussolini’s Fascists manipulated elections and killed the Socialist leader Matteotti.

B. 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 persecuted until late in the Second World War - Overall, Mussolini’s fascist Italy was never really totalitarian.

Signing of the Lateran Treaty

Questions for your review

1. Why does conservative authoritarianism experience a ‘revival’ after WWI?

2. Which countries serve as good examples of conservative authoritarianism?

3. What are the major differences between conservative authoritarianism and totalitarianism?

4. How can you define fascism? What are the shared characteristics with totalitarianism?

5. What was Lenin’s NEP?

6. What was Stalin’s “socialism in one country”?

7. Which of Stalin’s five year plans was most impressive?

8. Real wages for workers and peasants in the USSR in 1937 compared to 1913 were LOWER! How did that affect the people?

9. What was an important consequence of the great “Purges”?

10. Could women pursue professional careers in Stalin’s Soviet Union? How does this compare to Hitler and Mussolini?

11. What percentage of doctors in the USSR were women?

12. Why was Mussolini expelled from the Italian Socialist party?

13. What was the Black Shirts role in Mussolini gaining power?

14. What are the characteristics of fascism?

15. Who was Matteotti?

16. What was the Lateran Agreement and what did it mean for Mussolini?