Book Review of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini: Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century by Bruce F. Pauley About the Author Bruce F. Pauley is a celebrated historian of the twentieth century. He authored this work to bring to the world’s attention, his views on the popular dictators that have been considered the greatest rulers by some and the most evil breed of humans by almost all. Bruce F. Pauley had been teaching at the University of Central Florida for thirty-five years before the printing of this book, the author has contributed a period forty-two years to spreading education regarding the history of the world. In the author’s own words, the fascination with history writing started with a visit to Prague in the year 1957 with the American class fellows from Department of …show more content…
The people were incidentally under the control of an even worse government before, and so the opposition and immorality associated with these political parties were at first absent and they were welcomed by the masses. These dictators did not learn about their own mistakes for a long time. Lenin before Stalin did not recognize until for a very long time that his regime’s pattern of taking away businesses and shops from the middle class and the peasants was unappreciated (Pauley, 2009). The later dictators had their own initial propositions for the betterment of the nation. Although, Hitler believed that his origin was superior to that of the Jews; so much better that he felt the need to remove them from every position of power and started their annihilation. Consequently, Stalin felt the need to follow a modified Marxism that later resulted in millions of deaths. Mussolini however was the least damaging of the three, although following the same mentality of Hitler and Stalin; he did not cause as many deaths. The book showcases perfectly how the chosen ‘religion’ of the region, as identified by
These were pivotal times in the annals of world history in the 20th century. Mussolini and Hitler’s rise to power was clearly a threat to the freedoms of the United States and its Allies. Through God’s grace and omnipotence, the US alliance, industrialization and intellectual might, we had the resources required to overcome the fierce and mighty threat of Fascism in the Free World.
Analyze the ways in which technology and mass culture contributed to the success of dictators in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
This essay will compare the three leaders who are famous for their dictatorship and totalitarianism during the 30's decade-Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin. Totalitarianism is when a government gains absolute and total control over the country, including the freedom of thought and will as well as the citizen?s lifestyle, no other political parties are allowed and has the concept where the country is most important. The difference and similarity between their ideology, usage of propaganda & censorship and the method of improving the economy would be stated and explained through examples. Basically, their ultimate aim was the same, they all tried to make their country better. However, there was their own ambition wanting for
Hans Mommsen’s book, From Weimar to Auschwitz, presented an interesting look at Hitler within the Nazi Party. The overriding themes in the chapter “Hitler’s Position in the Nazi System” were the stubbornness and charisma of Hitler and the chaos within the Nazi Party. The weak leadership of Hitler along with the inability to concentrate power to one position helped lead the Third Reich to be a very frenzied and unorganized government.
Dictatorship throughout the ages has mainly led to oppression and conflict between people and government. Some of the notoriously bad dictators took office around the 1920’s and 1930’s. There were three main dictators in that time period and they all ran different countries in very different ways. Josef Stalin was known as the dictator of the Soviet Union, he was all about communism and did not care if there was opposition to his ideas. On the other hand, Benito Mussolini was in charge of Italy and all about fascism. Possibly the worst known dictator of all times was Hitler, in charge of, Germany, he was all about Nazism. Each had a different outlook on ruling, but they all did things similarly to lead to nations hatred against them. Basically, their ultimate goal was to do what was best for their countries, however, there want for power tended to get in the way. They all wanted to accomplish many things, they used many different ideas and ways to run their nations. They were all blamed for their nations demise in one way or another. This essay will discuss the similarities and differences between Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini.
Hitler and Mussolini looked upon the new form of government, which was Totalitarianism. This form of government means there is only one leader to make decisions and thus they killed or jailed all opponents. Mussolini and Hitler used this form of government after World
The debate as to whether Hitler was a ‘weak dictator’ or ‘Master of the Third Reich’ is one that has been contested by historians of Nazi Germany for many years and lies at the centre of the Intentionalist – Structuralist debate. On the one hand, historians such as Bullock, Bracher, Jackel and Hildebrand regard Hitler’s personality, ideology and will as the central locomotive in the Third Reich. Others, such as Broszat, Mason and Mommsen argue that the regime evolved out from pressures and circumstances rather than from Hitler’s intentions. They emphasise the institutional anarchy of the regime as being the result of Hitler’s ‘weak’ leadership. The most convincing standpoint is the
Almost everyone knows what a monster Adolf Hitler was, but most people do not know that one of the great ally leader of World War II, Joseph Stalin, had committed even greater atrocities than Hitler. Joseph Stalin was a ruthless and yet diligent dictator of the Soviet Union, whose rise to power influenced a multitude of major events in his country’s history. Due to Stalin’s impactful reign, he made the Soviet Union become a global superpower, underwent difficult hardships such as the Great Famine in the Soviet Union, and after his death, caused the Soviet Union to go through a process known as de-Stalinization.
Throughout all the worlds significant and powerful leaders, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were two men that similarly abused their powers in ways never seen before.
True Liars, True Haters, True Dictators How has the theory of dictatorship transpired between Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin? These three dictators have intersected each other’s path over the years, which justifies each dictators views. Though they were all destined for glory and fame, they each faced similarities and differences leading up to their deaths. To begin with, Adolf Hitler was the most barbaric and self sufficient dictator of them all. In fact, “For years before becoming Chancellor of Germany, Hitler mentioned in his writings and speeches of superiority of the Germanic race,” (ushmm.org 2017).
When considering historians accounts on whether Hitler was a “Weak dictator.” due to his erratic ineptitude as a leader or whether he was actually “The Master of the Third Reich.”, it’s essential to look upon the historians argument and whether it’s credible or not. With a look at the differing historian’s views it’s evident that there’s clear difference between the historians viewpoints; some portray Hitler to be a lazy and reluctant decision maker and was merely “One extreme element of the extensive malevolence that was the Nazi system.” Whereas others argue that Hitler had reached a state of absolutism as he controlled all areas of Nazi government and thus tailored a social Darwinist bureaucracy which was driven to implement his world view” . Both sides of the argument can be divided into two different aspects: Some historians argue from an ‘Intentionalist’ viewpoint where Hitler had total control whereas others would argue from a ‘Structualist’ viewpoint thus suggesting Hitler didn’t have full control due to his poly-cratic style of leadership and there was more than one element of rule within Nazi Germany.
The first world war effected the outlook of European countries, and allowed for dictators to present ideas to countries desperate for change. Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in the Soviet Union, and Hitler in Germany all formed plans in hope to bring their countries back stability. Critical to the plans were the Ideological foundation and policies of persecution, which outlined the ambitions and standards of the country. The dictators in order to gain popular support needed to present a convincing plan to gain the trust from their countries. Hitler and Mussolini shared similar ideological foundations based on fascism, which focused on racial purity and bringing the country under one voice.
Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin had an immensely amount of charisma that made them the top three dictators too stand out the most. Charisma means a quality about a leader that makes people eager to follow him or her. This helped these three dictators extremely too become a leader. Mussolini was the prototype of the twentieth century charismatic dictators. His charisma attended the founding of Fascism.
Hobbes believed that in a totalitarian government where individuals could sacrifice their civil liberties for safety and stability; he believed in a government that could only maintain its power if it was serving the common good, the people. Karl Marx also argued that the common good could only be met by a strong, dictatorial government. His idea of a transitional, authoritarian regime of the proletariats severely affected Russian politics for many decades. As history has shown us, the removal of civil liberties centralized under the power of a single authoritarian identity helps solidify stability by allowing the state to act swiftly and powerfully to terminate potential crisis. However, while such a style of political rule has been temporarily set up in Russia and Germany, both Countries failed at serving the common good. Millions of Russians were killed ruthlessly in Soviet concentration camps, Gulags, and many others through persecution and the widespread purges of dissidents. Soviet workers were forced into laborious work days which were inherently dangerous. While Lenin initially allowed an election as soon as he took power, he immediately abolished the results after losing to an opposing party. Instead of following the wishes of his people, he removed political opposition to strengthen his control. Similarly, Nazi Germany was being ruled by a strong and unquestionable leader at the time. While Hitler was able to stabilize his State, he failed at serving the common good. Millions of Jews were executed or sent to labour camps through Nazi eugenics. While ‘pureblood’ Germans saw some minor benefits during Nazi control, the gain of these few fall drastically short when measured against the suffering felt by people globally caused by Nazi policy. In no sense were either of these states
On The 30th of January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. In the 18 months succeeding this, Hitler became, essentially, a dictator. This essay will look at what a dictatorship is and how it operates, how the population is brought to a point where they accept a dictatorship, and examine and analyze the vital events that took place in Germany which lead to Hitler assuming dictatorial power: the Reichstag fire, the Emergency Decree, the Enabling Act, the banning of trade unions and other political parties, the Night Of The Long Knives, the death of President Hindenburg, and the German army’s oath of loyalty to Hitler. It will