This document discusses the rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century following World War I. It defines totalitarianism as a centralized dictatorial system requiring complete obedience to the state, and cites examples like fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany. It outlines how totalitarian states established cults of personality around dictators like Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler, and exerted control through extensive political repression, propaganda, surveillance, and terror tactics like concentration camps. The document traces the political paths that led to totalitarian rule in the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, fascist Italy under Mussolini, and Nazi Germany under Hitler.

1. The Rise of
Totalitarianism

10. … in this 20th century blood and instinct will
regain their rights against the power of money
and intellect. The era of individualism, liberalism
and democracy, of humanitarianism and freedom, is
nearing its end. The masses will accept with
resignation the VICTORY OF THE CAESARS,
the strong men, and will obey them. Life will
descend to a level of general uniformity … and the
world will be better for it.
- Oswald Spengler, The Decline ofTheWest, 1922

25. Totalitarianism: system of centralized dictatorial
government requiring complete subservience to the state
• cult of personality
• extensive political repression
• prohibits opposition political parties
• mass surveillance
• state terror – concentration camps, secret police, executions
• censorship and propaganda through state media
• absolute control of economy

26. Totalitarian Democratic Totalitarian
The Political Spectrum Post-World War I
Liberalism
• Late 1700s in
American and
French
Revolutions
• Civil liberties –
freedom of
expression
• Limited
government by
constitution
• Legal equality of
all social classes
• Benefited middle
class most
• Multi-party
democracy – US,
France, Britain
Conservatism
• Authoritarian
traditional social
order
• Dominance of
upper-class social
elites – nobles,
church officials,
moneyed interests
• Maintain military
rule by kings or
dictators
• Pre-WWI:
Germany, Austria-
Hungary, Russia,
Ottoman Empire
Fascism
• 1920s
• Replace
militaristic king w/
militaristic dictator
• Totalitarian state
by one-party
dictatorship
• Ultra-nationalist
• Anti-communist
• Social Darwinian
expansion
• Italy (1922)
Nazism
• Racial superiority
• Germany (1933)
Socialism
• Mid-1800s in
Industrial
Revolution
• Legal and
economic equality
• Benefited lower
working
class/proletariat
• Government
ownership of
means of
production –
factories, mines,
power,
transportation,
communication
• Legal reform and
labor union
activism
Communism
• Mid-1800s
• Complete
economic equality
to create
classless system
• Anti-bourgeoisie
• Government
ownership of
means of
production –
factories, mines,
power,
transportation,
communication
• Totalitarian state
by one-party
dictatorship
• USSR (1917)

27. Dictatorship and
One-Party Rule

28. Dictatorship and
One-Party Rule

29. Dictatorship and
One-Party Rule

30. Ideology
Soviet Union =
far left-wing communism
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany =
far right-wing fascism

31. State Control

32. Modern Technology

33. Methods of
Enforcement

35. Vladimir Lenin

37. Russian CivilWar, 1917-1922
~ 9.5 million dead

39. Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator 1929-1953

40. 5-Year Plans:
1929-1934, 1934-1939
Goal: rapid industrialization

41. Gulags

42. Collectivization of agriculture

43. Great Purges, 1937-1938

48. Benito Mussolini,
Italian dictator,
1922-1945

49. Fascist Party Blackshirts

53. Adolf Hitler,
German dictator,
1933-1945

54. 11 a.m., November 11, 1918
The German right-wing later believed the stab-in-the-back
myth that German army did not lose but was betrayed by
Jewish and socialist "November criminals".

55. The Party Program of the NSDAP
Proclaimed 24 February 1920 by Adolf Hitler
• Anschluss: Unification of Austria + Germany
• Anti-Versailles
• Lebensraum: Gain land and colonies
• Anti-Semitism and anti-foreigner
• Nationalization of all industries for war production
• State-controlled press and censorship
• Unlimited strong central government under dictator

56. Ruhr Crisis
1923-1925

57. DATE GERMAN MARKS U.S. DOLLARS
1919 4.2 1
1921 75 1
1922 400 1
Jan. 1923 7,000 1
July 1923 160,000 1
Aug. 1923 1,000,000 1
Nov. 1, 1923 1,300,000,000 1
Nov. 15, 1923 1,300,000,000,000 1
Nov. 16, 1923 4,200,000,000,000 1
Inflation in Germany

66. Beer Hall Putsch, 1923

69. Unemployment in Germany
1928-1933
September 1928 650,000
September 1929 1,320,000
September 1930 3,000,000
September 1931 4,350,000
September 1932 5,102,000
January 1933 6,100,000

71. “Enough! Vote Hitler!” “Our last hope: Hitler”

73. Appointed Chancellor of Germany
January 1933

74. Reichstag Fire
February 1933

75. Dachau
Concentration Camp

80. Nuremberg Laws
1935

82. 1935: Italy invaded
Ethiopia. Germany
violated Treaty of
Versailles.

83. Rearmament

85. Remilitarization of the Rhineland
March 1936

88. Anschluss of Austria
March 13, 1938

90. Munich Conference
September 30, 1938

92. Kristallnacht
“Night of the Broken Glass”
November 9-10, 1938