FROM DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORSHIP

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FROM DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORSHIP

• The Rise of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini

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BENITO MUSSOLINITHE FIRST FASCIST

• Fought for Italy in World War I
• Newspaper writer and political agitator

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ADOLF HITLERNAZI LEADER

• Fought for Germany in World War I
• Unsuccessful artist

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FROM DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORSHIP
3 VITAL STEPS

• Building a Political Party
• Getting Elected
• Seizing Dictatorial Power

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BUILDING A POLITICAL PARTY
Italian Fascist Party

• Mussolini created Blackshirts a group of
  tough WWI veterans
• Terrorized other political parties

• Appealed to
• Nationalists Former Soldiers
• Landowners Business Owners

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BUILDING A POLITICAL PARTY
National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi)

• Hitler joined the Nazi party in 1919
• Hitler became Nazi party leader in 1921
• Hitler became nationally known during his treason
  trial

Appealed to Veterans Nationalists Anti-Semites Fa
rmers Middle Class
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GETTING ELECTED

• Italy was a constitutional monarchy
• Mussolini led the March on Rome
• King Victor Emmanuel named Mussolini Prime
  Minister

Benito Mussolini
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GETTING ELECTED

• Germany was a democratic republic with a
  President and a Chancellor (Prime Minister)
• The Nazi party became the majority party in the
  German Parliament (Reichstag) in 1932
• Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933

1932 Election Poster
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SEIZING DICTATORIAL POWER

• Mussolini forced Parliament to pass the Acerbo
  Law
• Acerbo Law gave political party with most votes a
  2/3 majority in Parliament
• National election of April 6, 1924 gave Fascist
  Party power in Parliament
• Mussolini was now a dictator, not a Prime Minister

Benito Mussolini
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SEIZING DICTATORIAL POWER

• Reichstag Fire German Parliament building burns
  one week before new elections
• Hitler blames fire on Communists and spreads fear
  throughout Germany

Reichstag Fire
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SEIZING DICTATORIAL POWER

• Hitler convinces Reichstag to pass the Enabling
  Act, granting dictatorial powers to the
  Chancellor, Hitler

• When the German President dies in 1934, Hitler
  takes command of military and truly becomes the
  dictator of Germany

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Picture Credits

• http//ghostline.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/musso
  lini-image004.jpg
• http//ming.tv/flemming2.php/__show_article/_a0000
  10-001414.htm
• http//www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Mussolini/pictur
  es_of_mussolini.htm
• http//www.sigruneuk.com/pictures/DC12820A.jpg
• http//ui29.gamespot.com/220/fascism.jpg
• http//homepage.eircom.net/finnegam/war/images/gr
  eeting_hitler.jpg
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nazi_
  propaganda_gallery_01.shtml
• http//www.solarnavigator.net/history/explorers_hi
  story/Germany_Reichstag_fire.jpg