Unit 7: The Rise of Totalitarian States in the 20th Century
World War I devastated Europe economically, politically, and socially. Great Britain and France blamed Germany for the conflict and imposed severe economic penalties and military restrictions on the German state. In Russia, Communist revolutionaries seized control of the government in 1917 and began to consolidate power and impose Communist rule throughout Russia. They attempted to turn Russia from an agricultural state into a powerful industrial nation that could rival the industrial states of western Europe. In Asia, Japanese leaders viewed western colonial powers with envy and began expanding the Japanese military with the goal of eventually establishing colonies throughout Asia and the Pacific.
Following the war, liberal democratic governments came into power throughout much of western Europe. Under these regimes, women received the right to vote in many states and workers were permitted to unionize. In states like Germany and Italy, however, democratic governments were weak and ineffective. After the Great Depression destroyed the German and Italian economies in the early 1930s, voters looked for more powerful leaders to guide them through the difficult times. As a result, the Nazi Party gained power in Germany, while the Fascist Party peacefully assumed control in Italy. Nazi and Fascist leaders promised renewed prosperity as they began to rebuild military forces in order to challenge the colonial powers of Great Britain and France. Meanwhile, in Asia, Japanese military forces landed in eastern China and began occupying much of Manchuria.
In this unit, we will take a look at the rise of Communist, Fascist, and Totalitarian governments in Europe and Asia. We will evaluate how economic, social, and political factors allowed profoundly anti-democratic governments to assume power in Russia, Germany, Italy, and Japan, and how these governments fundamentally reshaped life in these nations during the 1920s and 1930s.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- identify the origins of totalitarian political movements across the globe in the 1920s and 1930s and assess how these movements led to World War II;
- asses how the Great Depression reshaped society and politics across the globe;
- identify the origins, main events, and consequences of the Russian Revolution; and
- identify the origins of Nazi philosophy and ideology, and describe the dictator role of Adolf Hitler.
7.1: The Interwar Years, 1918–1938
Read the first four pages in "Period 6", from the effects of the first World War to the rise of dictatorship and totalitarianism.
7.1.1: Social and Political Impact of World War I
Read this article, which gives an overview of the economic, political, and social events of the Interwar Period.
Read this article, which gives an overview of the economic effects of the First World War.
7.1.2: Economic Depression
Read the Introduction and the "Context" section.
7.1.3: Experiments with Liberal Democracy
- The Treaty of Versailles
- Germany's First Democratic Constitution
- The Republic Besieged, 1918–1923
- Chronology, 1920–1929
- Weimar Culture
Read these articles. Raffael Scheck of Colby College created this virtual textbook, which was also expanded on and published in print by Berg Publishers in Oxford. This portion of the online textbook gives an overview of the Weimar Republic, which was the given name for the parliamentary republic, established in Germany in 1919, that succeeded the imperial government.
7.2: Russia
7.2.1: The Russian Revolution, 1917
Vladimir I. Lenin, leader of the radical Bolshevik Party, issued this proclamation at the beginning of the Russian Communist Revolution on October 24, 1917. In it, Lenin rallies his communist followers and tells them that they must maintain military pressure on the weak democratic government that has ruled Russia since Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne eight months earlier. At the end of the proclamation, Lenin boldly declares:
"The government is tottering. It must be given the death-blow at all costs."
7.2.2: The Bolsheviks Consolidate Power
7.2.3: The Rise of Stalin
Read this article, focusing on the section on Stalin.
7.3: Italy
7.4: Germany
7.4.1: The Origins of the Nazi Movement
Focus on the second half of the lecture that deals with Hitler and Nazism.
7.4.2: Hitler's Rise and Consolidation of Power
7.4.3: Race in Nazi Germany
The article focuses on Hitler and the Nazi Party's ideas about race and how these ideas provided the ideological basis for the Holocaust.
7.5: Japan
7.5.1: Nationalism and Colonialism
Read this article, which discusses Japanese militarism and the Western influence on the rise of Japanese imperialism.
7.5.2: Hirohito, Tojo, and Japanese Militarism
7.5.3: East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere
Read this article, which contains a brief overview of the economic, cultural, and political reasons for the creation of the Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Unit 7 Assessment
Complete the quiz and review the thought questions.