A Comparison of Hitler and Stalin

Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 on the border between Austria and Germany. His father, Alois Schickelgruber Hitler, was a customs official and his mother, Klara Poelzl, a peasant girl. As a child, Hitler appeared to posses no striking qualities and indeed lived quite an unremarkable life until his moving to Munich in 1913. The life of Joseph Stalin begun not too dissimilarly, born in the Russian province of Georgia, in 1879 unto his mother Yekaterina, and her husband Vissarion Djugashvili, his childhood too, was difficult and at the age of nine he was enrolled in the elementary clerical school in Gori.

These men have since become recognised as two of the most brutal leaders of the most horrifying dictatorships in recent history and when comparing both of their individual roads to power, it can be said that, although their lives may have some notable differences, as would be expected given their geographical and environmental differences, as a whole, the critical factors in their plights for power were relatively parallel, therefore the statement may be put forward that the paths to power of both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were in fact quite notably similar.

Stalin's first strong political influences were believed to have begun with his being introduced into a group of underground Russian Marxists. Stalin was enthralled by Marxism, and quickly became a passionate follower, who regularly read about and attended discussions on the theories of Darwin, Marx and Lenin. Such schools of thought were not accepted in the seminary and Stalin soon left Gori for Tbilisi, where, at its railway yards, which, like many others being a key focus of political activity, became his first `posting.' Among this, Stalin's first course of acti...

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...Stalin's case, Hitler was able to then, by way of great manipulation on Hindenburgs part, to pass the enabling act, which in turn was a key element in his final success in becoming Dictator. Therefore, after both leaders got far enough up the political hierarchy, they were both able to very skilfully reach their goals of becoming dictators in their own right by precision planning and great knowledge of their political systems.

Therefore, it is evident that both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin shared many commonalities in their political careers, whether it be through their similar beginnings, their punishments received, their climbing of the political ranks or their rather paralleled final and very successful attempts of becoming dictators in their own rights. It is subsequently quite clear that the paths to power of Hitler and Stalin are quite notably similar.