Unit 5 Notes 3:

Rise of Mussolini and

Hitler

What allowed these people to

come to power?
Poorly Run
Democracies
After World War One,
most European
countries turned to
democracy for the first
time
The little experience in
running a republic,
along with dozens of
political parties led to
weak leadership
In the hard times
following the war,
many citizens of these
countries were willing
to sacrifice democracy

What allowed these people to come

to power?
Money Problems
After World War One, to
help pay off their debt,
Germany simply printed
more money
This printing of money
greatly devalued the
Germany currency
This caused inflation (the
rising cost of goods)
A loaf of bread went from
under a dollar in 1918 to
$200 billion in 1923

What allowed these people to come

to power?
Money Problems
On October 29th, 1929 the U.S.
Stock Market crashed
This led to the Great Depression
The Great Depression was a
period of time when the
unemployment rate went over
25%, as well as a sharp decrease
in production of goods, prices,
and wages
The Great Depression forced
American businessmen to pull
out investments they had made
in Europe and around the world
This led to a Global Depression
as it sent the economies of

What allowed these people to

come to power?
Hate
Germans were very upset after WWI (see
notes from WWI)
They blamed their post-WWI government,
The Weimar Republic, for signing the
humiliating Treaty of Versailles AND their
loss in the war even though they had
nothing to do with the war

Political Ideas: Benito Mussolini

Fascism
Believed in extreme
nationalism
Believed that nations
should be at war
Believed peaceful
nations were doomed to
fail
Gave all power to one
leader
Extreme totalitarianism

Political Ideas: Adolf Hitler

Nazism
A form of fascism that
included racial purity as a
goal
Believed that Aryans were
the master race and all
others were sub-human
Outraged over the
embarrassing Treaty of
Versailles
Hitler promised to conquer
all of Europe and Russia
because Germans need
more living space
(lebensraum)

Road to Power
Mussolini
In 1919 he formed the Fascist Party
He used violence and terror to defeat his
opponents
He used the fear of a communist revolt to
gain supporters
In 1922, he and 30,000 followers march on
Rome and demanded that he be put in
power

Road to Power
Hitler
In the early 1920s, Hitler joined a small radical
group called the Nazi Party
His success as an organizer and speaker allowed
him to rise quickly to become the partys leader
In 1923, inspired by Mussolini, Hitler and his
followers marched on the city of Munich in an
attempt to take power
Hitler was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in
prison (he would only serve 9 months)
While in prison he wrote Mein Kampf (My
Struggle) which outlined Nazi goals for Germany
After leaving prison he was widely ignored until
the early 1930s when unrest over the economy
lead to his election as leader of Germany