Totalitarian Regimes and World War II Context

Totalitarian Regimes

In light of the crisis of democratic regimes in countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Germany, totalitarian regimes emerged. They shared several features in common:

• Radical nationalism
• Single-party regime
• Single leader or dictator
• Corporate state
• Hostility (to perceived enemies)
• Autarky
• Defense focus
• Antiliberalism
• Anticommunism
• Antifeminism

Hitler and the Nazi State

National Socialism (in German, Nationalsozialismus), exclusively shortened to Nazism, is the ideology of the regime that ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945 following the coming to power of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). Hitler instituted a dictatorship, the self-proclaimed Third Reich.

Causes of World War II

Key factors leading to the conflict included:

• The Failure of Peace Efforts
• The Rise of Fascism
• Formation of the Axis Coalition
• German Aggression in Europe
• The Worldwide Great Depression
• Mukden Incident and the Invasion of Manchuria (1931)
• Japan invades China (1937)
• Pearl Harbor and Simultaneous Invasions (early December 1941)

Consequences of WWII

The aftermath of the war brought significant global changes:

• America and Russia emerged as the new 'superpowers' and immediately started the Cold War.
• The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki created a world terrified by the threat of atomic war.
• Germany was divided and remained so until 1990.
• The League of Nations was disbanded.

Spanish Political Periods

Reformist Biennium (1931–1933)

The first biennium of the Second Spanish Republic constitutes the first stage of this era, delimited between its proclamation on April 14, 1931, and the general elections held in November 1933, which gave way to the second biennium.

Black Biennium (1933–1936)

During this period, the new Government of the Republic was formed by right-wing political formations. The new government paralyzed all the reforms made during the first biennium.

The Popular Front

The Popular Front won the general election of May 3, 1936, securing 386 seats out of 608. For the first time, the Socialists won more seats than the Radical-Socialists, and the Socialist leader, Léon Blum, became the first Socialist Prime Minister of France and the first Jew to hold that office.

The Consequences of the Spanish Civil War

The outcomes of the Spanish Civil War included:

• Thousands of people died in combat, were wounded, crippled, or disabled.
• Destruction of wealth and damage to the institution of the family.
• Constant hatred between families or social groups persisted.