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Once they came to power, both Hitler and Mussolini took total control of their nations. Elections ended. Newspapers that spoke out against the dictators were closed.
The Nazis and the Fascists jailed anyone who disagreed with them. Or they killed them. Fear silenced most of their foes. Both dictators rebuilt their nation’s armed forces. In 1936, they formed a partnership called the Rome-Berlin Axis. Four years later, Japan joined them. Throughout the 1930s, all three took over weaker nations. When democratic countries like Britain, France, and the U.S. did little to stop them, the dictators grew bolder. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France then declared war on Germany. World War II had begun.
