Nazi Germany
 
 I) The breakdown of democracy--the 1930-33 political crisis and the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933
 
 II) Nazi consolidation of power in 1933-1934
 
Spring and early summer 1933:

Reichstag fire

Hindenburg gives Hitler special emergency powers

Nazi "electoral victory"

"Enabling Act" allows Hitler to rule without any constitutional constraints or  limits

Nazis shut down all political opposition, shut down free press, outlaw strikes, etc.
 
1933-1934, non-Nazi nationalists purged from government

Summer 1934:

purge of Hitler's rivals from Nazi party

"Night of the Long Knives"

death of Hindenburg, plebiscite to designate Hitler as "The Leader" (August 1934)
 
 III) Nazi political/state system
 
 No constitutional restraints

"Fuhrer power"

"Working towards the Fuhrer"
 
 IV) Nazi economic policy
 
capitalist economic planning (multi-year state economic plans)

economic autarky

emphasis on military economy

economic recovery in 1934-1936

from late 1936 the economy shows signs of problems (weakening consumer economy)
 
 V) Nazi propaganda policy
 
function of propaganda is to convince people that they really want the Nazis and really support Nazi policies

among other methods, this involves banning access to all other ideas (book burnings, censorship)

also requires tight control over educational policy and strong emphasis on propaganda aimed at youth

example--creation of the Hitler Youth organization
 
 VI) Nazi social policy
 
"Aryan race" as master race

strengthening the race by eliminating the weak

purifying the race by removing/eliminating its "racial enemies"--in particular Jews

anti-Jewish measures:

    Nuremburg Laws and the definition of Germans and Jews

    first stages of Jewish policy (1933-1937)= concentrate on definition, isolation, removal from public life, special taxes, etc., to pressure toward emigration

    In 1938, anti-Jewish policy turns to open violence—Crystal Night, ghettos, concentration and work camps [during the war, the Nazis would also construct mass death camps]
 
 VII) Nazi foreign policy aims
 
racial unity and building the "Greater Reich"

repudiating the Versailles Treaty

German-dominated "Middle Europe"

"living space" and the German colonization of Eastern Europe

German "Middle Africa"

a "crusade" against "Jewish-Bolshevism"
 
 VII) Fascist and Nazi aggression in the 1930s
 
1935, Italian invasion of Ethiopia

          Hitler repudiates the Versailles Treaty

          German reoccupation of the Saar district in the east
 
1936, German re-militarization of the Rhineland

          German-Italian aid begins for Franco and the anti-Republicans in the Spanish Civil War

          German-Japanese Anti-Comintern {anti USSR} Pact
 
 1937, Italy joins the Anti-Comintern Pact
 
 1938

March, German occupation and annexation of Austria
 
April-May, first crisis over the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia

 
Summer, failure of Soviet efforts to create an anti-German alliance
 
August-September, second crisis over the Sudetenland
 
29-30 September Munich Conference (leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy)
 
1 October, German occupation of Sudetenland

1939

            March, German occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia
 
            23 August, German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed
 
            1 September, German invasion of western Poland
 
            3 September, Britain and France declared war on Germany

            15 September, Soviet invasion of eastern Poland