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PinkMonkey Online Study Guide-World History
13.1 Causes of the Growth of Dictatorships in Europe
Italy was thrown into a state of poverty, discontent
and disorder after World War I. Though the Italians had won the
war, their claims were not accepted at the Paris Peace Conference
in 1919. They were thus seeking a leader who would fulfill their
ambitions. They found him in Benito Mussolini.
Exhibit 13.1
Benito Mussolini
Thanks to the Treaty of Versailles (1919), Germany
was physically mutilated, economically suffocated, emotionally humiliated
and territorially encircled. Thus the German youth was filled with
a sense of intense hatred and revenge against the Allied Powers.
These popular sentiments were well exploited by Adolf Hitler.
At the Washington Conference of 1921-22, Japan
was forced to sign three treaties. She was thus looking for an opportunity
penetrate into China.
The Soviet Union also sought to fulfill its mission
of a world communist revolution, after World War I, thus threatening
the whole world.
Democratic governments were not able to solve the
social, political and economic problems of the post-war period.
This exposed the evils in their functioning.
The victorious powers such as Great Britain, the
U.S.A. and France failed to enforce the Treaty of Versailles vigorously.
This also encouraged the growth of dictatorships.
The League of Nations was unsuccessful in its aim
to preserve peace. Thus the path was paved for the growth of totalitarian
dictatorships.
The world economic crisis in 1929, caused frustration,
despondency and despair all over the world. Forces of international
anarchy were released in 1931, when Japan invaded Manchuria. This
convinced the world dictators, that the road to aggression was not
difficult.
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