Stalin’s Cunning PersonalityPolitical ManeuversPlayed political chess with his rivalsHe used Zinoviev and Kamenev to get rid of Trotsky.He then used Bukharin to get rid of them by accusing him of opposing economic revolution.Therefore, Stalin managed to get rid of all his rivals and rose to power.What remained was a tamed Party that supported Stalin.Used Lenin’s Death LegacyHe gave Trotsky the wrong dates of the funeral.Stalin also organised Lenin’s funeral and made himself the chief mourner at the funeral. Trotsky was accused of betraying Lenin as he did not attend the funeral.Stalin portrayed an image of being close to Lenin and helped identified himself as Lenin’s natural successor to the people.Position of Secretary General Stalin used his position as Secretary-General of the Party to appoint his supporters to important posts, ensuring their loyalty. By controlling the central Party machine, he was able to exert great influence on the Party members and get them to vote on his policies or initiatives (e.g. voting out of Trotsky in 1925). Stalin’s PersonalityClever at deceiving peopleSharp, cautions and organisedAmbitious and ViciousOpportunistic (Wait for opportunities to attack)With his unique personality, he is thus able to think of different ways to remove his opponents and gain dictatorship.Favourable CircumstancesTrotsky’s WeaknessesTrotsky was considered by his party members to be arrogant.His idea on spreading communism to the world was not popular as people did not want to go to war again.His excessive self-confidence prevented him from building support within the Party.Stalin managed to take advantage of Trotsky’s weakness to portray a bad image of him to the Russians, so that more people will support him instead.The growth in Party membershipBy 1933 there were 3 and a half million members. Many members were young, inexperienced and uneducated. These were “malleable recruits”. They were much more likely to obey instructions than some older party members, thus would listen to Stalin’s instructions.Therefore, Stalin is able to influence these recruits into supporting him and putting down a bad image on his rivals to gain support in the party.

Hitler’s AbilitiesHitler’s speaking skillsHitler could speak well and seemed to understand the people’s problems. He also had tremendous energy and good leadership qualities.With his good leadership qualities, Hitler could quickly become the leader of the Germans workers party. His excellent speaking qualities distinguished him from other people as he had the ability to attract and inspire people.This would allow Hitler to gain the support of the people, which would allow him to gain more votes and win elections to allow the Nazi Party to gain dominance in the government.Hitler’s Propaganda CampaignsHitler presented himself as a strong and capable leader in contrast to the leadership of the Weimar Government.Hitler played on fears of rich people to spread fear about the aim of Communists to take away property to give to the workers. He also proclaimed that only the Nazis are strong enough to save Germany from the Communist threat, like the one in Russia.This anti-Communist campaign stirred up people’s fears and hatred of the Communists and made them lose support from the Germans.This caused many rich Germans also gave financial support to the Nazis as they are afraid that the Communists might take their property away. It allowed Hitler to recruit a sizable army known as the Stormtroopers which can help commit violence to the Communists, thus the Germans would feel that the Communists were no longer a threat and more people would thus support Hitler.Hitler’s excellent Party organisationHitler came up with a program which attracted many Germans. Hitler set up party branches throughout Germany and set up organisations for people.Hitler also continued to hold large public meetings and rallies, published newspapers and leaflets.This attracted many German people and thus they would want to vote for the Nazis as they believed that the Nazis can help Germany regain back to its original state during the rule of the Kaiser.The excellent party organisation helped Hitler to gain power as during the Great Depression, it was organised and stronger, and was able to take advantage of people’s misery once more. Thus the Nazis would have more support and votes during elections from the people and can gain dominance in the government.Favourable CircumstancesGreat DepressionGermany was affected (particularly) due to its scale of loans from America. Many America bankers demanded their money back, causing Germany’s economy to collapse. In addition, Germany had to pay war reparations Germans experience unemployment and poverty again. Weimar Government was unable to deal with the immense problems of the great depression. Weak decisions like printing of money, increasing of taxes People had to endure poor conditions, lead to dissatisfaction of the way the Weimar Government handled the situation.Hitler was able to take advantage of this situation and promise that the Nazi Party will help to solve the economic crisis, thus it is able to get more support from the Germans

External ReasonsWorsening Ties with the WestAmerica Expansion: American businessmen took an increasing interest in doing business in the Asia-Pacific region and thus took many islands rich in guano and other islands for bases as American trading ships. Japanese militarists believed that the Japanese and American economic and military interests would bring them to conflict over the ownership of the Asia-Pacific region.Great Depression convinced the Japanese that close contact with the West was bad for Japan and its economy. Wanted Japan to be an autarky (Economic Independence) Paris Peace Conference: Japan wanted the LON to recognise that all races were equal, however it refused. Asians were inferior to the Westerns, made many Japanese very unhappy.Washington Naval Conference: Japan was not treated fairly, felt that it was an attempt to restrict Japanese power.London Disarmament Conference: Prime Minister wanted to improve ties with China, further limit Japan’s battleships and reduce spending on Army. Army accused him of betraying Japan, was too “soft”.Immigration laws in USAIn 1924, the USA government tried to prevent Asian immigration as part of its isolationist and protectionist policy, thus forbidding the entry of most Asian immigrants.As many Japanese migrated overseas, the new policies angered the Japanese made them felt inferior to the Americans. Together with the protectionist policies of the West during the Great Depression, they caused many Japanese to turn away and supported an expansion of Japan’s empire.Resurgence of Chinese NationalismJapan took advantage of China’s weak and disunited government to gain rights to trade and control Chinese territories. A political party called KMT tired to unite china, fighting the warlords and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to bring about a Communist revolution, keeping China weak. However when the KMT and CCP joined forces to fight the warlords, they tried to gain full control and thus strikes and demonstrations of Japanese goods hurt its economy. There were also Anti-Japanese protests by the people. The KMT officers wanted to stop the Japanese from expanding further, thus urged the Japanese to support military action.

Internal ReasonsThe Showa RestorationWestern values were seen as being selfish, greedy and individualistic. Japanese virtues like self-sacrifice in service of the nation were promoted. This movement caused youths to be blindly loyal to the Emperor, nation and believed in militarism and an aggressive foreign policy.Patriotic SocietiesMembers of these societies had close ties with the Army and Navy and were extremely nationalistic and believed that Japan was superior to other nations. Patriotic societies like Black Dragon and Cherry Blossom Society attempted to adopt an aggressive foreign policy as they wanted to get rid of the democratic leaders and set up a military dictatorship on behalf of the Emperor.Rise of the Navy and ArmyThey had considerable influence over political decisions and acted independently over the government.They desired to increase their territory to neighbouring countries to gain more land and resources for their own benefit.Military successes in Manchuria and Russia lead to their growing popularity.