Download a copy of the Lesson #3 worksheet here before you begin!
Warm up for the brain: What are the characteristics of a dictatorship? A democracy? A constitutional monarchy? Click here to check your answers.
Time to vote! Read through the descriptions of three candidates for leader of your country in the 1930's. Think about what is going on in the world during this time. Pick which one you would want to lead, then click here to find out about your candidate. |
Familiarization: Take notes on each of the videos for the following dictators and be sure you can explain how each of them rose to power prior to WWII. Answer the corresponding questions for each dictator on the Lesson #3 Worksheet.
Dictator #1: Josef Stalin
Josef Stalin (real name Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili...try saying that three times real fast!) was dictator of the U.S.S.R. from approximately 1927 until his death in 1953. His rule was marked by the creation of a police state, terror, fear, mass killing, the gulag system, a world war, and the start of the Cold War. Stalin's attempts at reforms included collectivization in agriculture and a series of five-year plans for industry, both costing the lives of many of his own people. Click here to discover how the Soviet "Man of Steel" rose to power and ruled the communist U.S.S.R.
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Dictator #2: Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini was prime minister/dictator of Italy from 1925 until his dismissal from power in 1943. His rule was marked by the rise of fascism in Italy. All things in Italy were done for the glory of the state as Mussolini sought to unite Italians by restoring the glory of the old Roman Empire . A series of public work projects, police state, propaganda, and extreme nationalism were all elements of fascist Italy. Click here to discover how Mussolini "Il Duce" and his fascists rose to power in Italy prior to WWII.
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Dictator #3: Adolph Hitler
Adolph Hitler was dictator of Germany from 1934 to his death in 1945. He was leader of the Nazi party, which eventually permeated into every facet of German society. Hitler promised the creation of a third German Empire (Third Reich) that would rule a thousand years. The use of the Gestapo (secret police), extreme nationalism, racist policies, and the mass killing of "inferior peoples" characterized Germany under Hitler and his Nazis. Click here to discover how Hitler rose to power in Germany prior to WWII.
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Compare and contrast the totalitarian ideologies of Communism (Soviet), Fascism, and Nazism using a Venn Diagram. Click here for a Venn diagram template in Google Docs. Correctly place the characteristics of each "ism" in the Venn diagram using the information below. A downloadable PDF is also available.
totalitarianism.pdf | |
File Size: | 1039 kb |
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Think you know your Dictators and characteristics of each "ism"? Click here to take the Dictators and "isms" quiz!