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Leon Blum
Leon Blum led the Popular Front government that ruled France from 1936 to 1937. Blum, who was Jewish, was a reviled enemy of French rightists. The Popular Front government was not successful in maintaining stability, but is notable for its adherence to republican principles and the wide popular participation in the government it encouraged.
Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain served as British prime minister from 1937 to 1940. Considered a failure in foreign affairs, he pursued the failed policy of appeasement in regard to Adolf Hitler’s aggression, signing the Munich Pact.
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco led the Nationalists of Spain in revolt against the Republicans. Upon his victory in 1939, Franco became an oppressive dictator, a position he maintained until 1975.
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George was a talented politician and British moderate who served as prime minister during and after World War I. His exit from government in 1922 signaled the end of centrism and the beginning of extremist politics in Britain.
Gyula Gömbös
In 1932, General Gyula Gömbös came to power as prime Minister of Hungary, an office he used as a dictatorship. He was not a strong enough ruler to initiate a truly fascist state, but he was quite powerful, and quite conservative, as well as being openly anti-Semitic. Gömbös set the tone for a string of conservative prime ministers who practiced open anti-Semitism, and eventually cooperated with Germany in its efforts at European domination.
Paul von Hindenburg
A leading figure in the German military during World War I, Hindenburg had the misfortune of serving as the President of Germany from 1925 to 1934. He was unable to hold off the rise of the Nazi Party, and in 1933 appointed Hitler chancellor, an action followed by a string of concessions to Hitler until Hindenburg’s death in 1934.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was the leader of the fascist Nazi Party that rose up to lead Germany into World War II. Hitler undertook measures to improve Germany’s floundering economy and promised Germans a return to past glory.
Benito Mussolini
Mussolini became Italy's premier on October 30, 1922. He consolidated power by using force and intimidation to eliminate his opponents and create a totalitarian state. Mussolini was sympathetic to Hitler’s desires for global hegemony, and would join Germany as an ally during World War II.
Joseph Pilsudski
Pilsudski took advantage of Poland’s weak democracy to become virtual dictator in 1926, a position he maintained until 1935. Though his method of government was questionable, Pilsudski provided a measure of stability and strength to Polish politics, which floundered after his death.
Raymond Poincare
Poincare was the stable political leader of France’s conservatives. He served as prime minister from 1922 to 1924, and from 1926 to 1929, providing stability to the otherwise chaotic French government.
Joseph Stalin
Stalin became the leader of the Soviet government upon Vladimir Lenin’s death in 1924. He established a totalitarian state in the Soviet Union, consolidating power and purging the party of his enemies during the 1930s, while forcing a command economy on the Soviet people.
Leon Trotsky
Trotsky was Stalin's chief competition for leadership of the Communist Party, presenting his theory of “permanent world revolution” against Stalin’s “socialism in one country.” When Stalin came to power, Trotsky was expelled from the party and fled the Soviet Union. He eventually fled to Mexico, where a Stalinist agent killed him in 1940.
