Abuse Of Power Dbq Research Paper

969 Words2 Pages

Power is one force that has the ability to distort people’s minds and cause them to do unspeakable things. Throughout the world, people have used and abused their power for the wrong reasons. On the other hand, there have also been people who were able to use their power and create a more successful life for many people. Power has the ability to be a positive force, but when it is in the hand of the wrong people, it often times can be detrimental to certain cultures.
Throughout history, there have been many rulers who have used power to their advantage and taken from their people, instead of spreading power throughout their country. Power is one force that has the ability to distort people’s minds and cause them to do unspeakable things. …show more content…

He used propaganda in order to make himself appear stronger, bigger, and more important than anyone else in Germany (Doc7a). For leaders, propaganda was a campaigning force that led the citizens of their nations to believe they had power. This could be a dangerous thing because often times, the propaganda warped the true intent behind the leader’s thoughts and plans for the country (OI). Hitler used the followers that he built up in order to discriminate against minorities and people that he believed to be less than the Germans. This is an example of a leader using his abilities for the wrong reasons. Hitler had the power and the followers to make a positive impact on the world, but somewhere along the way, he decided to use his power for the worse. During World War 2, millions of Jews were killed and tortured in concentration camps all throughout Germany and Austria (OI). Leaders in the Americas and West Indies also used their power in the wrong way. Between 1650 and 1860, around 15 million slaves were transported from Africa to all around the world (Doc 1). While this may have been helpful for the Americas, it destroyed societies …show more content…

Gandhi was a leader who used peaceful protesting in order to receive the outcome him and his people strived for. He built up a following of many Indians and was able to use this nonviolent resistance, or satyagraha, to free the Indians and South Africans from their repressive rulers (Doc 6). Gandhi did not use his power to instill violence and he did not use his power to take over another group of people. Instead, he used his power for the right reasons without injuring or killing anyone in his path. In this case, power was with the right person and this person was able to make a real, positive difference for countries. Robespierre was one of the leaders of the French Revolution. He used his power to try and give himself and other members of the third estate rights and justice that many other people in France had (OI). While he did see terror as justice and as a way of getting what the people wanted, democracy, he did not use it for the wrong reasons (Doc 2). Instead of repressing people with his power he wanted to give the repressed people freedoms. Throughout the French Revolution, he hoped to give the peasants and bourgeoisie the elements to being prosperous members of a functioning society (OI). While Karl Marx is the man behind communism, he originally saw it as a way to make everyone equal in society. He believed people should live in one equal society, instead of the existing

Open Document