Name: _____________________________
hors d'oeuvre
You’ve been sitting in your cold, unheated house for months. Inside of the airy dwelling
your mother is bundled underneath a quilt while holding your youngest child. Your other three
boys are bickering in the corner. The boys are not able to go to school because money has been
short. Unfortunately, the boys have also lost their jobs that they took to remedy the family’s
financial problem. The market has become too competitive because too many are without work.
Your better half is somewhere in the city standing in a line hoping for a chance at some food.
Work only comes in shifts. Therefore, waiting has become the new past time. It is debilitating
to sit idly by. It has begun to eat away at your state of mind. There is a constant state of fear and
anxiety that has developed. You have bills to pay and loved ones to protect. The government
has made promise after promise, yet always seems to come up short. It was not long ago that
your country was held in high regard and you could proudly state where you were from. My,
how that has changed.
What are your immediate concerns in this situation?
What do you imagine participating in elections would do?
To what degree is your voice going to be heard? How do you know?
If you had a choice, would you want to continue with the present elected government that this
situation has been produced by or would you want to go a different direction?
What would you be willing to give up to restore a semblance of order?
Name: _______________________________
Guiding Question: Who were the major dictators that arose after WWI and why did they come to
power?
Authoritarian-
Fascism-
*
Place dates of Stalin Hitler Mussolini
leadership
under the
names
Country?
Early
Background
Political Belief
system?
Racial
attitudes?
(examples)
Personal
Characteristics
Methods of
gaining
power...
How did they
gain power?
Support
Groups
Methods of
retaining
power
Ultimate Goal?
BENITO MUSSOLINI, (1883-1945), Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943. He centralized all
power in himself as the leader (il duce) of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in
alliance with HITLER's Germany. The defeat of Italian arms in World War II brought an end to his imperial dream
and led to his downfall.
Mussolini was born in Predappio, near Forli, in Romagna, on July 29, 1883. His father, Alessandro, was a
blacksmith, and his mother, Rosa, was a schoolteacher. Like his father, Benito became a fervent socialist. He
qualified as an elementary schoolmaster in 1901. In 1902 he emigrated to Switzerland. Unable to find a permanent
job there and arrested for vagrancy, he was expelled and returned to Italy to do his military service. After further
trouble with the police, he joined the staff of a newspaper in the Austrian town of Trento in 1908. At this time he
wrote a novel, subsequently translated into English as The Cardinal's Mistress.
Fascist Dictatorship
At first he was supported by the Liberals in parliament. With their help he introduced strict censorship and altered
the methods of election so that in 1925-1926 he was able to assume dictatorial powers and dissolve all other political
parties. Skillfully using his absolute control over the press, he gradually built up the legend of the "Duce, a man who
was always right and could solve all the problems of politics and economics. Italy was soon a police state. With
those who tried to resist him, for example the Socialist Giacomo Matteotti, he showed himself utterly ruthless. But
Mussolini's skill in propaganda was such that he had surprisingly little opposition.
At various times after 1922, Mussolini personally took over the ministries of the interior, of foreign affairs, of the
colonies, of the corporations, of the army and the other armed services, and of public works. Sometimes he held as
many as seven departments simultaneously, as well as the premiership. He was also head of the all-powerful Fascist
party (formed in 1921) and the armed Fascist militia. In this way he succeeded in keeping power in his own hands
and preventing the emergence of any rival. But it was at the price of creating a regime that was overcentralized,
inefficient, and corrupt.
Most of his time was spent on propaganda, whether at home or abroad, and here his training as a journalist was
invaluable. Press, radio, education, films--all were carefully supervised to manufacture the illusion that fascism was
"the doctrine of the 20th century that was replacing liberalism and democracy. The principles of this doctrine were
laid down in the article on fascism, reputedly written by himself, that appeared in 1932 in the Enciclopedia Italiana.
In 1929 a concordat with the Vatican was signed, by which the Italian state was at last recognized by the Roman
Catholic Church.
Under the dictatorship the parliamentary system was virtually abolished. The law codes were rewritten. All teachers
in schools and universities had to swear an oath to defend the Fascist regime. Newspaper editors were all personally
chosen by Mussolini himself, and no one could practice journalism who did not possess a certificate of approval
from the Fascist party. The trade unions were also deprived of any independence and were integrated into what was
called the "corporative system. The aim (never completely achieved) was to place all Italians in various professional
organizations or "corporations, all of them under governmental control.
Mussolini played up to his financial backers at first by transferring a number of industries from public to private
ownership. But by the 1930's he had begun moving back to the opposite extreme of rigid governmental control of
industry. A great deal of money was spent on public works. But the economy suffered from his exaggerated attempt
to make Italy self-sufficient. There was too much concentration on heavy industry, for which Italy lacked the
resources.
Socialist Affiliations
Expelled by the Austrians, he became the editor at Forli of a socialist newspaper, La Lotta di Classe (The Class
Struggle ). His early enthusiasm for Karl Marx was modified by a mixture of ideas from the philosophy of Friedrich
Nietzsche, the revolutionary doctrines of Auguste Blanqui, and the syndicalism of Georges Sorel. In 1910,
Mussolini became secretary of the local Socialist party at Forli.
At this stage in his life his political views were almost the opposite of what they later became. He boasted of being
an "antipatriot. When Italy declared war on Turkey in 1911, he was imprisoned for his pacifist propaganda.
Appointed editor of the official Socialist newspaper Avanti, he moved to Milan, where he established himself as the
most forceful of all labor leaders of Italian socialism. He believed that the proletariat should unite "in one
formidable fascio (bundle), preparatory to seizing power. Some see this as the start of the Fascist movement.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Mussolini agreed with the other Socialists that Italy should not join it. Only a
class war was acceptable to him, and he threatened to lead a proletarian revolution if the government decided to
fight. But several months later he unexpectedly changed his position on the war, leaving the Socialist party and his
editorial chair.
Birth of Fascism
In November 1914 he founded a new paper, Il Popolo d'Italia, and the prowar group Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria.
He evidently hoped the war might lead to a collapse of society that would bring him to power. Called up for military
service, he was wounded in grenade practice in 1917 and returned to edit his paper.
Fascism became an organized political movement in March 1919 when Mussolini founded the Fasci de
Combattimento. After failing in the 1919 elections, Mussolini at last entered parliament in 1921 as a right-wing
member. The Fascisti formed armed squads to terrorize Mussolini's former Socialist colleagues. The government
seldom interfered. In return for the support of a group of industrialists and agrarians, Mussolini gave his approval to
strikebreaking, and he abandoned revolutionary agitation. When the liberal governments of Giovanni Giolitti,
Ivanoe Bonomi, and Luigi Facta failed to stop the spread of anarchy, Mussolini was invited by the king in October
1922 to form a government.
Adolf Hitler
AKA 'Der Führer' (The Leader).
Country: Germany.
Background: Following the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles penalises the defeated Germany, annexing
land, imposing large war reparations, limiting the size of the German Army and blaming Germany and Austria-
Hungary for starting the conflict. The new German Government, a coalition of left-leaning and centrist parties,
attempts to rebuild the country but faces opposition from the right and extreme left. The instability is exacerbated by
the failure of the domestic and global economies.
Mini biography: Born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria, into a lower middle-class family of peasant
origins. His father, a customs official, is 23 years older than his mother, a domestic servant.
Hitler is dominated by his father and spoilt by his mother. His father dies in 1903, his mother in 1907. He has one
half-brother, one half-sister, and one full-sister. In his youth, Hitler dreams of becoming an artist.
1903 - Following his father's death, Hitler leaves school.
1907 - He goes to Vienna, the capital of Austria, where he attempts to pursue his dream of becoming an artist.
However, he has only limited talent and is unable to gain admission to the Academy of Fine Arts, failing the
entrance examination twice. In 1908, following the death of his mother, he moves to Vienna to live.
"I owe much to the time in which I had learned to become hard (in Vienna)," Hitler later writes, "I praise it even
more for having rescued me from the emptiness of an easy life, that it took the milksop out of his downy nest and
gave him Dame Sorrow for a foster mother."
1913 - He moves to Munich, the capital of Bavaria, where he ekes out a living as a painter and technical draftsman.
1914 - When the First World War breaks out Hitler volunteers for service with the German Army, joining the 16th
Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. He serves with some distinction and is awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class,
in December 1914, and the Iron Cross, First Class, in August 1918. However, he never rises beyond the rank of
corporal. By the end of the war he has developed shell-shock and is admitted to military hospital.
After the war, Hitler returns to Munich and begins to become involved in politics. He believes that Jews and
Marxists are responsible for Germany's defeat.
1919 - He joins the German Workers' Party in September. A gifted and inspiring public speaker, he is soon placed in
charge of the party's propaganda.
1920 - Under Hitler's direction, the party adopts the swastika as its emblem and changes its name to the National
Socialist (Nazi) Party. Its platform calls for the removal of civil rights for Jews and for their expulsion from
Germany.
As the German economy begins to buckle under the weight of the enormous war reparations demanded by the
Treaty of Versailles and debts incurred during the war, popular support for the Nazis begins to increase. Inflation
and unemployment climb. The German Government loses its majority in the elections of 1920, introducing a decade
long period of political instability. Nazi Party membership increases to about 3,000.
1921 - The Nazi Party's "storm troopers" are formally organised into a private army. Called the Sturmabteilung (SA)
- the 'Brownshirts' - the army is used to protect party meetings and to attack opponents. Hitler becomes leader of the
Nazi Party in July. Party faithful begin to refer to him as the Führer (Leader). Meanwhile, in April, the Allies present
Germany with a bill of US$33 billion for war reparations.
1923 - When the German Government defaults on its reparation payments, the French Army occupies the Ruhr.
Inflation skyrockets and is fuelled when the government begins printing more and more money in a desperate
attempt to solve the crisis. The value of the Deutschmark plummets.
In mid-1920 US$1 is worth 40 marks. By July 1923 the exchange rate has blown out to 160,000 marks to US$1. By
August 1923 the rate is 10 million marks to the dollar. By November 1923 the figure is 4.2 trillion marks to the
dollar. Almost overnight, Germans have lost their life savings. Social unrest begins to escalate.
Hitler exploits the situation, advocating national pride, blaming the left and Jews for the political turmoil and
claiming to have a solution to the economic crisis. Many Germans come to see the party as a credible alternative.
On 8 November, Hitler and 600 armed members of the SA stage an abortive attempt to seize power in Munich.
Hitler is arrested and tried for treason. The Nazi Party is outlawed.
Hitler's trial receives media coverage in and outside of Germany and his courtroom attacks against the government
are widely quoted. He is found guilty and sentenced to five years jail, but is allowed to receive visitors when he likes
and to employ Rudolph Hess as his private secretary. His imprisonment begins on 1 April 1924, however, he will
only serve nine months of his term.
While in prison he begins to write 'Mein Kampf' (My Struggle), his political autobiography and treatise on the
superiority of the "Aryan race" and the "menace" of the Jew. The book is published in 1927. When the Nazis come
to power it will be set as school textbook and presented to all German newlyweds.
1924 - Hitler is released a few days before Christmas. He finds there is now a different economic and political
climate in Germany. A new government has succeeded in containing the crisis and achieving stability. Hitler is
forbidden from making public speeches across much of the country but works to further entrench his hold over the
Nazi Party.
1927 - The Nazi Party holds its first Nuremberg congress, a mass political rally that will become the party's
signature propaganda event.
1928 - Nazi Party membership now exceeds 100,000, though the grassroots support is not reflected in the polls, with
the Nazis winning only 2.6% of the vote in a general election held in May. The party will become better known the
following year when an alliance with the conservative German National People's Party lends it some respectability
within the antirepublican right.
Hitler, meanwhile, writes a sequel to 'Mein Kampf'. However, the book is never published during his lifetime.
1929 - The German Government is crippled when the Wall Street stock market crash of October ushers in the Great
Depression. Unemployment rises from 8.5% in 1929 to 29.9% in 1932.
Hitler again exploits the situation, spreading his propaganda nationally through newspapers, securing support from
magnates of business and industry, and establishing a national party structure. He promises something for all - work
for the unemployed, profits to industry and small businesses, and expansion of the army and restoration of German
pride. Public support blossoms.
In 1928 the Nazis hold 12 seats in the Reichstag (parliament). By 1932 they will have 230 seats and be the largest
party in the government. Joseph Goebbels begins to create the Führer myth around Hitler and to organise the
ritualistic and highly choreographed party rallies that help convert the masses to Nazism and provide a platform for
Hitler's accession to power in January 1933.
Meanwhile, Hitler meets Eva Braun during 1929. Braun will become Hitler's lover in 1931 after his previous
mistress, Geli Raubal, who is also his niece, commits suicide to escape his attentions.
1933 - The Nazis reach a position from which they can seize power on 30 January when Hitler is appointed
chancellor. Following the Reichstag fire on 27 February, basic civil rights are suspended and the Nazis are given the
right to quash political opposition.
Soviet Union Under Stalin
After Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin outmaneuvered his rivals to gain control of the
government. Stalin was determined to transform the Soviet Union into a powerful industrial
state. In 1928, therefore, he launched his first five-year plan. The plan included two goals: rapid
growth of heavy industry and increased farm production through collectivization of agriculture.
In a series of five-year plans, Stalin poured the nation's resources into building steel mills,
electric power stations, and other industries needed in a strong modern state. He also forced
millions of peasants to give up their land and work on collective farms, large, government-run
enterprises. Many peasants opposed the change, and millions died in Stalin's brutal crackdown.
To achieve his goals, Stalin created a new kind of government, today called a totalitarian state. In
a totalitarian state, the government is a single-party dictatorship that controls every aspect of the
lives of its citizens. Individual rights count for nothing. Citizens must obey the government
without question, and critics are silenced. Also, the totalitarian state supports extreme
nationalism. Stalin used propaganda, censorship, and terror to force his will on the Soviet people.
Government newspapers glorified work and Stalin himself. Secret police spied on citizens, and
anyone who refused to praise Stalin and the state faced severe punishment, even death. Both
Lenin and Stalin supported the idea of a world communist revolution and aided communists in
other countries. In the 1920s, when some communist uprisings did occur in Europe, they were
quickly suppressed.
Fascism in Italy
After World War 1, Italy was plagued by economic and political problems. Workers went on
strike in the cities, while in the countryside, landless peasants seized the property of wealthy
landlords. The unrest made the middle class fear a socialist revolution. An ambitious politician,
Benito Mussolini, used the turmoil to gain power. Mussolini founded the Fascist party. Fascists
glorified the state, supported aggressive nationalism, and condemned democracy because they
believed rival parties divided the state. They also opposed communism and defended private
property. In the early 1920s, Mussolini and his followers, known as Black Shirts, won the
support of many Italians by attacking communists and socialists. Then in 1922, Mussolini led a
"March on Rome" supposedly to prevent a communist revolution but in fact to frighten the
government into naming him prime minister. Once in office, Mussolini increased his power by
appointing Fascists to top offices, censoring the press, organizing a secret police, and banning
any criticism of the government. He controlled the army and the schools, urging Italians to
accept the slogan: "Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state."
The Rise of Nazi Germany
After World War 1, the Weimar government in Germany faced many problems as people looked
for someone to blame for their defeat in the war. Extremists on the far left and on the far right
threatened revolts. Also, the terrible inflation of the 1920s caused many Germans to have little
faith in the government. In the 1920s, Adolf Hitler gained control of the Nazi party, a
nationalistic, anti-communist, anti Semitic organization. Hitler won popular support by blaming
Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I and for its economic troubles. He claimed that the
German people belonged to a superior "Aryan" race that was destined to rule the world. As the
Great Depression caused unemployment to rise in the early 1930s, many desperate people found
hope in the Nazi party. In 1933, Hitler used the threat of a communist uprising to gain power. He
then moved against all opposition parties and set up a fascist state in Germany. Hitler used many
of the methods of Stalin and Mussolini to build a totalitarian state in Germany. The Nazis
preached the need for hard work, sacrifice, and service to the state. The Gestapo, or secret police,
arrested anyone suspected of opposing Nazi rule. The Nazis used the press, schools, and even
churches to glorify their goals. They also waged a violent campaign against Jews, sending many
to concentration, or prison, camps. To end unemployment and improve the economy, Hitler
launched vast building programs, banned strikes, and placed strict controls on wages and prices.
He also increased the German military, a step that violated the Versailles Treaty. The League of
Nations condemned German rearmament, but did little to stop Hitler as he began to realize his
dream of expanding German territory.
Militarism in Japan
After World War 1, Japan enjoyed a period of economic prosperity and growing democratic
government. However, the Great Depression hit Japan especially hard because its prosperity
depended on foreign trade. Like governments elsewhere, the government of Japan seemed unable
to solve its economic crisis. Many people turned to the military, which began to take matters into
its own hands. By 1932, military leaders had set up a military dictatorship in Japan. Unlike Italy
and Germany, however, Japan did not have a single strong leader. Instead, a small group of
military leaders dominated the government. In the 1930s, Japan had many features of a
totalitarian state. The government arrested critics, imposed censorship, and employed a secret
police force to hunt down and punish so-called enemies of the state. Extreme nationalists
glorified war and empire. To strengthen Japan, the government was interested in gaining an
overseas empire. Such an empire would give Japan much-needed raw materials such as coal and
oil. Therefore, the Japanese military invaded Manchuria, a province in northeastern China. When
China protested to the League of Nations, the league condemned the invasion but took no further
action.
STALIN:
In the end, totalitarianism meant a "permanent revolution," an unfinished revolution in which
rapid and profound change imposed from above simply went on forever. Of course, a permanent
revolution also means that the revolution is never over. The individual is constantly striving for a goal
which has been placed just a hair out of reach. In this way, society always remains mobilized for
continual effort. The first example of such a permanent revolution the "revolution from above," instituted
by Joseph Stalin in 1927 and 1928. After having suppressed his enemies on both the left and the right, as
well as the center, Stalin issued the "general party line." Anyone who deviated from that line was
condemned to either exile or execution -- in most cases, execution. Stalin's aim was to create a new kind
of society and a new human personality to inhabit that society: socialist man and socialist woman --
Homo Sovieticus. At the same time, a strong army would have to be built as well as a powerful industrial
economy. Once everything was owned by the State, Stalin believed, a new kind of human personality
would emerge. The Soviets under Stalin were by no means successful. Just the same, the Soviets did build
a new society, one whose basic outlines survived right down to the late 1980s.
However, Stalinist society did have its frightening aspects and none was more frightening than the
existence of brutal, unrestrained police terrorism. First used against the wealthy peasants or kulaks during
the 1920s and 1930s, terror was increasingly used against party members, administrators and ordinary
people. No one would ever be above suspicion -- except Stalin, of course. Some were victims of terror for
deviating from the party line -- others were victims for no apparent reason other than Stalin's moodiness.
One Soviet recalled that in 1931, "we all trembled because there was no way of getting out of it. Even a
Communist can be caught. To avoid trouble became an exception."
Stalin systematically purged the Communist Party of his opponents. Hundreds of party members were
shot for their alleged complicity in Kirov's death. Kirov was a full member of the ruling Politburo and
leader of the Leningrad party apparatus as well as an influential member of the ruling elite. His overt
concern for the welfare of the Leningrad workers and his skill as an orator earned him considerable
popularity. It is doubtful that Kirov represented a serious threat to Stalin, however, Kirov did disagree
with Stalin on several key issues.
So, following the death of Kirov at the end of 1934, there began the Soviet witch-hunt which culminated
in the Great Terror of the years 1935-1939.
In 1936, Stalin brought his old comrades Zinoviev and Kamenev to a staged public trial. An international
press corps was invited to lend a sense of legitimacy to the proceedings. When their trial had ended
Zinoviev, Kamenev and fourteen other old Bolsheviks either admitted involvement in the Kirov Affair or
signed confessions that had been fabricated for them. These men had not been conspirators but they did
satisfy Stalin's paranoia. As to be expected, they were all executed. The confessional process was helped
by the black jack, continuous interrogation and the swan dive, where towelling was put between the jaws
and the feet and tightened, arching and breaking the back. But often, the confession was voluntary
because the Party demanded it. As one survivor recalled, "serving the party was not just a goal in life but
an inner need."
In January 1937 a second great show trial was held in which seventeen leading Bolsheviks declared that
they had knowledge of a conspiracy between Trotsky and the German and Japanese intelligence services
by which Soviet territory was to be transferred to Germany and Japan. A crowd of 200,000 packed Red
Square in frigid weather to hear Nikita Khrushchev read out the death sentences. All seventeen were
executed. Then on June 11, 1937, the cream of the Red Army, stripped of their medals and insignia, were
ushered into the courtroom. They included Marshal Tukhachevsky, the most brilliant soldier of his
generation and the pioneer of armored and airborne warfare. The generals were accused of spying for the
Germans, found guilty, shot and dumped in a trench on a construction site, all within eighteen hours. Six
of the officers who condemned them were soon shot. Of 85 corps commanders 57 disappeared within a
year. Of the 100,000 Red Army officers on active duty in 1937, perhaps 60,000 were purged.
Not since the days of the Inquisition had the test of ideological loyalty been applied to so many people.
And not since the days of the French Revolution had so many died for failing the test. Arrests multiplied
tenfold in 1936 and 1937. Anything was used as an excuse for an arrest: dancing too long with a Japanese
diplomat, not clapping loudly enough or long enough after one of Stalin's speeches, buying groceries from
a former kulak. People went to work one day and simply did not return -- they were either killed
immediately or sent to the GULAG. The NKVD employed millions of secret informers who infiltrated
every workplace. Most academics and writers came to expect arrest, exile and prison as part of their lives.
A historian could be sent to exile for describing Joan of Arc as nervous and tense just when the general
party line wished her described as calm in the face of death. When a linguistic theory that held that all
language was derived from four sounds was accepted as official, professors who opposed this view had
their books confiscated. By 1938 at least one million people were in prison, some 8.5 million had been
arrested and sent to the GULAG and nearly 800,000 had been executed. In fact, before the KGB was
dissolved in 1991, it was revealed that 47 million Soviet citizens had died as a result of forced
collectivization and the purges. That figure, of course, represents the recorded tally. How many more
people died without being recorded is a matter of conjecture.
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Stalin wanted to destroy any possibility of future conspiracies. So
he trumped up charges against anyone who could conceivably become a member of a regime that might
make the attempt to replace his own. He did this to maintain his power. He also did this, as his
biographers are quick to point out, because he was paranoid. Despite the upheaval of the constant purge
trials, the Soviet state did not break down. New bureaucrats were found to replace the old. New Stalin-
trained officials filled all top-level posts and terror became one of the principal features of the government
itself. In the end, the purgers were also purged. They were the scapegoats used by Stalin to carry out the
Great Terror. Meanwhile, Trotsky had been out of Russia for years but he continued to use his pen to
attack Stalin in his journal, The Bulletin of the Opposition. In Stalin's eyes, Trotsky could not be left free.
Although life was hard, the Soviet people were by no means hopeless. The average Russian saw himself
heroically building the world's first socialist society while capitalism was crumbling in the west. On the
positive side, the Soviet worker received social benefits such as old age pensions, free medical services,
free education and even day care facilities. Unemployment was technically non-existent and there was the
possibility of personal advancement. The key to advancement was specialized skills and a technical
education. Rapid industrialization under the Five Year Plans required massive numbers of experts,
technocrats, skilled workers, engineers and managers. So the State provided economic incentives for
those people who would faithfully serve the needs of the State. But for the unskilled, low wages were the
rule. But, the State dangled high salaries and special housing to those members of the growing technical
and managerial elite. This elite joined forces with the "engineers of the human mind" to produce a new
social class -- and all this in a supposedly classless society.
Stalin's ego mania and paranoia eventually contributed to the near destruction of Soviet Russia. His
perpetual and pathological lying and deception, culminating in the infamous purge trials of the 1930s,
took the Soviet Union down a road out of which it is now slowly recovering, if, in fact, it ever will
recover. I am reminded of the political history of the Roman Empire following the death of Augustus
Caesar in 14 A.D. First Caligula, then Nero, Commodus, Severus and so on -- 250 years of military
assassinations, strangulations and poisoning.
Japan:
After World War 1, Japan enjoyed a period of economic prosperity and growing democratic
government. However, the Great Depression hit Japan especially hard because its prosperity
depended on foreign trade. Like governments elsewhere, the government of Japan seemed unable
to solve its economic crisis. Many people turned to the military, which began to take matters into
its own hands. By 1932, military leaders had set up a military dictatorship in Japan. Unlike Italy
and Germany, however, Japan did not have a single strong leader. Instead, a small group of
military leaders dominated the government. In the 1930s, Japan had many features of a
totalitarian state. The government arrested critics, imposed censorship, and employed a secret
police force to hunt down and punish so-called enemies of the state. Extreme nationalists
glorified war and empire. To strengthen Japan, the government was interested in gaining an
overseas empire. Such an empire would give Japan much-needed raw materials such as coal and
oil. Therefore, the Japanese military invaded Manchuria, a province in northeastern China. When
China protested to the League of Nations, the league condemned the invasion but took no further
action.
Hideki Tojo was born in Tokyo, Japan, on 30th December 1884. He joined the Japanese Army
and his military service included periods in Switzerland and Germany.
Promoted to major general in 1933 be became head of the Kwantung Army's military police in
September 1935. After becoming a lieutenant general he became chief of staff to the Kwantung
Army (March 1937-May 1938).
In May 1938 Fumimaro Kondoye appointed Tojo as his vice minister of war. However, after six
months in this post he returned to the armed services and took command of the army's aviation.
Tojo held extreme right-wing views and was a supporter of Nazi Germany. He also feared the
long-term plans of Joseph Stalin and in 1938 he advocated pre-emptive air strikes on both China
and the Soviet Union.
In July 1941 Tojo was appointed by Fumimaro Kondoye as minister of war. He advocated an
aggressive foreign policy and strongly opposed plans by Shigenori Togo to remove Japanese
troops from China and Korea.
Tojo became prime minister on 16th October 1941. He initially backed the foreign office's
efforts to reach agreement with the United States. However, when convinced that a negotiated
deal was possible, ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7th December, 1941.
As well as prime minister Tojo also held the posts of minister of war, home minister and foreign
minister. From February 1944 he was also Commander in Chief of the General Staff.
Tojo, aware that Japan was unable to win the war, resigned from office after the loss of Saipan in
July 1944. He shot himself in the chest just before he was arrested by the US Military in 1945.
Tojo survived and after being nursed back to health was tried as a war criminal. Hideki Tojo was
executed on 23rd December 1948.
Emperor Hirohito’s father was the Taisho Emperor, Yoshihito. His mother, Empress Teimei, was
Princess Sadako, the fourth daughter of Prince Michitaka Kujo. He became crown prince in
1916.
After graduating from the Crown Prince's School in 1921, he traveled in Europe for six months,
a tour without precedent for a Japanese crown prince.
In November 1921, after his return to Japan, he became regent for his father, who was ill. In
1924 he married Princess Nagako. In December 1926, when the Taisho Emperor died, Crown
Prince Hirohito became Emperor of Japan. His enthronement ceremony took place in Kyoto in
November 1928.
The imperial messages of 15th August 1945, concluding hostilities in World War II , and of 1st
January 1946, declaring that the Emperor is a mortal (until the end of 1945, the Emperor was
revered as a god), were epoch-making events in the history of Japan. The constitution of 1947
determined that the Emperor would no longer have political power, which would rest with the
people.
During the long and eventful reign of Hirohito, Japan emerged from a period of military
expansion, and entered a new period of international cooperation, during which it became one of
the world's three greatest economic powers.
In September-October 1971, Hirohito met with President Nixon in Anchorage, Alaska, and then
toured western Europe, marking the first trip abroad for a reigning emperor.
In his youth, Emperor Hirohito developed an interest in marine biology that he continued to
pursue during his reigning years. His work included the classification of sea animals and plants
at the Biological Institute in the Imperial Palace and the collecting of plants at Nasu and
Hayama. He published numerous scholarly works dealing with his scientific research.
Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako had seven children. The Emperor died of cancer at the
Imperial Palace in Tokyo on 7th January 1989.
1. Have you ever been Time Magazine’s Person of the Year? (add 4 points)
2. Did you rise to power with less than a majority of the votes? (add 3 points)
3. Have you used a terrorist attack as an excuse to invade another country? (add 5 points)
4. Have you secretly opened and read people’s mail? (add 2 points)
5. Have you secretly eavesdropped on people’s phone conversations? (add 2 points)
6. Have you temporarily revoked founding freedoms because they endangered the
homeland to terrorists? (add 4 points)
7. Have you used a campaign based on fear to try and make temporary laws
permanent? (add 3 points)
8. Have you frequently imprisoned a particular Middle-Eastern ethnic group without
specific charges or the right to fair trials? (add 8 points)
9. Have you marketed yourself as deeply religious, and have you called for a revival
of Christian faith across the nation? (add 3 points)
10. Have you appointed your corporate cronies to high government
positions? (add 3 points)
11. Have you made corporations wealthy and rewarded society’s richest
individuals through an ever-expanding war against terror? (add 5 points)
12. Have you claimed the right to strike another nation preemptively in self-
defense? (add 6 points)
13. Have you actively promoted nationalism and questioned the patriotism of
everyone who opposes you? (add 3 points)
Results
40 or more points: You’re a full-blown dictator. Tell Congress you have the legal authority to do anything God tells
you to do. Refuse to negotiate with the enemy; send more troops.
35 to 39 points: You’re almost a dictator. Stop apologizing, and write more Presidential Signing Statements.
25 to 34 points: You’re probably not at war yet. A new war would improve your poll numbers and dramatically
excuse your abuse of executive power. What are you waiting for? Invade somebody, quick.
24 points or less: You probably still feel uncomfortable telling lies. Overcome this weakness by lying about
intelligence reports and denying anything your science advisors tell you. With a little practice, you’ll be dominating
your nation and raping the world in no time flat!