What caused the rise (and success) of totalitarianism in Europe and Japan in the 1920s and 1930s?

There
were a number of factors involved in the rise of totalitarianism in the 1920s and 30s. Arguably,
the most important was the onset of the Great Depression, which caused widespread economic
hardship right across the globe. There had been serious economic downturns before, but nothing
quite like this. To make matters worse, it seemed that liberal democratic governments were
incapable of tackling the enormous social and economic problems unleashed by the Great
Depression; it seemed that the old ways of doing things no longer worked.

In
the face of such paralysis on the part of the political establishment, in many countries growing
numberssome out of desperation, others out of convictionturned towards extremes of Left and
Right to provide a way out of the ever-deepening catastrophe. Extreme right-wing parties such as
the Nazis in Germany and the Italian Fascists offered simple solutions to seemingly intractable
problems. Both Hitler and Mussolini promised a massive program of public works that would, they
claimed, put an end to mass unemployment. To many in the growing army of jobless, this was a
powerful message indeed.

An additional factor in the rise of totalitarianism
was the breakdown in the existing international system. Without the involvement of the United
States in the League of Nations, the League lacked the political muscle necessary to uphold the
values of national self-determination enunciated by President Wilson at the end of World War
I.

This dangerous vacuum of authority created an opportunity for countries
such as Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy to become more assertive in their
territorial demands. Before long, all of these countries would embark upon land grabs in open
defiance of international law, safe in the knowledge that the international community had
neither the means nor the political will to stop them.