Rise and Fall of Totalitarian Regimes: World War II Era
**Totalitarianism**
A dictatorial political regime that eliminates individual freedoms and seeks to control all aspects of society.
**Hyperinflation**
An intense and continuous increase in prices, which can rise daily.
**March on Rome**
Mussolini decided to take power by force, using a mass of party members. He achieved his goal, and King Victor Emmanuel III offered him the formation of the government, granting him full power.
**Weimar Republic**
A constituent assembly meeting in the city of Weimar developed a new constitution that created a republic in Germany, ruled by a democratic regime.
**Spartakists**
In 1919, this left-wing group wanted to impose a communist regime in Germany, similar to the Russian one. They attempted to take power by force.
**Putsch in Munich**
In 1923, Hitler attempted to seize power by force through a coup.
**Marshal Hindenburg**
A war hero who was elected president of the republic in 1924.
**Chancellor**
Head of government.
**Reichstag**
Parliament.
**Night of the Long Knives**
In 1934, Hitler ordered the murder of his political opponents, making it clear what would happen to anyone who opposed his desires.
**Antisemitism**
A doctrine that advocates the rejection of all those having to do with the Jewish race, culture, or social influence.
**Night of Broken Glass**
In 1938, dozens of Jews were murdered, shops were looted, synagogues were burned, and 26,000 Jews were imprisoned in concentration camps.
**Hitler Youth**
A Nazi association for children and young people. Joining was required after 1936.
**Himmler**
Led Hitler’s police apparatus.
**State Police**
The first means by which they attempted to control the population.
**Goebbels**
Responsible for directing the propaganda apparatus.
**Autarky**
An economic policy aimed at ensuring the country produces everything it needs to prevent imports from abroad.
**Pangermanism**
The goal that all people of German origin in Europe should unite in one state.
**Living Space Theory**
According to this theory, the Aryan master race was entitled to conquer territory at the expense of Slavs and other inferior races.
**Rome-Berlin Axis**
Relations between Germany and Italy were strengthened when, in July 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, both powers supported the insurgent side, leading to a growing policy of collaboration.
**Anti-Comintern Pact**
Hitler also signed this pact in November with Japan (against the USSR), which Italy later joined.
**Policy of Appeasement**
As Germany began a process of expansion in Europe, the European powers agreed to all of Germany’s demands, thinking that they would avoid a new war.
**Sudetenland Crisis**
In 1938, Hitler met with British Prime Minister Chamberlain. In return, Hitler promised not to make further territorial demands.
**Munich Conference**
A meeting between Hitler, Chamberlain, French Minister Daladier, and Mussolini. France, Britain, and Italy agreed to Hitler’s demands and gave him all of Czechoslovakia, which was annexed in March 1939.
**Assistance Pact**
Britain signed this pact in August 1939 with Poland, which guaranteed its independence.
**Vichy France**
In June, the Germans annexed Paris and Alsace-Lorraine. The territory was divided into two parts: the Atlantic coast came under German command, while the rest of the country and colonies (Vichy France) were controlled by General Petain, but under Hitler’s orbit.
**Afrika Korps**
Italy entered the war on June 10. The difficulties faced by the Italians in North Africa led to the sending of a contingent of German troops to their aid.
**New Order**
Eastern and Central Europe remained subservient to Germany. In the occupied territories, the Nazi government instituted a policy where opponents and Jews were imprisoned in labor and extermination camps.
**General Tojo**
In Japan, the emperor was a figurehead, and the government was controlled by a military group led by Tojo, who exercised a real dictatorship.
**Pearl Harbor**
A U.S. base in the Pacific that was attacked by the Japanese fleet on November 7, 1941. Only the aircraft carriers, which were not present, were saved from annihilation.
**Blitzkrieg**
A military tactic that concentrates all offensive power at one point on the front. After breaking through, armored car formations penetrate the opening, forming pockets attacked by enemy aviation, eventually leading to surrender.
**Stalingrad**
The Germans deepened their invasion of Russia to the Volga River, looking for oil from the Caucasus, but were defeated at Stalingrad.
**El Alamein**
Rommel’s Afrika Korps was defeated in Egypt by the”Desert Rats”
**Midway**
The U.S. defeated the Japanese fleet at these islands, taking the lead in the Pacific.
**Battle of Kursk**
The last Japanese offensive attempt in the Pacific. The Germans were defeated here, losing all their ability to attack and going on the defensive.
**Guadalcanal**
In February 1943, the Allies stopped the Japanese advance and initiated an attack using the”island-hoppin” tactic. General MacArthur advanced by establishing military bases, which in turn allowed for the next hop and isolated enemy bases.
**Normandy Invasion**
On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed on the French coast, seeing that Germany had no capacity to respond and that Russian expansion presented a huge threat.
**Battle of the Bulge**
The Germans attempted one last attack but failed, exhausting their last reserves.
**Peace Conference**
The Allies argued about the mechanisms that would allow for a lasting peace.
**Yalta Conference (February 1945)**
Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill discussed the situation in Europe once it was liberated from the Nazis. Stalin promised free democratic elections in Eastern Europe. Germany would be disarmed and divided into four parts, each managed by a victorious power (U.S., USSR, Britain, and France). The creation of the UN was proposed.
**Potsdam Conference (July 1945)**
Deep disagreements among the Allies began to surface. Stalin acted tough, planning territorial expansion beyond the initially agreed-upon borders. They agreed to commence a series of prosecutions against those responsible for Nazi war crimes.
**San Francisco Conference**
An assembly was created in 1945 with representatives from more than fifty countries that drafted the UN Charter. Its goals are:
- The rights of individuals
- Peacekeeping
- Self-determination of peoples
- Cooperation among nations