Objective To examine the immediate causes of World

Objective: To examine the immediate causes of World War II Memorial, Washington, D. C.

Soviet Union • Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered his people to produce more goods in order to strengthen the country in preparation for war. • Farmers were forced to give up their land to join collective farms. • Millions of farmers that resisted were either killed or sent to labor camps.

Prisoners work at Belbaltlag, a Gulag camp for building the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal.

Prisoners mine gold at Kolyma, the most notorious Gulag camp in extreme northeastern Siberia.

Life in a Gulag (courtesy of the Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia Foundation, Moscow) “The arrival at the corrective labor camp turned out to be the culmination of the humiliation. First we were made to strip naked and were shoved into some roofless enclosures made out of planks. Above our heads the stars twinkled; below our bare feet lay frozen excrement. An enclosure measured 3 square feet. Each held three to four naked, shivering, and frightened men and women. Then these ‘kennel cages’ were opened one after the other and the naked people were led across a courtyard, the camp version of a foyer into a special building where our documents were ‘formulated’ and our things were searched.

The goal of the search was to leave us with rags, and to take the good things; sweaters, mittens, socks, scarves, vests, and good shoes for themselves. Ten thieves shamelessly fleeced these destitute and barely alive people. ‘Corrective‘ is something that should make you better, and ‘labor‘ ennobles you. But ‘camp’? A camp wasn‘t a jail. So then what on earth was going on? ”

A drawing by Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia, a former Gulag prisoner. Courtesy of Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia Foundation, Moscow.

Have you ever been late to work? In the Stalin era, a person who arrived late to work three times could be sent to the Gulag for three years. Have you ever told a joke about a government official? In the Stalin era, many were sent to the Gulag for up to 25 years for telling an innocent joke about a Communist Party official. If your family was starving, would you take a few potatoes left in a field after harvest? In the Stalin era, a person could be sent to the Gulag for up to ten years for such petty theft.

Maria Tchebotareva Trying to feed her four hungry children during the massive 1932 -1933 famine, the peasant mother allegedly stole three pounds of rye from her former field— confiscated by the state as part of collectivization. Soviet authorities sentenced her to ten years in the Gulag. When her sentence expired in 1943, it was arbitrarily extended until the end of the war in 1945. After her release, she was required to live in exile near her Gulag camp north of the Arctic Circle, and she was not able to return home until 1956, after the death of Stalin. Maria Tchebotareva never found her children after her release.

Ivan Burylov Seeking the appearance of democracy, the Soviet Union held elections, but only one Communist Party candidate appeared on the ballot for each office. Fear of punishment ensured that nearly all Soviet citizens “voted” by taking their ballot and ceremoniously placing it into a ballot box. In 1949, Ivan Burylov, a beekeeper, protested this absurd ritual by writing the word “Comedy” on his “secret” ballot. Soviet authorities linked the ballot to Burylov and sentenced him to eight years in camps for this “crime. ”

Trial of so-called rich peasants in 1929.

Fascists in Italy • Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy in 1922. Mussolini’s policies: - All political parties, except the Fascist party, were outlawed. - He controlled the press and banned criticism of the government. Benito Mussolini, 1936

* Promising Italians greatness, Mussolini invaded and conquered Ethiopia in 1935. * The League of Nations failed to help Ethiopia. Hailie Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia

Nazi Germany · Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party preached racial and religious hatred. · Hitler claimed that Germans were a part of a superior “Aryan” race, and that Jews were to blame for Germany’s troubles. · In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, or head of the German government.

"If I can send the flower of the German nation into the hell of war without the smallest pity for the spilling of precious German blood, then surely I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin. " - Adolf Hitler swastika, Nazi party symbol

Hitler’s policies: - He created a totalitarian state, in which the Nazi’s controlled every aspect of German society. - Citizens must always obey the government, and the government could not be criticized. - Jews had their German citizenship taken away, they were forbidden from using public facilities, and they were removed from most types of work. - Hitler built up his armed forces, in violation of the Versailles Treaty.

- Thousands of Jews were sent to concentration camps. - Eventually, Hitler planned on killing all of Europe’s Jews in a plan he called the Final Solution. - Today his plan is referred to as the Holocaust.

What similarities existed regarding the rise of power of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini? Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini

Fascism in Europe Benito Mussolini • Italian • Invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Adolf Hitler • German • Anger over the Versailles treaty • Believed Germans were a superior • Formed a totalitarian “Aryan” race. government • Blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems. • Used economic unrest and fears of communism to gain support. • Used nationalism to gain support.

Japan • Japan felt that they had the right to start an overseas empire, just as European countries such as Britain and France had. • In 1931, Japan seized Manchuria, China, for its valuable coal and iron.

• The League of Nations failed to help China. • In 1937, Japan began an all out attack on China, eventually conquering Korea and French Indo-China as well.

War in Europe · 1936 – German troops move into the Rhineland, bordering France and Belgium. · 1938 – Germany annexed Austria. * Both of these actions violated the Versailles Treaty.

· 1938 – Germany claimed the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia.

A Sudetenland woman weeps tears of joy when German troops enter the territory.

· Sept. 1938 – At the Munich Conference, Hitler invited the leaders of Britain and France to Germany and assured them that he wanted no more territory. Before signing the Munich agreement. From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, Ciano

* Britain and France gave into Germany hoping that it would avoid warfare. This was known as appeasement. Soviet poster of the 1930's by Kukryniksy on the Munich agreement.

* However, in 1939, Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia anyway!

Stalin and Hitler • 1939 – In the Nazi. Soviet Pact, Hitler and Stalin agreed not to attack one another.

• Stalin and Hitler also agreed to divide Poland Eastern Europe amongst themselves. • September 1, 1939 – Germany invaded Poland without having to fear of a Soviet attack. * Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Depression Diplomacy - Isolationists passed a series of Neutrality Acts in the 1930’s. - These laws…. • banned arms sales or loans to countries at war. • warned U. S. citizens not to travel on ships of countries at war. - FDR announced the Good Neighbor Policy in an attempt to improve U. S. relations with Latin America.