Dictators Take Power in Italy and Germany

In Italy and Germany, totalitarian leaders exerted complete control over the government and society. These dictators were fascists (FASHists). Fascism is rooted in militarism, extreme nationalism, and blind loyalty to the state. Fascist dictators vowed to create new empires. Unlike communists, who drew much of their support from the working classes, fascists found allies among business leaders and landowners.

Fascist Italy

 In 1922, Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party seized power in Italy. He played on anger about the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I.

Many Italians felt cheated because the treaty did not grant Italy the territory it wanted. Mussolini promised to make Italy a mighty empire.

Mussolini also used fear to gain and hold power. Economic unrest and fears of a communist revolution plagued Italy, and many looked to Mussolini to stabilize the nation.

Once in power, Mussolini outlawed all political parties except his own. He controlled the press and banned criticism of the government. Critics were jailed or simply murdered. In schools, children recited the motto “Mussolini Is Always Right!”

Mussolini Conquers Ethiopia

 In the 1930s, Mussolini used foreign conquest to distract Italians from economic problems. Promising to restore the greatness of ancient Rome, he initiated a program of military aggression. Aggression is a hostile or warlike act by one country against another without provocation.

Mussolini invaded the African nation of Ethiopia in 1935. The Ethiopians fought bravely, but their cavalry and outdated rifles were no match for Italy’s modern tanks and airplanes. Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie (HIlee suhLASee) asked the League of Nations for aid. The League responded weakly. Britain and France were caught up in their own economic problems and unwilling to risk another war. Without help, Ethiopia fell.

Nazi Germany

 In Germany, Adolf Hitler brought the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazis, to power. Like Mussolini, Hitler played on anger about the Treaty of Versailles. Germans bitterly resented the treaty because it blamed their country for World War I and made them pay heavy war costs.

Analyze Charts The chart shows the severe economic situation that existed in Germany in the years following World War I.

Identify Cause and Effect What evidence from the graph partly explains why many Germans would support a change in government?

Hitler’s Rise to Power

Hitler assured Germans that they had not lost the war. Rather, he said, Jews and other traitors had “stabbed Germany in the back.” The argument was false, but in troubled times people were eager to find a scapegoat—a person or group on whom to blame their problems.

Hitler was a dynamic speaker and skillful politician. By the time the Great Depression struck, many Germans looked to him as a strong leader with answers to their problems.

In 1933, Hitler was named chancellor, or head of the German government. Within two years, he ended democratic rule and created a militaristic totalitarian state. In Nazi Germany, the government controlled the press, the schools, and religion.

The following year, Hitler organized a week-long rally in Nuremberg. Crowds chanted slogans praising Hitler. Uniformed soldiers marched in seemingly endless parades and engaged in mock battles. American reporter William Shirer described the Nuremberg rally:

Primary Source

“It is difficult to exaggerate the frenzy of the three hundred thousand German spectators when they saw their soldiers go into action, heard the thunder of the guns, and smelt the powder.”

— William L. Shirer, Berlin Diary

Nazis Persecute Jews

Hitler preached that Germans belonged to a race that was biologically superior to Jews; Roma, or Gypsies; and other peoples. The Nazi government singled out the Jews for special persecution. Jews were deprived of their citizenship, forbidden to use public facilities, and driven out of almost every type of work. Later, Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, originally prison camps for civilians whom the Nazis declared “enemies of the state.” Many camps became death camps. In time, Hitler would unleash a plan to kill all the Jews in Europe.

Analyze Images Germans observe the aftermath of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). On November 9–10, 1938, Nazi troops ransacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues, and killed at least 91 Jewish people.

Infer What can you infer from the people’s expressions about their response to Kristallnacht?

Germany Moves Toward War

Hitler claimed that Germany had a right to expand to the east. In defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, he began to build up Germany’s armed forces. Although the League of Nations condemned his actions, Hitler predicted that the rest of Europe would “never act. They’ll just protest. And they will always be too late.”

In 1936, German troops moved into the Rhineland, near the border with France and Belgium. The Treaty of Versailles had banned German troops from this region. France and Britain protested Germany’s illegal action but took no other action.

READING CHECK 

Identify Supporting Details How did political change in Germany result in military aggression in Europe?

The United States Remains Isolated

In the United States, the strong isolationist mood of the 1920s continued. As war clouds gathered overseas, Americans were determined to keep from becoming involved. In 1935, Congress passed the first of a series of Neutrality Acts, which banned arms sales or loans to countries at war. Congress also warned Americans not to travel on ships of countries at war. By limiting economic ties with warring nations, isolationists hoped to stay out of any foreign conflict.

Analyze Charts This chart describes the main impacts of each of the three Neutrality Acts.

Use Evidence What evidence shows that the United States hoped to minimize involvement in any overseas war?

Relations With Latin America

Closer to home, the United States tried to improve relations with Latin American nations. In 1930, President Hoover rejected the Roosevelt Corollary. The United States, he declared, no longer claimed the right to intervene in Latin American affairs.

When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, he also worked to build friendlier relations with Latin America. His Good Neighbor Policy emphasized trade and cooperation. Under this policy, FDR withdrew American troops from Nicaragua and Haiti.

Roosevelt also canceled the Platt Amendment, which had limited the independence of Cuba.

Roosevelt believed that as world tensions increased, the need to strengthen ties in the Americas became more pressing. On a visit to Argentina, he warned that any foreign aggressor “will find a hemisphere wholly prepared to consult together for our mutual safety.”

Relations With the Soviet Union

President Roosevelt also improved relations with the Soviet Union. He restored diplomatic relations with the Soviet government in 1933, although he remained wary about allying America too closely with the communist nation. In addition to benefiting the American economy, Roosevelt hoped that improved relations with the Soviet Union would discourage Japanese expansion in Asia.

Analyze Images In this 1935 cartoon, “Only a Generation Apart,” Woodrow Wilson tells President Roosevelt, “I hope you have better luck than I did.”

Use Visual Information What comparison does the cartoonist draw between Wilson and Roosevelt?

READING CHECK 

Understand Effects How did political changes in Europe and Asia lead to the Good Neighbor Policy?