Term 3 extra credit

                                                                                                                                      John Luby

                                                                                                                                     

                                                               Term 3 Extra credit

                   Throughout the many units we have studied this year the two that strongly connect to the World War II unit are the nationalism unit and the industrial revolution unit.  Nationalism caused many nations to grow economically stable and made citizens to become proud that they are citizens of the nation. This pride and nationalism was a product of an increase in industrialization. This newly found wealth gave countries like Germany, Italy and Russia the ability to overcome their economic challenges and try to become a strong global power.  The Totalitarian leaders used this pride and new gained loyalty to their benefit by convincing the public that what they were doing was completely all right. Benito Mussolini for example implanted the idea that dying for the nation in a war was supporting the nation. This nationalism gave Mussolini a lot of loyalty from the citizens of Italy. In Germany Adolf Hitler convinced the citizens of Germany that the economic struggles were caused by the Jews. Hitler then used realpolitik by completely ignoring the Treaty of Versailles and started industrializing more and building up Germany’s Army. This increased industrialization was a product of nationalism. This major increase of industrial wealth wouldn’t have been possible if Hitler hadn’t used the Jews as a scapegoat thus instilling nationalism into the public. However this sudden loyalty and nationalism would also not have surfaced if the German economy wasn’t suffering.  German citizens were very accepting of the idea of creating more jobs by industrializing even if it meant going against the Treaty of Versailles.