Adolf Hitler was a dictator; this means he ruled Germany without consulting a parliament or any German people. In 1922 Hitler was the leader of a tiny political party called the Nazis, it was their job to beat up the opponents. In 1924 Hitler was sent to Prison he wrote a book called Mein Kampf meaning ‘my struggles’. He said ‘Germany needs a strong government led by a single leader’, this is significant because it highlights the fact Hitler believed in dictatorship. As a result of this Hitler led alone, without the help of a parliament or his own German people. Another main idea of Hitler was the ‘Master Race’ he instructed the German people to keep themselves to themselves and this would keep them pure. He states in his book: “By no means believe in equality of races”. Hitler believed that communism was a huge threat to Germany and should be destroyed; he thought it was a Jewish invention. This is significant because it indicates another reason why he hated the Jews. Additionally, Hitler believed that the Jews helped bring about Germanys defeat in World War One, therefore he thought they should be destroyed and never members of Germany. By 1938 the Nazis controlled every aspect of life in Germany, he set up the secret police called Gestapo and had spies everywhere, anyone who criticised Hitler or the Nazis could be sent to a concentration camp. In summary, Hitler’s main aims were to lead Germany as the Mater Race and as a dictator; he wanted Germany to return to normal after the effects of the Treaty Of Versailles.
After the First World War, Italy was in a desperate state – there were high levels of unemployment and hunger. Many Italians worried that there might be a communist revolution. In 1923 Benito Mussolini, persuaded the Italian government to pass a new electoral law, Mussolini was gaining more and more power and in 1925 he took measures to silence his opposition. Mussolini set about building a Fascist dictatorship. Mussolini wanted to destroy communism in Italy. This is significant because communism is when the people are all equal, however Mussolini wanted to rule on his own, as a dictator, he also wanted Italy to be great again. Moreover, in March 1919 he set up the Fasccist movement and argued that the government had failed, so he aimed to help Italy rise up again. The name
Why was the League of Nations so ineffective?
In the 1930s the failures of the League of Nations were not only because of aggressor nations undermining its authority, but also down to its own members. Two of the most influential members (Britain and France) ignored the League in their efforts to appease Hitler. The 1918 conference at Versailles agreed to set up the League of Nations to keep world peace. The idea was that all countries would join and disputes would be settled by talking instead of fighting. The league was eventually set up 1919. Although the concept of the League sounds very good, it wasn’t, it had many faults leading to why the League of Nations was so ineffective.
Firstly, the League had no power, the League’s only real weapon to force a country to obey its decisions was economic sanctions. This is significant because members could still trade with non-members, meaning the sanctions didn’t work members would particularly trade with the USA. A clear example of why the League was ineffective was The Abyssinian Crisis, Mussolini wanted an empire in Africa and in 1935 he invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Abyssinia asked the League for help but they took months to decide what to do – in the end they tried sanctions, however it didn’t work, because they didn’t ban oil the only thing that really mattered because they knew if the League didn’t supply oil to Italy, the USA would. Overall he League had no power and this is one reason why it was so ineffective.
Secondly, the League had no army, they deepened on their members to supply troops, they didn’t want to get involved. This is significant because the League had no army to
