DICTATORSHIP PAPER
NAME: Olivia Bawden
DATE: February 19th, 2018
BLOCK: 2
During WWII (World War Two) there were two major forces, the Allies and the
Axis. The focus will be on the Axis alliance and the three principal partners of this allied force,
Italy, Germany and Japan, along with comparing and finding the differences in their
government, society and economy. Germany was recognized for domination over the majority of
Europe; Italian domination over the Mediterranean Sea; and lastly, Japanese domination over
East Asia and the Pacific.
In WWII, Nazi Germany was ruled by Hitler while under the enforcement of the
Leader Principle, or also known as Führerprinzip. What this meant was that subordinates had to
be completely obedient. Hitler viewed the government in ranks, picture a pyramid. With the
pyramid, you, of course, have Hitler the leader at the top, the apex predator, top of the food
chain. Throughout the rest of the pyramid, you have all the other ranks and parties making up
society and the government. There were no elections and parties, and ranks were appointed
and determined by those of higher authority. The heavy usage of propaganda by these parties
formed a cultish following due to Hitler's capturing, almost hypnotic speeches. Nazi Germany
overall was a dictatorship run under the rule of the Führerprinzip. How did this come to be? It
was not a peaceful transformation. The German monarch was overthrown by a group of angry
navy soldiers with socialist beliefs. The government was worn and torn apart due to the conflict
of the right winged retired soldiers from WWI and the left-wing socialists. The government
remained weak until the Nazi's rose to power and enforcing all the rules and beliefs stated.
The Kingdom of Italy was a constitutional monarchy. The most power belonged to the
monarch and the commands given out were executed by selected ministers. The only thing
restraining the power of the Monarch was an appointed Senate and an elective Chamber of
Duties. The Italian government, however, were unable to function as a government in practice
without the support of parliament. During the years 1925-1943 Italy was a fascist dictatorship
under a constitutional monarchy. This meaning the constitution remained without any changed
or interference from the fascists and the monarchy accepted the fascist's policies. The leader of
this government structure at the time was Mussolini who modelled his dictatorship after Hitler
and the Roman Empire. After their invasion of Ethiopia, all hope of forming an alliance with the
Western democracies was all but a loss so Italy instead decided to form an alliance with Hitler
being that their beliefs and government structure were quite similar.
Japan at this time was being led by Hirohito and the political structure was loosely based
on the Meiji era being that their government was heavily focused on mainly military domination.
Due to the Manchurian incident, a process began where the Japanese milit...
