9-3 Hitler and Nazi Germany

HITLER AND NAZI GERMANY

ADOLF HITLER

• Born in Austria

• A failed painter

• Strongly believed that Germany was a super-country and its people were supermen

• His ideas on the superiority of Germany, racism, antisemitism, and the necessity of struggle influenced his actions

HITLER’S RISE TO POWER

• After WWI, Hitler joined the German Workers Party, an extremist party

• In less than 2 years, he had taken over and Changed the name to the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi)

– Got a lot of people to join

• Created a militia, the SA (Storm Troops or Brownshirts

• 11/1923 – Beer Hall Putsch: Hitler tried to lead an uprising against the gov’t

– Arrested and went to jail

– In jail he wrote Mein Kampf

• After he got out, he worked on making the Nazi Party a major political party

– By 1931, it was the 3rd largest party in the Reichstag (parliament)

• In rallies, he promised to improve the economy, make Germany great again

– This got the support of the people

– The rich, business owners, military officials, and others supported him.

• 1933 – President Hindenburg makes him chancellor because he’s under pressure from important people

• The “Enabling Act” – gave Hitler the power to ignore the constitution

– Made him a dictator

• He quickly brought all parts of the country under union control

– No more unions or other political parties

– Creates a totalitarian state

– Everyone had to call him “Fuhrer” (leader)

• Hitler’s goal: develop an Aryan racial state to take over Europe

– Aryan – the word Hitler used to refer to the descendents of the ancient Greeks and Romans

– Hitler wanted to create an empire: the Third Reich

– They worked to make this empire through economic policies, racial policies, and organizations (like Hitler Youth and the SS)

TERROR AND REPRESSION

• SS (Schutzstaffen): originally Hitler’s bodyguard, later both the secret and regular police

– Controlled by Himmler

– Based on terror and repression

– Used concentration camps (labor camps) execution squads, and other methods to instill fear

– Goal: further the German master race

• To improve the economy, he started projects that required the hiring of more workers

– He also rebuild the army and built more weapons

• To involve the people, he held rallies, where the people would come and he’s talk to them

• Churches and schools were controlled by the Nazis. They passed along Nazi messages and propaganda

ANTI-SEMETIC POLICIES

• Nuremberg Laws: Jews can’t be German citizens (you’re Jewish if your grandparents were Jewish)

– They had to wear identification cards and wear yellow Stars of David

• Kristallnacht (Night of shattered glass) Nov. 9, 1938

– Nazis burned synagogues and destroyed businesses. 30,000 were taken to concentration camps

– New laws were passed: Jews were barred from all public places, couldn’t own stores, and were encouraged to emigrate (leave)

HITLER VS MUSSOLINI

Hitler took many of Mussolini’s policies and practices

Mussolini Hitler

OVRA SA/SS

Both used propaganda to make the people believe them

Used nonviolent methods to take over the government

Given power by the leader of the country

9-2 Rise of Dictatorial Regimes

RISE OF DICTATORIAL REGIMES

TOTALITARIAN STATE

• A government that tries to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of the people.

• Basically, they try to control everything

• Modern communism and dictatorships produce totalitarian states.

• Goal: to conquer the minds & hearts of the citizens

CHARACTERISTICS OF A TOTALITARIAN STATE

• Led by a single leader and a single party

• Your individual freedoms were less important than the collective will of the group (which was decided on by the leader)

• The people had to be actively involved in working towards the state’s goals.

• Government has all the power

FASCISM

• A form of dictatorship

• Created by Benito Mussolini

• The state is more important than the individual

• A strong central gov’t led by a dictator

• No opposition is allowed.

BENITO MUSSOLINI

• Dreamed of recreating the Roman empire and returning Italy to its former power.

• Joined the socialist party, but was later kicked out and became anti-socialist.

• Created his own political movement, fascism

• Once expelled from school for stabbing a kid.

THE RISE OF FASCISM

• Inflation and a bad economy made socialism appealing to the people

• Middle classes feared a Russia-style takeover

• Blackshirts=Mussolini’s band of fascists, who attacked socialist offices and papers and broke up strikes

– This got him the support of the middle classes.

MUSSOLINI TAKES OVER

• 1922 – Mussolini threatens to march on Rome if he’s not given power

• Used his power to create a fascist dictatorship

– Gov’t could stop any newspaper or mag that criticized the church or gov’t

– Made himself head of the gov’t, with total power to make laws

• Made deals with the Catholic Church

– M makes Vatican City independent, Church supports him.

THE FASCIST STATE

• OVRA – Italian secret police

– in charge of monitoring activities of the people

– Regular police could arrest people for any reason

• Government used papers, radio, and film to spread fascist propaganda

• Youth groups created to train kids to be good fascists

– Boys – trained as soldiers

– Girls – taught to be good housewives.

– School books taught fascist propaganda.

PROBLEMS WITH THE USSR

• Remember, during the civil war, Lenin’s government took over the factories and seized almost all the food from peasant farmers to feed their army

• After the war, peasants hid their food, instead of giving it to the government

• Drought and famine left 5 million dead

• The country was on the verge of collapse

LENIN’s SOLUTION

• The New Economic Policy (NEP) was Lenin’s solution to fix Russia

– Peasants could sell their goods

– Small stores (under 20 workers) could be privately owned

• Supposed to be temporary

• Saved the Soviet Union

• Lenin died in 1924, and the other 7 members of the Politburo (head committee) fought for control

• Trotsky vs. Stalin

– Trotsky was the head of the army; wanted to end NEW, industrialize, and spread communism

– Stalin was the General Secretary; wanted to work on improving Russia

THE RISE OF STALIN

• Stalin used his job to take over the Communist Party

• Got rid of old Bolsheviks from Lenin’s time, and anyone that didn’t support him

• Trotsky was kicked out, and went to live in Mexico

• By 1929, Stalin had created a dictatorship.

FIVE YEAR PLANS

• Economic goals in 5 year periods whose purpose was to industrialize the Soviet Union.

• Focused on producing armaments (weapons) and heavy machinery

– Steel and oil production doubled and tripled

• More people moved to cities, but where they moved was controlled by the government

– Housing was cramped, conditions were bad

– Wages went down

• Collectivization – private farms are gone, and the government controls the land while the people work on it.

– All farms were squished into big farms

– The peasants didn’t like it –they often hid their crops and killed their livestock so the gov’t couldn’t take it

– Caused food shortages and famine

– In the Ukraine, the people resisted Stalin, and he took action. Crops were taken to feed the people in Russia, and famine was widespread.

• 7 million died in the “Terror Famine”

PURGES

• To purge is to remove

• Stalin was determined to purge all opponents from the Soviet Union

• People were put on trial, convicted, and executed

– First to go were any old Bolsheviks

– Then army officers, diplomats, party members, and others

– 8 million were arrested and sent to the gulag in Siberia

– Others were executed

AUTHORITARIAN STATES

• Countries that took some parts of totalitarian states but not all

• The goal was to preserve (keep) the existing social order...not a lot of change

• Police power was relied upon

• Many Eastern European

SPAIN

• Francisco Franco led a rebellion against the government

• Italy and Germany supported Franco, while Russia supported the Spanish gov’t

• Franco let Hitler test his new air force on the opposition

• Civil war ended in 1939

• Franco was not a totalitarian because gave power to the Church, large landowners, and business people.

9-1 The Futile Search for Stability

PROBLEMS AFTER THE WAR

1. border disputes among new and existing countries (Eastern Europe)

2. Germans bitter about the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
3. The economy was bad
1. Inflation
2. Depression
3. Trying to recover from war

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

• Started by Woodrow Wilson

• Supposed to be used to keep peace

• It was a weak organization

– The US decided not to join (wouldn’t sign the Treaty of V)

– Wouldn’t or couldn’t use force against those who broke international law

FRENCH DEMANDS

• France’s goal: make sure they would be secure

– This was done by making sure the TofV was followed

• Allied Reparations Committee: decided how much Germany owed

– Germany had to pay France 2.5 billion marks a year

– After the first year, Germany was broke

THE RUHR VALLEY

• When Germany couldn’t pay any more, France got mad

• They sent troops in to take over the Ruhr Valley

– This was where all the big factories and mines were

• This way, they could make the money that Germany owed them

GERMANY AND INFLATION

• INFLATION: when prices rise

• In Germany, inflation had begun before the war ended

• After the French took their money and the Ruhr Valley, the German workers went on strike

• To pay the salaries of the workers, the government printed more money

• Money is usually backed by Gold. Because the country was broke, they didn’t have gold to support their money, so when they kept printing more, it became worthless.

• In 1919, one dollar was worth 9 marks.

• By 1923, it took 4.2 trillion marks to buy 1 dollar

• As money became worth less, the prices began to rise even more

HELP IS ON THE WAY

• THE DAWES PLAN

– An international commission create this plan to help save Germany

– It reduced reparations

– Made plans for payments that Germany could deal with

– Gave a $200 million dollar loan

*led to increased investment in Europe, and a period of economic prosperity

TREATY OF LOCARNO

• France and Germany came together to decide their borders

• It was seen as “the beginning of a new era of cooperation”

• Led to Germany joining the League of Nations

• The problem? No country except Germany was really reducing their armies or doing any of the peace time things everyone was expected to do – and Germany only did because they had to.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

What is a depression?

• A period of low economic activity and rising unemployment

• Basically, it’s when there isn’t enough business to keep people in jobs, and overall the economy is bad.

• Overall, the economy is most countries wasn’t doing that well.

CAUSES OF THE DEPRESSION

1. Overproduction=lower prices; less money is made

2. The Stock Market crash of 1929

• US loans to other countries helped them out

• US investors start putting more money into the stock market than other countries

• After the crash, investors pull out even more money out of Europe

• Banks everywhere collapsed

THE DOMINO EFFECT

• When the US economy goes, we pull our money out of other countries, and we demanded that other countries pay us back.

• Those countries had depended on our money to keep their economy up

• So when ours goes, theirs goes too.

• Banks closed, businesses closed, so millions were out of work.

RESPONSES TO THE DEPRESSION

• People began looking for a strong leader that would solve their problems

• Governments created programs to boost the economy and create more jobs

– Government got more involved, raised wages, imposed tariffs.

– None of it really worked

• Communism and Marx’s ideas began to look very good to many people

• FDR started the New Deal, a program to fix the economy

• It provided job training and government jobs, along with social security and welfare.

• In the US, the depression was made worse by droughts and over farming

The Great Depression

THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Depression: a period of low economic activity (no one is making money) and high unemployment (no one has jobs)
THE CAUSES:
1. Overproduction – after the war, factories made too many goods.
2. No one was buying a lot
3. Prices went down, so businesses lost money and had to fire workers.
4. There were some people who had lots of money, but the workers didn’t make any money.
1. The workers couldn’t afford to buy many things
OCTOBER 29, 1929
• The stock market crashed. This meant that the money people had invested in stocks was lost, and many people lost all their money.
Banks had invested people’s money in stocks, and they lost money too. So even money in banks wasn’t safe. People got worried and ran to the banks to get their money. This called many small banks to close
Many businesses had to close, so unemployment went up. People couldn’t afford food or places to live. They had to wait in long lines to get free food from the government.
• People who lost their jobs often lived in “Shanty towns” – temporary houses built out of leftover materials on the edge of town
• At the same time, farmers were also in trouble because their crops were doing bad, and there was a drought (not enough water)
• So many farmers lost their jobs, and many others went west to work as itinerant farm workers (people who move around to where the crops are and work in the fields)
• Immigrants were sent back to their countries because people worried that they were taking jobs from the American people
DEPRESSION IN EUROPE
• Because America had invested (put their money into) European countries, when the stock market crashed, they pulled their money out of Europe.
• This meant that Europe lost money.
• Their economy wasn’t that good, and the loss of more money sent them into a depression too
HELP IS ON THE WAY
• Many countries tried to create programs that helped the people
• New programs included:
– National health care
– Jobs created by the government
– Social security (money for old people when they can’t work anymore)
– Welfare (help for younger people when they can’t get along)