Rise and Fall of Totalitarian Regimes: 1917-1945
The Russian Revolution and the Rise of the Soviet Union
In 1898, the Russian Social Democratic Party was founded. By 1912, it had split into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. In February 1917, a revolution in St. Petersburg led to the fall of Tsarism. On October 25th, the Soviets, mandated by the Bolsheviks, overthrew the interim government and established a socialist state, forming a worker’s government.
The new Soviet government faced a civil war that lasted three years (1918-1921). In 1918, the party took the name of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1922, the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was created.
Stalin, who became Secretary-General of the CPSU, consolidated his power by 1927 and became the leader of the USSR. His rival, Trotsky, was exiled and, in 1940, assassinated by order of Stalin himself.
The “Great Moscow Trials” (1936-1938) resulted in many being sent to the Gulag, a system of forced labor camps.
The Great Depression
Mistrust spread among investors, culminating in “Black Thursday” on October 24, 1929. The number of unemployed increased to 13 million by 1932, pushing many families into poverty. In 1932, a Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt, won the election. By 1934, productivity levels reached those of 1929, and national income began to recover.
The Rise of Fascism in Italy
Following the Peace Treaty of London (1915) and agreements between 1919 and 1922, Italy saw five different governments. The crisis gave rise to the figure of Benito Mussolini. In 1919, Mussolini created the Fasci fighter, known as the Black Shirts.
In 1921, the Fasci transformed into the National Fascist Party, seen as the most effective force to curb revolutionary movements in Italy. In the 1922 elections, the Fascist Party won only 22 out of 500 seats in Parliament.
Between 1922 and 1925, Mussolini undertook a process of restricting freedoms and persecuting his opponents. After the 1924 elections, he announced the establishment of an authoritarian regime.
The Rise of Nazism in Germany
In 1919, Drexler created a party that, under the leadership of Hitler (from 1921), became the NSDAP (Nazi Party). The Nazis sought to achieve power. In 1923, Hitler attempted a coup (the Munich Putsch), but failed.
The country’s situation from 1924 (with the invaluable help of the American Dawes Plan) reduced the Nazis’ actions. The economic crisis from 1929 reactivated the opposition. After the death of Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler assumed all powers, becoming the “Führer.”
Hitler’s Germany was defeated by the Allies in May 1945. Hitler chose to commit suicide before surrendering. With his death, Nazism ended. It was the end of a nightmare.
In April 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was signed, excluding Jews from all over the state administration.
The Third Reich is the name given to the dictatorial regime in Germany between 1934 and 1945.
In the elections of November 1932, the NSDAP, even getting 32% of the vote, remained the most voted party. On January 30, 1933, after the resignation of Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, Von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. Hitler chaired a government of national concentration, as the German right had wished, with the support of von Papen, who believed they could control the government from the shadows. New elections were called for March 1933.