HIST 410N Week 3 Discussion: Failure of Democracy and the Rise of Totalitarianism (Option 3: Japan-Tojo)

Week 3 Discussion: Failure of Democracy and the Rise of Totalitarianism Initial Post Instructions During the 1930s, much of the world seemed to give up on their hope for a democratic solution to their problems and instead turned to totalitarianism, both in Europe and in Asia. For the initial post, select and address one of the following:  Germany/Hitler  USSR/Stalin  Japan/Tojo Address the following questions for your selection:  What effects did the history, politics, and economies of those areas play in their decisions to turn to totalitarianism?  What role did the Great Depression in the United States play in their plight?  World War I brought a great deal of economic hardship upon Europe. Germany’s defeat lead to social, political, and economic hardship as a German citizen. The German citizen lived in fear of what may come next and Hitler played upon those fears in order to create a totalitarian regime. He determined that the Aryan race was superior and the Jew (along with other minorities) was the enemy (Schleunes, 2017).  Germany had been given an opportunity, following the war, to regain some economic stability with the help of the United States. The Dawes Plan initiated the ability for the US to make heavy investments in Germany again which contributed greatly to a conquest for economic stability and contributed to a more peaceful and affluent Germany from the years 1924 to 1929. When the Great Depression hit the United States, these investments were withdrawn from Germany causing a substantial downturn in Germany’s economy and a familiar financial hardship (Duiker, 2015). Hitler used this dark time to play-on the fear among his constituents.  German citizens were praying for a sense of hope for their countrymen. Hitler used strategies he learned from Mussolini of Italy to create a totalitarian regime. He promised that the German way of life would be restored with the annihilation of enemies. He preached that the political ways of the past had failed Germans as evidenced by their failure in the war. He promised a new beginning in which Germany would be prosperous and would be respected on the world stage again (Duiker, 2015). Germany opened this totalitarianism with open arms as they longed for a sense of hope.