Economic Depression and Dictators: Crash Course European History #37

Summary

This script from Crash Course European History explores the Great Depression's impact on Europe and the rise of dictators like Hitler and Stalin. It delves into economic turmoil, societal shifts, and the manipulation of national pride to consolidate power. The video discusses the effects on gender roles, the scapegoating of minorities, and the use of propaganda to build unity through hatred. It also touches on the international implications of these regimes' aggressive policies, setting the stage for World War II.

Takeaways

• 📉 The 1929 U.S. stock market crash led to the Great Depression, which had a profound impact on Europe and contributed to the rise of dictators.
• 💼 The economic downturn resulted in widespread unemployment, particularly affecting men, who were traditionally seen as the primary breadwinners.
• 🇩🇪 Adolf Hitler capitalized on the economic hardship and the desire to restore German masculinity, using paramilitary organizations to provide jobs and assert dominance.
• 🌐 The Great Depression coincided with the rise of authoritarian regimes not only in Germany but also in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.
• 👨‍🌾 Stalin's policies targeted 'kulaks' or wealthy peasants, leading to widespread violence, famine, and the death of millions.
• 🏭 Rapid industrialization in the Soviet Union was accompanied by purges and the forced collectivization of agriculture, which further reduced productivity.
• 🏛️ The Nazi regime used both positive and negative integration techniques to build a unified 'volksgemeinschaft', promoting Aryan superiority and dehumanizing others, especially Jews.
• 📚 Book burnings and indoctrination of youth were part of the Nazi strategy to control the narrative and instill loyalty from a young age.
• 🚫 The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were a significant step in the systematic exclusion and persecution of Jews in Germany.
• 🗝️ Economic policies, such as deficit financing for infrastructure and loans for 'pure Aryan' births, were used by the Nazis to manipulate the economy and society.
• 💣 The aggression and expansionist policies of Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 1930s set the stage for World War II, with actions like the annexation of Austria and the invasion of Manchuria.

Q & A

What was the impact of the 1929 U.S. stock market crash on Europe?

The 1929 U.S. stock market crash led to the Great Depression, which had a profound impact on Europe. It caused a wide-ranging disaster, with banks demanding payment for loans that couldn't be repaid, leading to bank and business failures, and massive unemployment.

Why did the stock market crash in 1929 lead to a widespread economic crisis?

The crash was preceded by a period of speculative investment fueled by borrowed money and the belief that stock prices would continue to rise indefinitely. When the market crashed, it triggered a chain reaction of loan defaults, bank failures, and business closures, which in turn led to widespread unemployment and economic contraction.

How did the economic conditions of the Great Depression contribute to the rise of dictators in Europe?

The economic turmoil and widespread unemployment created a sense of desperation and instability, which authoritarian leaders like Hitler and Mussolini exploited by promising to restore national pride and provide jobs. Their promises resonated with a populace disillusioned with democratic governments that seemed unable to solve the economic crisis.

What was the role of the Stormtroopers in Nazi Germany, and how did it relate to the perception of masculinity?

The Stormtroopers were a paramilitary organization that engaged in violence against perceived enemies, such as Communists and Jewish people. This activity was seen as a way to restore German masculinity, which had been undermined by the economic crisis and high unemployment rates, by asserting dominance and power.

How did the Soviet Union's agricultural policy under Stalin contribute to food scarcity and famine?

Stalin's policy of collectivizing agriculture, which involved seizing individual farms and converting them into collective farms, led to a significant decrease in agricultural productivity. Additionally, the persecution and execution of kulaks, or well-to-do peasants, disrupted the agricultural workforce and contributed to widespread food shortages and famine.

What were the goals of Stalin's purges, and how did they affect the Soviet population?

Stalin's purges aimed to consolidate his power by eliminating perceived enemies of the state, including kulaks, Bolsheviks, and military personnel. These purges, along with the resulting famine, led to the deaths of millions of people and created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion within the Soviet Union.

How did the economic policies of the Nazi regime in Germany address the issue of unemployment?

The Nazis used deficit financing to fund large-scale infrastructure projects, such as the construction of modern highways, which provided jobs for millions of unemployed men. This approach helped to significantly reduce unemployment in Germany by the mid-1930s.

What measures did the Nazi regime take to promote the birth of 'pure Aryan' babies?

The Nazis instituted loans for couples giving birth to 'pure Aryan' babies, with the wife agreeing to surrender her employment as part of the deal. They also banned birth control and abortion for German women, while making these options available for those they considered racially inferior.

How did the Nazi regime's racial policies contribute to the creation of a 'people's community' or 'Volksgemeinschaft'?

The Nazis used both positive and negative integration techniques to build a 'Volksgemeinschaft'. They promoted a shared sense of German identity and superiority through policies like the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jews of their citizenship and rights, and through public displays of hatred and dehumanization of outsiders, particularly Jewish people.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Economic Aftermath and Dictatorship Emergence

This paragraph discusses the lingering effects of wartime and the onset of the Great Depression following the 1929 U.S. stock market crash. It highlights the economic boom fueled by loans and the subsequent crash leading to widespread unemployment and business failures. The narrative explores how this economic turmoil coincided with the rise of dictators in Europe, such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, who capitalized on societal unrest to gain power, promising to restore national pride and individual masculinity. The paragraph also touches on the role of paramilitary organizations in providing jobs and the discrediting of democratic institutions.

05:02

🌾 Stalin's Soviet Union: Collectivization and Purges

The second paragraph delves into Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in the Soviet Union, marked by the implementation of collectivization of agriculture and the persecution of kulaks, or well-to-do peasants. It describes the food scarcity issues and the violent campaigns against kulaks, which were rooted in Lenin's earlier policies. The summary also covers the dehumanization of enemies, the reorganization of the agricultural economy into collective farms, and the resulting famine and purges that led to millions of deaths. Additionally, it touches on the rapid industrialization efforts and the propaganda that influenced both the Soviet and foreign idealists.

10:03

🏛 Hitler's Totalitarian State and Policies

This paragraph examines Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany and his subsequent establishment of a totalitarian regime. It details the Nazi's strategies of intimidation, the Enabling Act that granted Hitler unchecked power, and the creation of the SS for rounding up dissenters. The summary outlines the Nazi's efforts to build a 'volksgemeinschaft' by targeting groups deemed as 'not properly German,' including Jews, gays, Communists, and Roma people. It also discusses the 'Night of the Long Knives,' book burnings, indoctrination of youth, and economic policies aimed at reducing unemployment and reversing population decline. Furthermore, it addresses the Nazi's early genocidal actions towards disabled individuals and the concept of 'negative integration' as a tool for community building.

15:05

🌍 Prelude to Global Conflict: Expansionist Policies and Authoritarianism

The final paragraph provides an overview of the expansionist policies of various authoritarian regimes leading up to World War II. It discusses Germany's rearmament, annexation of territories like Austria and Czechoslovakia, and the Munich Agreement. The summary also includes Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and Japan's invasion of China, emphasizing the global nature of conflict. It touches on the Spanish Civil War and the role of authoritarian military uprisings, illustrating the widespread appeal and support for dictators like Franco, Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini. The paragraph concludes with a reflection on the responsibility each individual has in shaping history and the importance of being vigilant against the rise of tyranny.

Keywords

💡Great Depression

The Great Depression refers to a severe worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929, following the stock market crash in the United States. It significantly impacted Europe, leading to widespread unemployment and economic hardship. In the video, the Great Depression is linked to the rise of dictators in Europe, as it exacerbated social and economic problems that these leaders capitalized on to gain power and support.

💡Dictators

Dictators are leaders who possess absolute authority and often rule in an autocratic manner, without the consent of the governed. The script discusses the rise of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, who exploited the chaos of the Great Depression and other crises to seize power and implement their totalitarian regimes.

💡Unemployment

Unemployment is the state of being without a job while actively seeking work. The script highlights the staggering unemployment rates in Germany, where one-third of the workforce was jobless by 1933, illustrating the severe economic impact of the Great Depression and how this social issue contributed to the appeal of dictators promising economic recovery.

💡Masculinity

Masculinity, as discussed in the script, refers to the qualities traditionally associated with being male, such as strength and being the primary breadwinner. The economic crisis threatened this concept, as many men lost their jobs. Dictators like Hitler leveraged this to appeal to men's desire to restore their social standing and national pride.

💡Stormtroopers

Stormtroopers, or Sturmabteilung (SA), were Nazi paramilitary organizations that engaged in violence against perceived enemies of the state. In the script, they are mentioned as a force that helped Hitler consolidate power by intimidating opponents and creating a sense of restored German masculinity through their actions.

💡Kulaks

Kulaks were relatively wealthy peasants in the Soviet Union who were targeted by both Lenin and Stalin as enemies of the communist state. The script describes how Stalin blamed the kulaks for food scarcity and initiated a campaign against them, leading to violence and the collectivization of agriculture.

💡Collectivization

Collectivization in the Soviet Union refers to the forced consolidation of individual farms into collective farms, which was part of Stalin's plan to reorganize the agricultural economy. The script explains how this policy led to a significant decline in agricultural productivity and contributed to a devastating famine.

💡Purge

A purge is the systematic removal of individuals deemed disloyal or undesirable by a regime. The script details Stalin's purges, which extended beyond the kulaks to include Bolsheviks and military personnel, leading to mass executions and a climate of fear.

💡Industrialization

Industrialization is the process of social and economic change where a human group moves from a manual, agricultural economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. The script mentions Stalin's rapid industrialization efforts, including the creation of new cities and factories, which were part of his plan to modernize the Soviet Union and match the industrial power of the United States.

💡Enabling Act

The Enabling Act was a law passed in Germany that gave Hitler the power to enact laws without the approval of the Reichstag, effectively dissolving the democratic system. The script uses this term to illustrate how Hitler legally obtained unchecked power, which he used to consolidate his dictatorship.

💡Volksgemeinschaft

Volksgemeinschaft, or 'people's community' in German, was a term used by the Nazis to describe their ideal of a unified German nation. The script explains how Hitler used both positive and negative integration techniques to create this sense of community, including promoting shared values and targeting outsiders like Jews for dehumanization and persecution.

Highlights

Post-1925 improvement in living conditions in Europe was overshadowed by the lingering effects of wartime and the 1929 U.S. stock market crash, leading to the Great Depression.

The stock market crash was preceded by a period of speculative borrowing and overconfidence in the market's permanence, which proved to be a fallacy.

The United States, having profited from World War I, became a major lender for postwar recovery and modernization, which was disrupted by the stock market crash.

The economic downturn led to bank and business failures, massive unemployment, and a significant impact on the social fabric of European societies.

In Germany, the high unemployment rate and the traditional role of men as breadwinners were challenged, leading to social unrest and a search for scapegoats.

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party capitalized on the economic hardship and social unrest to rise to power, promising to restore German masculinity and national pride.

The Weimar Republic's inability to maintain order and provide jobs was exploited by the Nazis, who used paramilitary organizations to create employment and assert control.

Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in the Soviet Union involved purges and the forced collectivization of agriculture, leading to widespread famine and death.

Stalin's policies targeted kulaks, or well-to-do peasants, as enemies of the state, continuing the Bolshevik trend of violence and dehumanization.

The Soviet Union's rapid industrialization and the Five-Year Plans were accompanied by harsh working and living conditions, yet some saw it as a utopian endeavor.

Both Hitler and Stalin attracted international admirers, highlighting the global appeal of authoritarian regimes despite their internal atrocities.

Hitler's rise to power was facilitated by conservative leaders who underestimated his ability to dismantle Germany's democratic system.

The Nazi regime used various integration techniques, both positive and negative, to build a unified 'people's community' based on shared hatred of outsiders.

The Nuremberg Laws and subsequent policies targeted Jews, leading to their social and economic exclusion, setting the stage for the Holocaust.

The Spanish Civil War, sparked by a military uprising led by Francisco Franco, drew international involvement and previewed tactics that would be used in World War II.

The global rise of authoritarian regimes was marked by widespread support from the public, indicating the importance of historical awareness and individual responsibility.

Transcripts

Hi I’m John Green and this is Crash Course European History.

So, despite improvement in living conditions across much of Europe after 1925, wartime

resentments and disruption lingered. and then a momentous event in 1929 gradually

turned into a wide-ranging disaster: in that year, the U.S. stock market crashed.What came

after is known as the Great Depression, and today, we’re gonna talk about how that impacted

Europe, and how it coincided with the rise of dictators in Europe.

[Intro] the stock market crash came after several

years of citizens enthusiastically “playing the market” with borrowed money, and commentators

had fueled the rise in stock prices by saying that the stock market was on a permanently

high plateau, implying that prices could never fall so borrowing funds to “buy on margin”

was a sure thing.

Listen, I’m not a financial advisor, so take this with a grain of salt, but when people

start saying that buying stocks is a sure thing, it ain’t!

You can’t time the market, and there are no sure things!

Except for death...even taxes are not a sure thing.

Just ask Amazon.

Anyaway, having made a ton of money while Europeans were bankrupting themselves in World

War I, the United States had become a huge source of loans for financing postwar recovery

in Europe and elsewhere, as well as agricultural and industrial modernization, and the creation

of new businesses.

But as the stock market dropped, bankers began demanding payment for loans that had been

used to buy stocks or invest in major projects, including international ones.

And in many cases, these loans couldn’t be paid back, causing banks to fail;

businesses also failed as consumers had less money to make purchases, and workers lost

jobs by the millions.

When the economy is working, its virtuous cycles seem endless; and when the economy

stops working, its vicious cycles also seem endless.

And by 1933, six million Germans were unemployed, that was one-third of the total workforce.

In terms of keeping their jobs, women were actually sometimes better off than men--but

only because they received drastically lower wages, and so single women at least were less

likely to be laid off.

It was men who came to epitomize the unemployed.

Unemployed women could pick up bits of outwork such as laundering and childcare, but men

had few such opportunities.

And so the ideology of men as the main breadwinner was threatened; some men pretended to go to

work even after they had lost jobs.

Adolf Hitler, like Benito Mussolini, said he wanted to restore not just the reputation

of his country but the war-shattered masculinity of the individual man.

Hard times further undermined that sense of strong and secure manhood, but Stormtroopers

felt they were reviving German masculinity by marching through neighborhoods and beating

people up Communists and Jewish People.

Their violence also discredited the democratically run Weimar Republic, which couldn’t keep

order.

And Nazis did employ men via this paramilitary organization, the kind of jobs that the Weimar

Republic seemed unable to create.

Of course, this is ultimately an example of only solving problems that you yourself have

created...a long-standing tradition in authoritarian regimes.

Meanwhile in the Soviet Union, youth were flocking to Joseph Stalin as they did in Germany

to Hitler.

By 1929 Stalin had consolidated his power in part by bringing thousands of new people

to serve in the post-Lenin government, at the local, regional, and national level.

But the Soviets had big problems, beginning with food scarcity, even though it contained

huge amounts of fertile land.

Stalin put the blame on kulaks, or well-to-do peasants, which was an extension of Lenin’s

demonization of Kulaks.

Lenin once ordered, “Hang (absolutely hang, in full view of the people) no fewer than

one hundred known kulaks.”

Lenin ordered many such killings, actually, and believed ongoing violence was essential

to revolution, a practice that Stalin dramatically expanded.

So, in Russian kulak means “fist” and for Communists the property-owning kulaks

held communism in their greedy grip, by hiding surplus crops from the government.

So Stalin roused Soviet youth to a war on kulaks, calling them enemies wedded to individualism

and personal wealth.

However, as with Nazism, neighbors often denounced anyone whose property they coveted.

In Germany, Hitler built unity among his followers by pointing to the false worldwide Jewish

conspiracy that supposedly had one goal—the annihilation of the Aryan race. and likewise,

Stalin continued the Bolshevik trend of slaughtering supposed enemies of the people, in this case

the “bloodsuckers, cattle, swine, loathsome, repulsive [kulaks]; they had no souls, they

stank” as one Soviet citizen recalled in his memoirs.

In both cases, the dehumanization of the Other was profound--I mean, you can see it in that

quote, actually, as people are not called people but “cattle” and “swine.”

But Stalin’s goal was not only to fortify communism through the murder of enemies.

He also wanted to reorganize the agricultural economy by seizing individual farms and converting

them into collective farms that would replace private ownership.

and Ukraine was one of the major agricultural regions of the USSR, which made Ukrainians

especially vulnerable to the widespread violence of the Stalin regime.

Rebelling against the murder and oppression of their friends and neighbors, individual

farmers sometimes even slaughtered livestock and destroyed crops.

But the execution and persecution of kulaks, friends of kulaks, and anyone else against

whom there were grudges did nothing to increase agricultural productivity.

In fact, the communalization of farms lowered yields and caused a famine.

In total, Stalin’s purges and the resulting famine likely resulted in at least 10 million

deaths by the mid-1930s. and then Stalin turned to other elements in

the population to “purge.”

As famine unfolded, Communist leaders found more enemies, this time Bolsheviks themselves—both

high and low—as well as the military, many of whom confessed in their “show” trials

(after having been tortured for days).

Some faithful friends of Stalin even admitted to having disloyal thoughts if not deeds,

which was adequate sin to justify execution.

On the eve of his death, one old Bolshevik thanked Stalin for devising “the great and

bold political idea behind the general purge.”

Which speaks to how deeply propaganda can work on humans.

Rapid industrialization in a series of five-year plans accompanied the purges.

Stalin especially admired the United States and aimed to match their modernization.

He had entire cities built around new factories and mining operations.

For instance, with the assistance of U.S. and German consultants, the city of Magnitogorsk

became the center of Soviet steel production.

The government summoned workers, both men and women, from across the vast Soviet lands

to work there and in other factories.

The living conditions were often terrible.

The working conditions difficult or even lethal.

Yet, as one woman lathe operator explained proudly, “We mastered this new profession—completely

new to us—with great pleasure.”

And to many both inside the was utopia in the making.

Idealists from all over the world flocked to what promised to be a wonderland of egalitarian

achievement.

And its important to note that Hitler also attracted admirers from outside of Germany,

such as industrialist Henry Ford and aviator Charles Lindbergh in the United States.

Which brings us back to Germany.

In the fall of 1932, elections in Germany saw the communists and the Nazis receive similarly

strong support, although the Nazis actually lost a few seats in the election.

But afterwards, conservative leaders persuaded President Hindenberg--for whom, incidentally,

history’s most disastrous airship was named--to appoint Hitler chancellor.

The theory was that he would be easier to control than the Communists, but with the

backing of his passionate supporters, Hitler began to dismantle Germany’s democratic

system--which at that point had only really existed for a bit more than a decade.

Through intimidation and brutal treatment of elected representatives, Hitler soon passed

an Enabling Act that allowed him virtually unchecked power.

I mean, rarely has an act been more aptly named than the enabling act.

He then moved in many directions in order to create a “people’s community” or

volksgemeinschaft.

He had a protection squad created—the SS (Schutzstaffel)—that rounded up dissenters

or anyone not seen as meeting Nazi standards of proper German-ness.

Ways of ‘not being properly German’ included being Jewish, being gay, being a Communist,

or being of Roma ancestry, among many others.

The SS had vast powers to imprison so-called “enemies” in concentration camps or to

execute them.

In “the night of the long knives” in 1934 Hitler’s forces massacred hundreds of Nazis

who had called for a restoration of Nazi purity by ending alliances with businessmen and military

elite.

That massacre purged the so-called “socialist” or anti-elitist element in the original Party

in order to emphasize German nationalism alone.

Nazis held massive book burnings; Nazi youth groups built loyalty from an early age; and

it became common for young Nazis to turn in anyone who uttered criticism of the regime,

including their own parents and other relatives.

Alongside arrests and purges, Nazi policy turned to deficit financing to build infrastructure

such as modern highways that would put men back to work; by 1936, fewer than 1.6 million

men were still unemployed.

Hitler justified deficits by saying he would pay for them via future conquests.

The Nazis were also concerned with reversing population decline, and so they instituted

loans for couples giving birth to babies that were deemed pure Aryans, with the wife agreeing

to surrender her employment as part of the deal.

Birth control and abortion were forbidden to German women, but they were readily available

for those the Nazis considered inferior.

And then, in the 1930s, foreshadowing broader policies, the government began to murder physically

or mentally disabled people in mobile gas chambers that traveled to hospitals and other

institutions.

The aim was the creation of a master race, purged of purportedly “inferior” types

such as Roma, Slavs, and above all, Jewish people, whose supposed inferiority, in Hitler’s

word, was documented by “the greatest of scientific knowledge.”

We’ve talked before about “negative integration” and “positive integration” techniques

for building a community--positive integration techniques involve celebrating shared values

and finding a definition for what “we” are.

Negative integration techniques involve defining a community by what we aren’t--especially

by finding enemies or targeting outsiders to unify a community.

In Hitler’s Germany, the population coalesced into a volksgemeinschaft by a shared dehumanization

and shared hatred of outsiders, especially Jewish people.

German feelings of worth, and even superiority, were restored and strengthened by hating others.

And this was a long term, and very public practice that people both inside of Germany

and outside of it knew about.

For instance, The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 removed Jewish peoples’ German citizenship and barred

them from most jobs and from marriage to Aryans.

The government moved Jews from their housing, reduced the food they were allowed, and forced

them to work at lowly jobs for virtually no pay.

Officials and neighbors then stole Jewish housing and personal property, showing that

Nazi claims to high ideals masked outright theft and greed.

Jewish people first suffered what historians call a “social death” as their lives were

degraded by the Nazis, making any harm that might come to them appear natural.

Indeed, so-called Social Death often precedes widespread murder.

In 1938, the son of a harassed Jewish couple killed an official, which the Nazis used an

excuse for a rampage against synagogues, businesses, homes, and individuals—a horrific event

that came to be known as “The Night of Broken Glass” or Kristallnacht.

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

1.

The Nazi regime rampaged and plundered internationally as well.

2.

In 1935, Germany began openly boosting military power,

3. which had been curtailed by the Versailles treaty.

4.

In 1936, German troops occupied the Rhineland

5. —an area in western Germany bordering France.

6.

In 1938, Germany occupied Austria to cheering crowds, and then absorbed Austria into the

Reich

7. (which was forbidden by the Peace of Paris),

8. and proceeded to seize Austria’s large supply of gold

9. —an act that would be repeated across Europe alongside the seizure of Jewish wealth.

10.

Later that year, Hitler claimed the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia

11. because of its large German population

12. and secured that claim with a meeting in Munich

13.

that included British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Premier Edouard Daladier,

and Mussolini.

14.

Crowds rejoiced at the peace Hitler promised in exchange for this “appeasement” of

his demands,

15.

but as future Prime Minister Winston Churchill commented “Those poor people.

They little know what they will have to face.”

16.

In March 1939, Germany annexed all of Czechoslovakia.

17.

In addition to making deals with the French and British, Hitler made deals with Stalin,

18. trading Soviet grain for German machinery and other industrial goods.

19.

And it should be noted that Hitler was not alone in authoritarian conquest at the time.

20.

Mussolini joined in, sending the Italian army to Ethiopia in 1936

21. and announcing “the Roman legions are on the march again” as fascism thrived.

Thanks Thought Bubble.

So, meanwhile, in Japan, military officers saw the need to expand.

They had already built an effective modern army, defeating China in 1894 and 1895 and

Russia in 1904 and 1905.

In 1931, they blew up a train in Manchuria and used that event to justify taking over

Manchuria, as part of a plan to free Asia (and eventually the world) from western imperialism...and

then, you know, replace it with Japanese imperialism.

In 1937, Japan invaded China, which from a non-Eurocentric perspective was probably the

real beginning World War II--unless it began in 1931, with the invasion of Manchuria.

all of which is a reminder that in some ways, violence was everywhere even before World

War II was said to have begun: Like, the Spanish had overthrown dictatorial rule in 1931 and

set up a republic in a burst of democratic enthusiasm, but amid trouble setting up a

government that could maintain public order, many different political groups began to jostle

for power, including.

liberals, and constitutionalists, and socialists, and communists, and Trotskyites, anarchists.

And this fractured and frail democracy created an opening for an authoritarian military uprising

in 1936 led by Francisco Franco.

That was war...and in some ways it was world war, because the ensuing Spanish Civil War

involved many of the European powers, with German and Italian bombers practicing the

strafing of civilians from airplanes, a tactic the British had used in their colonies and

that would be deployed throughout the battlefields of World War II.

So, when we look back on history, it is easy to forget that dictators like Franco, and

Stalin, and Hitler, and Mussolini had enthusiastic supporters.

Teenage girls painted their fingernails with swastikas—a Buddhist symbol that was appropriated

by the Nazis—while parents gave children toy SS men to play with and other adults listened

enraptured to Hitler’s (or Mussolini’s) speeches.

As we’ve discussed before, even tyrants require support from at least some institutions

and individuals to survive.

And what makes such evil so terrifying is not that tyrants can rise to power--but that

they often do so with broad swaths of support.

History isn’t just something that happens.

It’s something each of us helps make, a responsibility we all need to take seriously.

Thanks for watching.

I’ll see you next time.