View
1.397
Download
2
Category
Tags:
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
PP 2010 Version
Citation preview
World War II
Part 1:
The Rise Of Nazi Germany
Benito Mussolini
• Mussolini fought in World War I.• In March 1919, he formed the
Fascist Party .• On October 28, 1922, the Fascists
undertook their famous “March on Rome.”
• Mussolini’s followers occupied the capital.
• Fascists achieved their first parliamentary majority by using violent tactics of intimidation to secure votes.
• Mussolini destroyed political parties and made Italy into a one-party dictatorship.
Adolf Hitler
• Adolf Hitler was born in Austria.
• Joined the German army in World War I.
• Believed in the racial superiority of the Aryan (German) people and was committed to providing Lebensraum (living space) for his “master race.”
Nazi Party
• After WW1, Hitler entered politics by joining the National Socialists Party (Nazi), and soon took over the party.
• In 1923, Hitler and the Nazi’s tried to overthrow government, but failed and Hitler sent to jail.
• Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) while in jail.
Mein Kampf Quotes
• “The worst danger is that we are interrupting the natural selection process ourselves (by caring for the sick and the weak).”
• “The [Nazi party] should not become a constable of public opinion, but must dominate it. It must not become a servant of the masses, but their master!”
• “...the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew.”
Chancellor Adolf Hitler
• Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 through legal means.
• Hitler claimed Germany was on verge of Communist revolution and persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg and the Reichstag (Parliament) to consent to a series of emergency laws, which Nazis used to establish themselves in power.
• Hitler removed all political parties of Germany except the Nazi party.
• Within two months, Germany was a police state and Hitler was dictator.
The Third Reich
• Hitler was dictator now, was called the “Führer”
• Goal was the unite all German speaking lands.
• Three goals for the Nazi state: Lebensraum, rearmament, and economic recovery.
• Hitler started to round up Jews and placing them in Ghettos and eventually concentration camps.
• For the next six year, Germany began building an army worthy of the new Reich.
Propaganda
• Joseph Goebbels was Reich Minister of Propaganda.
• German audience continually reminded of struggle of the Nazi Party and greatness of German culture.
• “Heroic Art” portrayed only Aryan men as heroic and strong.
• Hitler was glorified like a God. • Jews were depicted as animals or
evil monsters.
Jewish “Problem”
• By beginning of 1939, Nazi policy focused on promoting the “emigration” of Jews from Germany.
• Heinrich Himmler and the SS shared Hitler’s racial ideology.
• Reinhard Heydrich given responsibility for what Nazis called their Final Solution to the Jewish problem – extermination.
Jewish “Problem”
• After defeat of Poland, Heydrich ordered special strike forces to round up all Polish Jews and concentrate them in ghettos.
• Eventually, death squads entered the ghettos. Their job was to round up as many Jews as possible and execute them.
• Often times, the Jews dug their own graves before they were executed.
• As many as one million Jews were killed through this fashion, but was soon perceived as inadequate.
• Nazis opted for the systematic annihilation of Jews in specially built death camps.
Hitler Makes His Move
• In March 1938, German forces marched in Austria, they were cheered by Austrians.
• European leaders sought to avoid war through appeasement. • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier had
conference with Hitler in Munich. • Hitler demanded the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, they agreed.• Hitler “promised” for no more expansion.
Czechoslovakia Seized
• Six months after Munich Conference, Hitler occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia.
• Seizure finally showed that Hitler’s demands were not limited to German speaking areas but instead determined by the need for Lebensraum (living space) for the “Master Race.”
• Obvious Poland was Hitler’s next target.
• On March 31, 1939, Britain and France extended a formal guarantee to support Poland in the event of a German attack.
• Mussolini took advantage of the European situation by invading Albania on April 1939.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
• The Soviet Union potentially faced war on two fronts against Germany in the west and Japan in the east.
• On August 23, 1939 the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed.
• Agreement consisted of a 10-year nonaggression pact.
• Partitioning of Eastern Europe between both nations.
• USSR will supply vast quantities of raw materials to Germany in exchange for military technology and finished good.
Neutrality• “This nation will remain a
neutral nation…”• Neutrality Act (1935) passed
by Congress. It prohibited American munitions sales to any nations at war.
• The message was clear: the United States would take care of its own problems; Europe should do the same.
Recommended