Notes

Dictators

The Rise of Dictators (pages 758–759)

A. Between 1919 and 1939, all the major countries of Europe except France and Great
Britain had adopted some form of dictatorial government.
B. A new form of dictatorship was the modern ____________________. Totalitarian
governments aimed to control all aspects of their citizens’ lives. Totalitarian
governments wanted to control the hearts and minds of everyone and used mass
propaganda and modern communication to achieve their goals.
C. A single leader and a single party led the new totalitarian states. There were no
individual freedoms or limits to government power. Individuals were considered
subservient to the collective will of the masses, which was controlled by the state. The
state demanded that its citizens actively support any of its goals.

Fascism in Italy (pages 759–761)

A. ____________________ in Italy established the first European Fascist
government in the early 1920s. ____________________ glorifies the state above the
individual. A strong central government and a single dictator run the state.
B. Italy suffered severe economic problems after World War I. There was a great deal
of social upheaval. Many Italians were afraid that there might be a Communist takeover
as in ____________________ and Mussolini’s movement gained wide support.
Mussolini formed groups of armed Fascists called Blackshirts, who attacked socialists
and strikers and anyone who opposed the Fascists.
C. Mussolini appealed to nationalist pride among Italians. He demanded that Italy get
more land from the peace treaties of World War I. In 1922, Mussolini had enough
followers that he forced the Italian king to make him his prime minister. As prime
minister, Mussolini created a Fascist dictatorship. He added extensive powers to the
government and was given the power to pass laws by decree. The police were given
authority to arrest anyone.
D. In 1926, the Fascists outlawed all opposition. They set up a secret police. At the end
of 1926, Mussolini was the only ruler of Italy. He was called Il Duce.
E. Mussolini used the secret police to control the people. The Fascists also controlled
mass-media outlets. They used the media to spread pro-Fascist propaganda. The
Fascists created youth groups that focused on military activities. While the Italian
Fascists tried to create a new nation of fit, disciplined, and war-loving people, they still
maintained traditional values about the important place of women and families in society.
F. Mussolini never achieved the total control over Italy that Hitler and Stalin did in
Germany and the Soviet Union. For example, Mussolini still recognized the sovereign
independence of the Vatican in Rome and Catholicism as the state religion.
G. In all areas of Italian life, there was a large gap between Fascist policies and actual
practice.
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 A New Era in the Soviet Union (pages 761–763)
A. In the early 1920s, millions died in Russia during a great famine caused by a drought.
Industrial output was reduced to 20 percent of that of 1913. The country and
government were on the verge of collapse.
B. In 1921, Lenin created the ____________________ (NEP). He abandoned war
communism in favor of a system of modified capitalism. Peasants could sell produce, and
small businesses could be privately owned. The government still controlled heavy
industries and banking.
C. In 1922, the Communists created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or
Soviet Union. The NEP saved the Soviet Union from economic ruin, but the Communists
saw it only as a temporary measure.
D. In 1924, Lenin died and a bitter struggle for power in the ____________________
ensued. The Politburo was a committee that controlled the policies of the Communist
Party. One faction, led by Leon Trotsky, wanted to end the NEP and industrialize the
nation at the expense of the peasants. They also wanted to spread communism to other
countries. Another faction rejected worldwide communism and wanted to continue the
NEP while building a socialist state.
E. Trotsky and ____________________ were personal rivals in the Politburo. Stalin
held the job of general secretary, and as such had appointed thousands of officials
throughout Russia. Stalin used his position to gain complete control over the Communist
Party. By 1929, he had removed all the Bolsheviks from power and became a powerful
dictator. Trotsky was expelled and ended up in Mexico, where he was killed in 1940,
probably on Stalin’s orders.
F. The Stalinist Era began a time of radical changes in the Soviet Union. In 1928, Stalin
ended the NEP and instituted the First Five-Year Plan. The ____________________
set economic goals for five-year periods. The First Five-Year Plan emphasized
industrialization and production of capital goods. The plan greatly increased the output
of heavy machinery and production of oil and steel.
G. The Five-Year Plans took a heavy toll on the Russian people. Urban housing for
millions of workers was terrible. Wages declined. The government dealt with these
problems by using propaganda to boost morale.
H. Stalin also collectivized agriculture. ____________________ was a system in
which the government took over ownership of private farms and had the peasants work
them. Many peasants resisted collectivization by hoarding food and killing livestock.
Stalin responded by increasing the number of farms in the program.
I. During the early 1930s, millions of Russians starved to death due to food shortages
from collectivization. Those who resisted Stalin’s programs were sent to Siberian
forced labor camps. Stalin conducted purges of Old Bolsheviks and others, many of
whom were executed. Others were sent to Siberia. The purges spared no part of
society.

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J. Stalin overturned social legislation passed in the early 1920s. These included laws
protecting rights of women, such as divorce and being able to work outside the home.

Authoritarian States in the West (pages 763–764)

A. Authoritarian states were similar to totalitarian states. They were concerned with
preserving a social order, but unlike totalitarian states they did not try to create a new
mass society that had complete control over the people.
B. In most of the countries of eastern Europe, authoritarian governments replaced
parliamentary governments. Parliamentary systems in eastern Europe failed in part
because there was no tradition of democracy and most of the peasants were illiterate.
Landowners and the churches feared that democracy would lead to revolution. They
supported authoritarian governments to keep order. Czechoslovakia was the only country
to keep a democratic government.
C. In 1936, General ____________________ used the military forces to revolt
against the democratic government in ____________________. A civil war broke out.
Germany and Italy supported Franco’s side. The Soviet Union and volunteers from other
countries supported the republican government. Franco won the civil war after he
captured ____________________ in 1939. He then began an authoritarian
dictatorship that lasted for many decades.

Hitler and His Views (pages 766–767)

A. ____________________ was born in Austria, failed secondary school, and was
rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. It was in Vienna that he developed his
ideas. Racism, particularly against the Jewish people, was at the core of Hitler’s ideas.
He was an extreme nationalist and understood the use of propaganda and terror.
B. Hitler served on the Western Front for four years during World War I. Then he
entered politics in Germany. In 1919, he joined an extreme right-wing nationalist party
in ____________________. By 1921, Hitler controlled the party and renamed it the
________________________________________, or Nazi Party for short.
C. Within two years, the Nazi Party had grown to 55,000 people with 15,000 in the
militia. In 1923, Hitler staged an uprising in Munich—called the Beer Hall Putsch—which
was quickly crushed. Hitler was sent to prison.
D. While in prison, Hitler wrote ____________________, in which he outlined his
basic ideas and plans. His ideas combined German nationalism, anti-Semitism, and
anticommunism. He also embraced the notion that stronger nations should expand to
obtain living space (____________________) and that superior leaders should rule
over the masses.

Rise of Nazism (pages 767–768)

A. Hitler realized that the way to power was through legal means, not through violent
overthrow of the government. When he got out of prison, he worked to expand the Nazi

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Party throughout Germany. By 1929, the Nazis had a national party organization, and by
1931 it was the largest political party in the ____________________, or parliament.
B. Germany’s economic problems helped the rise of the Nazi Party. Many people were in
desperate situations, which made extreme political parties far more attractive. Hitler
appealed to national pride and militarism to gain the support of the German people.

Victory of Nazism (page 768)

A. After 1930, the Reichstag had little power. As Hitler’s power grew, more and more
right-wing industrial leaders, aristocrats, military officers, and high-level bureaucrats
wanted him to lead the country. In 1933, the Nazis pressured President Hindenburg to
allow Hitler to become chancellor and create a new government.
B. Within two months, Hitler had set up the government. The Nazis were in complete
control. In March 1933, the Reichstag passed the ____________________, which
gave the government the power to ignore the constitution and pass laws to deal with the
nation’s problems. The act gave Hitler a legal basis for his actions. He had become a
dictator, appointed by the Reichstag.
C. Once in power, the Nazis established control over all aspects of government. Jews
were purged from the civil service, and trade unions were dissolved.
____________________ were set up for Nazi opponents. All political parties except
the Nazis were abolished. The Nazis had set up the basis for a totalitarian state. When
Hindenburg died, the Nazis abolished the presidency and Hitler became Germany’s only
leader. He was known to the German people as their Führer (leader).

The Nazi State, 1933–1939 (pages 769–771)

A. Hitler had a goal in creating a total state. He wanted to develop an
____________________ racial state to dominate Europe and possibly the world.
Nazis wanted the Germans to create a new empire as the Romans had done. Hitler
thought there had been two previous German empires (Reichs): the Holy Roman Empire
and the German Empire of 1871 to 1918. Hitler called his empire the Third Reich.
B. Hitler demanded active involvement from the German people. The Nazis used
economic policies, mass rallies, organizations, and terror to control the country and
further their goals.
C. While Hitler ruled absolutely over the Nazi Party, there were internal struggles
within the party. To control the nation, the Nazis used the SS or “Guard Squadrons.”
Under the direction of ____________________, the SS controlled all the police
forces. Terror and ideology drove the SS. Terror included repression, murder, and
death camps. Himmler’s goal was to further the Aryan race.
D. Hitler put people back to work through public works projects and grants to private
construction companies. He also embarked on a massive rearmament program to
stimulate the economy. Unemployment dropped and the depression seemed to be ending.

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E. The Nazis staged mass demonstrations and spectacles. Some of the largest were
held in ____________________. The Nazis also controlled both the Catholic and
Protestant churches as well as all schools.
F. Women played a special role in the Aryan state as the bearers of Aryan children. The
Nazis said that women were to be wives and mothers, while men were to be warriors and
political leaders. The Nazis also controlled the types of work that women could do and
strongly encouraged them to stay home.
G. Once in power, the Nazi Party enacted programs against Jewish people. In 1935, the
Nazis passed the “____________________,” which prevented Jews from being
German citizens, forbade marriages between Jews and German citizens, and required
Jews to wear yellow Stars of David and to carry identification cards saying they were
Jewish.
H. On the night of November 9, 1938, Nazis burned Jewish synagogues and destroyed
thousands of Jewish businesses. They killed at least 100 people and sent thirty
thousand Jewish men to concentration camps. This night was called
____________________ (“night of shattered glass”). After Kristallnacht, Jews were
barred from all public transportation, schools, and hospitals. They could not own,
manage, or work in a retail store. Jews were encouraged to leave Germany.