Dictators Come Of Age

Europe in Distress

The Modern Dictator Defined

• A leader who holds an extraordinary amount of personal power

• Often associated with brutality and oppression

• Cults of Personality rather than ideology

• Common link to military• Rise to power through coup d’état

or revolution against an unstable government

Mussolini

1883-1945

The B

lack

Shir

ts

The Black Shirts• Paramilitary group formed by

Mussolini in 1919• Most discontented ex-soldiers –

ultrantionalists• Attacked Communists,

socialists, trade unionists, and progressives

• Led March on Rome in 1922

Mussolini – Early Life• Named for Mexican revolutionary by

radical father (a blacksmith)• Was Socialist and later a Marxist

• Coined the term Fascism• Drafted in WWI – wounded in training• Organized Fascist Party, motivated

others to act, and awaited outcome.• Became Italy’s youngest premier

Fascism• Exalts nation and race above

individual• Uses propaganda and censorship• Severe economic and social control• Nationalism • Anti-Liberal, opposed socialism and

communism• Italy was first Fascist nation

Reason for Political Success

• Played on fears of economic collapse• Played on fears of Communism and

Trade Unionism• Pushed nationalism and

internationalism• Through force of personality Fascism

was the dominant political doctrine of the first half of the 20th Century

The Lateran Treaties

• February 11, 1929• Vatican and Italy (Mussolini

negotiated)• Created State of Vatican City• Pope would submit names of potential

bishops to government, and require them to swear allegiance to Italy

• Gave Vatican control over education• Marriage laws conformed Italy’s to

the Vaticans’

Mussolini and Hitler

The Pact of Steel

October 1936

Hitler

The Second Leg of Fascism

Hitler – The Early Years

• Born in Austria to dysfunctional family

• Moved to Vienna to study art – failed• Developed Anti-Semitic passion –

part of south German culture• Saw Aryan-Jewish conflict• 1913 – to Munich, service in German

army• Veteran of World War I with

distinction

Nazism

• Refers to politics of the dictatorship that ruled Germany from 1933-1945

• Commonly associated with Fascism, The nationalist totalitarianism socialism

• Appealed to moderates seeking German economic recovery

• Designed to meet Hitler’s goals• Outlawed in modern Germany

German National Socialist Party

Hitler’s Strategy• Outlined in Mein Kampf (My Struggle)• Appealed to national pride based on

anger over the Versailles Treaty• Argued for the unification of all

German speaking peoples• Stressed German right to more land• Used the ‘Bully Pulpit’ to advance

ideas

Hitler and Politics• Sought support of the middle-

class (hard hit by Depression)• Gained Reichstag position in 1930• Chancellor by 1933 • But a Reichstag fire justified

limiting individual civil rights• 1933 – Enabling Act – gave Hitler

dictatorial powers through legislative approval

The ‘Reich’Revisited

• Germany, 1933-1945• (1)Holy Roman Empire to 1871

(2)German Empire to Nazi Era(3)Nazi Era

• Hitler referred to the Nazi Era as the “Thousand Year Reich” - an effort to link past to future

The SS Hitler’s Bodyguards

The SAThe Nazi’s version of the Black Shirts

The GestapoSecret Police

Names of Note

Himmler Roehm

GoebbelsGoring

Rudolph Hess1894-1987

Night of Long Knives, et al

•June 29-June 30, 1934 - Roehm and other real and potential enemies were murdered by Himmler’s ‘Brown Shirts’

•August 2, 1934 – Hindenburg dies and Hitler declares himself Fuhrer

•Oath of personal loyalty to Hitler from armed services is required

Origins of the Holocaust

• 1935 – Nuremberg Laws. Jews lost status as German citizens and most economic rights

• May 21, 1935 - Nazis ban Jews from serving in the military

• Nov 9/10, 1938 – Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass

Kristallnacht

The Spanish Civil War

1936-1939

• Fought between rebels (Popular Front/ Falange) and Republican government

• As many as a million people died• Fascists test weapons• Republicans supported by

international brigade (also tested weapons)

• Republicans are defeated• Franco takes power

Spanish Civil War - Specifics

Lincoln Battalion

Franco

• Dysfunctional family• Army officer and hero• General at 34• Not political• Headed Nationalist

army during Civil War• Elected Head of State• Supported by

European fascists • Lost political powers

in the 1970s1892-1975

World War II