Chapter 20 documents
Document 20.1 talks about Hitler on Nazism. Hitler published his political views well before he came to power. In 1919, he joined a very small extremist group called the German Workers Party. That was where he rose quickly to a dominate role based on his powerful oratorical abilities. He launched an unsuccessful armed uprising in Munich for which he was arrested and imprisoned in 1923. He reorganised his party on his release from jail, but it was not until the world depression hit Germany that the Nazis were able to attract significant followers. In office, Hitler set about consolidating his power, appointing Nazis to government and gaining control of emergency powers. He eliminated all opposition, in the name of emergency control and, with the death of Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler's power was secured. After that Hitler put Germany's unemployed to work on a massive rearmament programme, using propaganda and manufacturing enemies, such as the Jews, to prepare the country for war. Document 20.2 talks about the Japanese way. Kokutai was an evocative term that referred to the national essence or the fundamental character of the Japanese nation and people. The national essence of Japan was defined as a loving, liberty based, and equal country. The author's stated Japan was better and didn't need Western ideas. The ideal role to the individual in Japan is being loyal, mostly to the Emperor. An individual is an existence belonging to the state, and their history is fundamentally one body with it. Japan states that they are growing and becoming more powerful. Their military is growing increasingly.