Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, & Tojo

1. Dictators of World War II
U.S. History
Unit One - World War II

2. Joseph Stalin
• Communist
Dictator of USSR
from 1924 - 1953

3. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• with Lenin’s death in ‘24, Stalin takes
control of USSR
• known as the “Man of Steel”
• began an agricultural and industrial
restructuring that trampled the rights
of many Russian people
• by 1927, all private enterprise ended
in USSR

4. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• 5 Year Plans = plans to build massive
state owned factories, steel mills, and
power plants (1928 & 1933)
• enormous human cost to the
transformation from private
enterprise to state control of the
economy

5. Aggressive Actions Taken In The
1920’s & ‘30’s
• Great Purge (1934 - 38)
– tens of thousands of “enemies of the
people” were executed
– some view Stalin responsible for the
deaths of 8 to 13 million people
• By 1939, Stalin had established a
centralized totalitarian government
– complete control over its citizens,
individuals had few rights, the
government would suppress all
opposition

6. Benito Mussolini
• Fascist Dictator
of Italy

7. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• formed the Fascist party in
1919
• became the Prime Minister of
Italy in 1922
• dreamed of being a modern
day “Julius Caesar” and to
reestablish the Roman Empire

8. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• Hoped to establish Fascism in Italy
– Fascism = strong, centralized
government headed by a powerful
dictator (extreme nationalism)
• became known as “Il Duce” or “the
Chief”
• vowed to “make the trains run on
time” (efficient state)

9. Aggressive Actions Taken In The
1920’s & ‘30’s
• had all opposition crushed and
established a totalitarian state
• October 1935 = Italy invaded
Ethiopia
• October 1936 = Rome-Berlin Axis
Pact signed
– (alliance between Italy and
Germany)

10. Adolf Hitler
• Dictator and
Leader of German
Nazi Movement

11. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• In 1919, joined the German Workers
Party (developed into the NAZI
Party)
– party appealed to those bitter about
Germany’s defeat in WWI
• in 1923, rebellion led by the NAZI
Party in Munich’s Beer Hall
– 16 NAZI’s killed, Hitler arrested, placed
in prison for 9 months

12. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• while in prison, Hitler wrote, Mein Kampf =
his political and social beliefs
– unite all German speaking people, in particular
those who had blue eyes and blonde hair, to
form a master race destines to rule the world
• after release from prison, Hitler builds up
the NAZI Party
• German election results for the NAZI Party
candidate
– 1928 = 810,000 votes of 31,000,000 cast (Hitler
viewed as a joke)
– 1930 = 6,500,000 votes (no longer a joke)
– 1932 = majority of the votes

13. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• Hitler is viewed as a master politician
= appealed to many groups
– favored by those who believed the Jews
had sold out Germany at the Versailles
Peace Conference at the end of WWI, as
well as industrialists and military generals
• established the Third Reich, (Third
German Empire after Charlemagne and
Bismarck) believed the rule would last
1,000 years

14. Aggressive Actions Taken In The
1920’s & 30’s
• needed more “lebensraum”
or living space for the
Third Reich
• 1936, German army sent
into the Rhineland (part of
Austria and
Czechoslovakia) and
reclaimed it for German

15. Aggressive Actions Taken In The
1920’s & 30’s
• 1938, Germany demanded
the Sudetenland, the British
gave into their demands
(appeasement policy on the
part of Britain)
• September 1, 1939, the
Blitzkrieg is launched on
Poland

16. Hideki Tojo and Japanese
Militarists
• Military Dictator of
Japan

17. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• led by Emperor Hirohito, but power
started to shift to the military
generals in the in the late 1920’s (1st
and foremost was Tojo)
• many Japanese believed the “West”
did not accept it as equal
– U.S. banned Japanese immigration

18. Political and Economic Movement
and Beliefs Prior to WWII
• faced with a social crisis =
population explosion
– 35 million to 60 million in 50 years
• resources were needed, expansion
was necessary (limited on the
islands)
• 1941, Tojo becomes Prime Minister
(a military general in charge of the
Japanese government

19. Aggressive Actions Taken In The
1920’s & ‘30’s
• September, 1931, Japan invaded
Manchuria (Chinese province)
• 1933, Japan invaded many other
parts of China (take many of the
coastal cities)
• throughout the 30’s, Japan will
take over much of SE Asia
• December 7, 1941 = Japan
attacked the military base for U.S.
Navy in the Pacific at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii