Fascism and the Totalitarian State

Fascism and communism were the two great killers of innocents of the 20th century. Based on the ancient but unscientific idea of ethnic or tribal purity, fascists gassed, shot and burnt millions of innocent men, women and little children. Such ideas of ethnic, tribal or religious supremacy are still alive today - notably in Islamic Fascism, which is Nazi fascism's heir in the modern world.

Fascism and the Totalitarian State

Benito Mussolini Adolf Hitler

Fascism in Europe

• German

• Formed a totalitarian government

• Invaded Ethiopia in 1935.

• Italian• Anger over the Versailles treaty

• Blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems.

• Believed Germans were a superior “Aryan” race.

• Used economic unrest and fears of communism to gain support.

• Used nationalism to gain support.

- FDR announced the Good Neighbor Policy in an attempt to improve U.S. relations with Latin America.

Depression Diplomacy

- Isolationists passed a series of Neutrality Acts in the 1930’s.

• warned U.S. citizens not to travel on ships of countries at war.

- These laws….• banned arms sales or loans to countries at war.

• Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy in 1922.

Fascists in Italy

Benito Mussolini, 1936

- He controlled the press and banned criticism of the government.

- He controlled the press and banned criticism of the government.

Mussolini’s policies:

* Promising Italians greatness, Mussolini invaded and conquered Ethiopia in 1935.

Hailie Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia

* The League of Nations failed to help Ethiopia.

- He created a totalitarian state, in which the Nazi’s controlled every aspect of German society.

- Hitler built up his armed forces, in violation of the Versailles Treaty.

- Jews had their German citizenship taken away, they were forbidden from using public facilities, and they were removed from most types of work.

- Citizens must always obey the government, and the government could not be criticized.

Hitler’s policies:

Soviet Union

• Millions of farmers that resisted were either killed or sent to labor camps.

• Farmers were forced to give up their land and to join collective farms.

• Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered his people to produce more goods in order to strengthen the country in preparation for war.

Prisoners work at Belbaltlag, a Gulag camp for building the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal .

In the Stalin era, a person could be sent to the Gulag for up to ten years for such petty theft.

In the Stalin era, a person who arrived late to work three times could be sent to the Gulag for three years.

In the Stalin era, many were sent to the Gulag for up to 25 years for telling an innocent joke about a Communist Party official.

Have you ever been late to work?

Have you ever told a joke about a government official?

If your family was starving, would you take a few potatoes left in a field after harvest?

Trying to feed her four hungry children during the massive 1932-1933 famine, the peasant mother allegedly stole three pounds of rye from her former field—confiscated by the state as part of collectivization. Soviet authorities sentenced her to ten years in the Gulag. When her sentence expired in 1943, it was arbitrarily extended until the end of the war in 1945. After her release, she was required to live in exile near her Gulag camp north of the Arctic Circle, and she was not able to return home until 1956, after the death of Stalin. Maria Tchebotareva never found her children after her release.Maria Tchebotareva

* Britain and France gave into Germany hoping that it would avoid warfare. This was known as appeasement.

Soviet poster of the 1930's by Kukryniksy on the Munich agreement.

* However, in 1939, Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia anyway!

Stalin and Hitler

•1939 – In the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Hitler and Stalin agreed not to attack one another.

• Stalin and Hitler also agreed to divide Poland and Eastern Europe amongst themselves.

* Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany.

• September 1, 1939 – Germany invaded Poland without having to fear of a Soviet attack.

Polish Garrison of Warsaw Marching out of City After the Surrender

Nazis Overrun Europe

1939 – Poland is defeated by the German blitzkrieg.

• The Soviet Union seized eastern Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Europe 1935-1939 Europe 1939 Europe 1940 Europe 1941

• 1940 – Germany conquers Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Norway and France.

Main Allied powers: Great Britain, France, China, Soviet Union, United States

A Global Battleground

• The main combatants were known as the Axis powers and the Allies.

Main Axis powers: Germany, Italy, Japan

June, 1940

France surrenders.

German bomber over

London

1940 - The Germans severely bombed Great Britain during the Battle of Britain but were unable the defeat the island nation. (video link)

Battle of Britain - Summer, 1940

Battle of Britain - Summer, 1940

Battle of Britain - Summer, 1940

Battle of Britain - Summer, 1940

Battle of Britain - Summer, 1940

• Meanwhile, the U.S. prepared for war by setting up the first ever peacetime draft in U.S. history.

American Neutrality

• FDR changed the Neutrality Acts through a “cash and carry” plan, in which the U.S. sold arms to the Allies, but they had to carry them away on their own ships.

A Third Term for FDR Breaking tradition, FDR ran for, and won, a third term as

President in 1940.

Arsenal of Democracy

• FDR called on all Americans to defend the “Four Freedoms” (freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear)

• Lend-Lease Act (1941) – allowed sales or loans to “any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the U.S.”

Warsaw 1945: Willys jeep used by Polish Army as part of US Lend-Lease program.

* 1941 – Germany launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union. The U.S. decided to extend Lend-Lease aid to the Soviets as well.

Atlantic Charter – set up by FDR and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1941, establishing the goals for the end of the war:

• to seek no territorial gain from the war

• to support all peoples to choose their own form of government

• called for a “permanent system of general security”, such as the League of Nations

Pearl Harbor (video link)• On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.• Approximately 2,400 Americans were killed and most the Pacific fleet was destroyed.

* The U.S. declared war on Japan the following day, officially entering World War II.