Dictators and Publics

Transcription

1 History 104 Europe from Napoleon to the PRESENT 17 March 2008 Dictators and Publics Olympic Stadium Berlin (1936)

2 Introduction Historians of Europe often refer to the 1930s as a period of democracy in crisis. international crowd saluting Hitler during 1936 Berlin Olympics How useful is that description for understanding the popularity of the Italian Fascists and the German National Socialists (Nazis)? How helpful is it to treat Soviet Russia, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany as three equal instances of totalitarianism? If there had been no march on Rome, there would be no march on Moscow (Fascist poster: Italian blackshirt attacks the Russian bear) How do the dictatorships of the interwar period differ from absolutist monarchy? Introduction: Dictators and Publics

3 Key features of fascism Fascism is not a church. It is more like a training ground Mussolini, 1922 emphasis on the community, rather than the individual or the class national regeneration as answer to global degeneration central role for the state in all aspects of life importance of strength defined in masculine and militaristic terms emphasis on law and order, rather than rights external threats or crisis used to silence opposition fasces = bundle ; in ancient Rome, a bundle of sticks tied together with an axe and symbolic of the authority of the dictator (an elected office) statue in Cincinnati of the Roman dictator Cincinnatus giving back the fasces, he returns to his plow Introduction: Background and Definitions (Dictators and Publics)

4 Key episodes in Italian Fascism 1919 Fascist League of Combat formed in Milan (anti-communist paramilitary organization) Fascist League violently breaks strikes and asassinates socialist leaders Oct March on Rome 1926 strikes and unions outlawed; Law for the Defense of the State -other political parties banned invasion of Ethiopia 1936 treaty with Germany 1938 Manifesto of Racist Scientists July 1943 American-British-Canadian invasion of Sicily; Mussolini resigns Key episodes in early history of Nazism Introduction: Key Examples (Dictators and Publics) Two Peoples and One Struggle German stamp, Mussolini & Hitler Oct Hitler attempts coup ( Beer Hall Putsch ); jailed for over a year Sep Reichstag (parliament) elections: many Communists and Nazis Aug Hitler announces he will only stay in govt as chancellor Jan Nazi takeover of government (coalition with conservatives) Feb Reichstag fire provides pretense for repression of opposition Mar Enabling Act cabinet ministers can pass laws without Reichstag Sep Nuremberg Laws deprive Jewish Germans of citizenship Mar Anschluss: Germany invades and annexes Austria Nov Kristallnacht: Nazis beat Jews; destroy property; burn synagogues Sep Germany invades Poland; World War Two starts

5 How can we explain the success of such movements? Consequences of World War One and Treaty of Versailles special case of Germany general problem of veterans, militarism, displaced persons Economic factors Mass culture (as distinct from popular or elite culture) How popular were these movements? Who was actively involved? Who resisted? What comparisons can we draw with other political, social, or cultural developments? High modernism [Art Deco] Communism in the Soviet Union Imperialism Lecture Structure: Dictators and Publics

6 Paris Peace Conference, 1919 and Treaty of Versailles Key terms of Treaty of Versailles (between Allied Powers and Germany) Germany solely responsible for the war Germany lost over 10% of European territory and all overseas colonies German military very limited; no weapons manufacture allowed With the armistice begins Germany s humiliation. If the Republic had said, Germans,stand together! Resist the foe! The Fatherland, the Republic expects you to fight to the last then millions today would be fanatical republicans. But now they are foes of the Republic that so discredited the new flag It was no Treaty of Peace that was signed, but a betrayal. Our movement has three demands: 1. set aside the Peace Treaty; 2. unify all Germans; 3. land and soil to feed our nation. It desires to make the German once more National, that his Fatherland shall stand for him above everything else. Hitler, speech in Munich (April 17, 1923) German poster masked figure in red stabs German soldier in the back Explaining Fascism and Nazism: World War One and Treaty of Versailles

7 Veterans of the Great War wounded other vets Germany 4,247,000 5,000,000 Italy 953,000 4,600,000 France 4,266,000 3,000,000 British Empire 2,090,000 5,900,000 Austria-Hungary 3,620,000 3,300,000 Grosz, The Hero (1935) members of Croix de Feu march in Paris, May 1935 Explaining Fascism and Nazism: World War One and Treaty of Versailles

8 Hyperinflation, the Great Depression, and the Nazis Key episodes in early history of Nazism Oct Hitler attempts coup ( Beer Hall Putsch ); jailed for over a year How many German Marks make one dollar? July July Jan July ,412. Jan Sept ,860,000. Nov ,200,000,000,000. Oct Wall Street Crash; American firms call in loans to Germany 1930 German industrial production falls 20% from previous year Sep Reichstag (parliament) elections: many Communists and Nazis late German industrial production approx. half of pre-depression Aug Hitler announces he will only stay in govt as chancellor Jan Nazi takeover of government (coalition with conservatives) June 1933 Reinhard Plan expands state spending; builds highways (autobahn) Mar Hitler begins open re-armament Explaining Fascism and Nazism: Economic Factors

9 Nazi Propaganda March 1933 Ministry of Popular Enlightenment (Volksaufklärung) and Propaganda formed; headed by Joseph Goebbels On September 5, 1934, years after the outbreak of the World War years after the beginning of our suffering months after the beginning of the German renaissance... Adolf Hitler flew to Nuremberg to review the columns of his faithful followers (opening of Triumph of the Will) poster for Leni Riefenstahl s Triumph of the Will (1935) Explaining Fascism and Nazism: Mass Culture and Psychological Warfare

10 Elected Dictatorship? Percentage of votes won by NSDAP in Reichstag (parliamentary) elections May % May Sept Nov, March Party membership , ,500, ,000,000 Workers Awaken! Vote Nazi! 1932 election poster How popular were Fascism and Nazism? Who was involved?

11 Fascism, Nazism, Soviet Communism three names, one thing? strong central state represses opposition parties and groups enemies identified and repressed state control of media Points to consider: Are class enemies defined in the same way as national enemies? How central was scientific racism to all three? Fascism specifically rejected the idea of having a doctrine; it was a politics of action. Fascism and Nazism emerged in opposition to Communism Comparisons: Communism in the Soviet Union

12 Origins of Totalitarianism? Two new devices for political organization and rule over foreign peoples were discovered during the first decades of imperialism. One was race as a principle of the body politic, and the other was bureaucracy as a principle of foreign domination. The strong emphasis of totalitarian propaganda on the "scientific" nature of its assertions can be compared to certain advertising techniques which also address themselves to masses. It is true that the advertising columns of every newspaper show this "scientificality," by which a manufacturer proves with facts and figures and the help of a "research" department that his is the "best soap in the world." there is a certain element of violence in the imaginative exaggerations of publicity men behind the assertion that girls who do not use this particular brand of soap may go through life with pimples and without a husband, lies the wild dream of monopoly, the dream that one day the manufacturer of the only soap that prevents pimples may have the power to deprive of husbands all girls who don't use his soap. Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) Italy finally has her empire! fascist poster Comparisons: Imperialism