World War II : A Totalitarian Government Essay

During the 1930’s, the majority of the world was going through a major economic recession, known as The Great Depression. Many people were not satisfied with their lives, as they expected much more to come out of the post-war times. The satisfaction tied to the economic boom in the 1920’s wore off, creating longing for being able to have luxuries in a time where basic needs could not even be met in most circumstances. People wanted radical change. This is the main reason as to why the rise of totalitarian leaders throughout Europe occurred. Totalitarian leaders promised this change, typically delving into stabilizing the economy, lowering unemployment rates, and improving the quality of life for citizens. Freedom became less important in the

The chaos that followed in the wake of World War I allowed and encouraged the establishment of totalitarian regimes. Totalitarianism is a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and required complete subservience to the state. It took place in Germany, Italy,and Japan. This type of militarism went on in many different countries and for many different reasons.

The Totalitarian Aspects of Nazi Germany The government of Nazi Germany was a fascist, totalitarian state. They ruled in Germany ever since Hitler became chancellor in 1933, to 1945. Totalitarianism was a form of government in which the state involves itself in all facts of society, including the daily life of its citizens. It penetrates and controls all aspects of public and private life, through the state's use of propaganda, terror and technology.

World War II was a massive conflict across continents that ultimately caused by one man, this man being Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s rise to power began when he joined the Nazi political party in

World War II was fought between two main opposing forces, the Allies and the Axis forces. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan being the most dominant. On the other hand, some of the countries in the Allied powers were Great Britain, the United States, France, Australia, New Zealand, India, the Soviet Union, Canada, and Greece.

A totalitarian government thrives on selfishness and strive for goals that are always for the benefit of one person or a small group of people that are in power. The most common example of this in world history is Nazi Germany during World War II. This flaw in political history make up a time that most people try to forget. The control that Hitler had over Nazi Germany brought about countless social, economical, and political issues to Europe. His society was founded on a racist hatred towards the

Politics at the time of WWII were, for a lack of better words, confusing. New developments and beliefs involving politics arose around this time period such as nazism, communism, etc. Nazism was mainly seen in Germany and the Nazis were lead by Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany had various corrupt methods in taking over. One example of these corrupt methods was the holocaust, which is still seen as a horrendous incident in present day ().

Americans in the 1960’s lived in a state of fear. Fear of nuclear war, fear of communism, and fear of losing to the Russians in the great race to the moon. However, the biggest fear for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton N. Minow was ignorance. More specifically the spread of ignorance to Americans through the content displayed on television. Minow felt that broadcasters had an obligation to the American people to deliver more educational and enriching content and as FCC chairman it was his job to make sure of that. In his speech, Television and the Public Interest, Minow informed the broadcasters of this fear. The speech primarily appealed to the audience’s emotions by providing logic as to how the content directly

Totalitarianism alsogrew during the 20th century. A totalitarian government is one in which a single party rules over the entire state and has complete control. The people in a totalitarian society have no say in anything. This was the type of society that Hitler controlled. Everyone under Hitler was controlled by his rules and power. When Hitler rose into power, the Germans were still recovering from the aftermath of World War 1. Hitler promised the people radical changes and an end to all their sufferings and before long they came to love him. As a cause for all their sufferings, Hitler blamed the Jews and thus the Holocaust began. Hitler made many promises and told the people whatever he knew they wanted to hear. Before long, the people were brainwashed by him and started to submit to whatever Hitler told them to do. Germany quickly became a totalitarian state. The people were made to think

Before the concept of government existed mankind still attempted to gain dominance over one another. Once the concept was developed governments remained consistent in their attempts to gain control of their people and world domination. Adolf Hitler and other dictators were prime examples of totalitarianism “attempting to control every aspect of its subjects, viewing any sign of independence as treasonous centralized party” ( Quinn 1). Along came “historical catastrophes which would lead them to create a false utopia vision of the just society” (Quinn 2). George Orwell noticed this tug of war for control and wrote about it in his novel. The novel’s protagonist, Winston Smith, would struggle to retain his

Thomas Jefferson once said, “The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors” (McAdam np). In a totalitarian system, however, this is often not the case. Because it requires complete subservience from its citizens and focus primarily on power, a totalitarian government does not, if fact, exist for the interests of the people. Mahmud II’s various policies reveal his totalitarian tendencies regarding issues both foreign and domestic.

The main agenda for totalitarian leaders, were to show the countries as a progressing and perfect nation without any diversity or rights for the people. The time period was , where the Weimar Republic, communism or democracy were struggling and the overly emotional people needed a strong individual like( Adolf Hitler, Stalin and Benito Mussolini) to show

This second global conflict resulted from the rise of totalitarian, militaristic regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan, a phenomenon stemming in part from the Great Depression that swept over the world in the early 1930s and from the conditions created by the peace settlements (1919—20) following World War I.

Hitler as a Totalitarian Dictator Before I begin to answer the question, "to what extent was Hitler a totalitarian dictator", I must first expand on the meanings of these two widely used political terms. In the "Reader's Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary", the definition of totalitarian dictator is as follows: "Totalitarian (adjective). Of, pertaining to, régime which permits no rival loyalties or parties and arrogates to itself all rights including those normally belonging to individuals. "

Two totalitarian regimes which are both political systems and influenced society significantly are Communism and Nazism. They influenced and changed people’s rights, their views on things and people in general. Communism and Nazism are the two totalitarian systems I’m going to talk about. They were spread in different areas, but both of them caused big consequences. Communism started in Russian and spread around in Eastern Europe and Nazism started in Germany and spread in that area. People have gone through many bad times when those two totalitarian systems were in power, but we can’t always say that people’s lives were better before they were in power.