The significant differences in Hitler and Stalin's methods of terror and repression illuminate distinct features of their individual dictatorships. Stalin's dictatorship employed methods including mass arrests, purges, and forced labour camps such as the infamous Gulag system. Meanwhile, Hitler's Nazi administration employed mass propaganda and inhumane violence to promote racial policies. The brutal slaughter of millions in concentration camps during the Holocaust exemplified these terror and repression tactics utilized. All things considered, Hitler's dictatorship left a legacy of unimaginable human misery and genocide, while Stalin's government left a legacy of terror and persecution. By examining these distinctions, it will clarify the …show more content…
Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union relied heavily on the NKVD, a pervasive secret police force, to enforce its grip on power through intimidation and violence. As historian Anne Applebaum notes, "The NKVD was a state within a state, with its own laws, its own ideology, and its own code of behaviour." The NKVD operated a vast network of informants and surveillance, facilitating mass arrests, interrogations, and executions of perceived enemies of the state. Enforced disappearances were a common tactic, instilling terror by arbitrarily detaining individuals without a process or accountability. Millions of people were also compelled to work under the notorious Gulag system, which was in short, forced labour that was used as a means of punishment. In order to promote ideological conformity, Stalin's leadership also maintained an ever-present propaganda operation that idealised the state and degraded opponents. This climate of fear stifled dissent and enabled the regime to maintain control through brutal forces. In contrast, millions of people were systematically persecuted and killed by Hitler's Nazi administration due to their race, religion, or perceived racial inferiority. This systematic persecution was central to Nazi ideology, which advocated for the supremacy of the …show more content…
Hitler's belief in racial purity and the creation of the Aryan state were inevitably linked to his use of terror. His obsession with exterminating Jews and other "undesirables" became the driving force behind the Holocaust, leading to his eventual suicide in 1945. As the war went on, this murderous enthusiasm grew more intense, consuming enormous resources and ultimately leading to the fall of the Nazi regime. Hitler encouraged broad resistance and alienated potential associates with his uncompromising ideology and violent tactics. The Nazi regime's unsustainable and obsessive concentration on terror and racial elimination contributed to its ultimate defeat by the Allied forces. In contrast, Stalin's brutal elimination of supposed opponents secured his power but also severely damaged the Soviet military and government by removing experienced officers and fostering mistrust. Social cohesiveness was further undermined, and any possible opposition was suppressed by the widespread application of the Gulag system and the NKVD's surveillance. Stalin was able to hold onto power until his death in 1953, but his use of terror left the Soviet Union severely damaged. Stalin's terror-driven strategy was gradually criticized in the post-Stalin era, highlighting its unsustainable nature and
I know you 've heard of a terrible and cruel dictator taking over and killing anything and everything that gets in his way of what he wants, but you might not have heard of this tragic and historic event. The Great Terror, also known as The Blood Purges of 1936 to 1938, was a series of horrific and barbaric assassinations based on the actions of Joseph Stalin. The purges began in October 1936 and ended in November 1938. The Great Terror occurred in the Soviet Union, but mainly in the city of Moscow. The purges were killings that were directly towards government officials, political leaders, leading cultural figures, followers of those figures, and even civilians. The many men and women Joseph Stalin killed or had killed were because they either
In Edger Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado the narrator, Montresor, seeks revenge against his friend Fortunato who he claims had cause him many injuries. The story takes place during carnival time and many are celebrating even Fortunato who was dressed as a clown and wore a colorful hat with bells. Fortunato had been drinking which made him even less aware of any sort of plot against him. Montresor lures him into his wine vaults and easily chains him to a wall deep inside a small crypt. Fortunato is too drunk to even comprehend what is happening or even resist. Finally Montresor builds a stone wall confining Fortunato inside to die. In the story we can distinguish many notable characteristics of Montresor. He may be perceived as heatless or even bit psychotic. We can learn about his personality through his motives and actions as the story progresses.
When Hitler and the Nazi Party first entered power, they proposed strict and unimaginably radical policies. Their goal as the dominant political power was to create a “pure” German society. The idea of a “pure” German society stemmed from the idea that certain racial groups and ethnicities were undesirable and inferior. With that in mind, they sought to completely eliminate, through annihilation tactics, Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, biracial children, handicapped citizens, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and any other individual(s) who opposed their radical ideologies. However, the most questionable part of these tactics was how and why the Nazis chose them. Of the many ways dictators and corrupt governments had tortured their citizens in the past, why was Hitler determined that the Einsatzgruppen, ghettos, and concentration camps were going to be the methods of choice to mass murder the Jewish people. Robert Payne notes in his book The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler that Hitler was not satisfied with a gruesome murder of the Jewish race. He preferred them to die in agony and complete humiliation. Methods of mass murder such as killing squads (the Einsatzgruppen), ghettos, and concentration camps proved themselves as the perfect final solution. These tactics would exterminate Jews at an increasing rate while removing them of their respectable status.
Joseph Stalin once said, “Death is the solution to all problems. No man-no problem.” He followed his philosophy throughout his rule. Joseph Stalin was a cruel Russian man who ruled the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR) from 1941 to 1953, many have idolized Joseph Stalin, while others have hated him. Joseph stalin grew up extremely poor and by his ultimate determination to transform the USSR, he became a ruler of a very powerful union. His goal was to positively transform the USSR from a peasant society to an industrial superpower. Joseph Stalin ran a government of fascism, killed millions, ruled in terror, took over agriculture by killing millions, and focused on running a government with complete power and turn it into an industrial
People say that the Stalin’s Great Purges could otherwise be translated as Stalin’s Terror. They grew from his paranoia and his desire to be absolute autocrat, and were enforced the NKVD and public show trials. When someone went against him, he didn’t really take any time in doing something about it. He would “get rid of” the people that went against industrialization and the kulaks. Kulaks were farmers in the later Russian Empire. (“Of Russian Origin: Stalin’s Purges). There were many reasons as to what caused the Great Purges but the main one seems to be Stalin. He believed that the country had to be united under the circumstances that he becomes the leader if it was to be strong. The Soviet Union was industry was weal and in the decline, obviously lacking the capacity to produce enough meal and heavy machinery for the imminent war.
Under the rule of Joseph Stalin, millions of people were killed. They were also tortured in cells called the GULAG and they were brainwashed to kill others. Stalin also killed many high-ranking officials and rivaling army members during his purges. Stalin struck fear in everyone around him and could not be trusted, but was so powerful that everyone respected him. They knew what he could do to them and they did their best to listen to all of his commands. With all the deaths that Stalin caused and how he governed his people actually alerted followers to implement this type of
At the start of the 20th century, Russia began to rapidly change. The Czarist autocracy that was previously in place was overthrown and the most influential family, the Romanovs, were no more. The Russian Revolution was soon in full swing and people were needed to take charge. One of the leader who emerges as a result of this is Joseph Stalin. Starting out as a simple countryside peasant, he quickly rose to a position of power. Eventually reaching the position of dictator, he implemented new policies that would further industrialize Russia as well as further progressing his goal of having total control over the Russian people. These policies include his 5-year plans as well as the creation of a totalitarian state. Joseph Stalin is, by many, considered one of the most ruthless leaders in the history of the world.
Joseph Stalin was one of the Soviet Union’s most influencial leaders. When he came to power after Lenin’s death he began suppressing opposition to his rule and sought to create an economy that was based on command. This resulted in the Soviet Union being able to withstand the invasion of the Germans in the Second World War. It also enabled them to come out of the war as a Superpower. This paper will look at Stalin’s new society and how it effected the citizens of the Soviet Union before the war.
Two totalitarian systems, Communism and Nazism were the two most frightening totalitarian political systems in the history of mankind. They were the systems most brutal to its political adversaries but also to its own people and other races and/or religions. Unfortunately our own country, Croatia faced both of them during the 20th century, and some of bad influences we still feel today.In my essay I will do my best to examine these two totalitarian systems, describe their nature in essence and answer question "How did Communism and Nazism influence the societies".
The Development of Totalitarianism Under Stalin By 1928, Stalin had become the undisputed successor to Lenin, and leader of the CPSU. Stalin’s power of appointment had filled the aisles of the Party Congress and Politburo with Stalinist supporters. Political discussion slowly faded away from the Party, and this led to the development of the totalitarian state of the USSR. Stalin, through.
The intentional murder of an enormous group of people is near unthinkable in today’s society. In the first half of the twentieth century, however, numerous authoritarian regimes committed genocide to undesirables or others considered to be a threat. Two distinct and memorably horrific genocides were the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany and the Holodomor by the Soviet Union. In the Holocaust, The Nazis attempted to eradicate all European Jews after Adolf Hitler blamed them for Germany’s hardship in recent years. During the Holodomor, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union attempted to destroy any sense of Ukrainian nationalism by intentionally starving and murdering Ukrainian people. The two atrocities can be thoroughly compared and contrasted through the eight stages of genocide. The Holocaust and Holodomor shared many minor and distinct similarities under each stage of genocide, but were mainly similar to the methods of organization, preparation, and extermination, and mainly differed
The Effects of Stalin on Russia Much like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin was one of the most ruthless and despised people in the recorded history of the world. Stalin, though, found it fit to abuse his people in any way he saw fit. This man started what history now calls "The Great Purge. " Through the late 1920's when the rest of the world was living it up as the roaring 20's came to an end, Joseph Stalin was setting the stage for gaining absolute power by employing secret police repression against opposing political and social elements within his own Communist Party and throughout society.
For a historian, the 20th century and all the historic events that it encompasses represents a utopia with endless sources of inspiration for the analysis of political figures, events and their consequences. Political figures such as Benito Mussolini of Italy, Adolf Hitler of Germany, Mao Zedong of China and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union are all names we are familiar with due to the time period that they influenced; this time period after the trauma and atrocities of World War I and the Great Depression led to completely new forms of government in Europe and beyond. These “manifestations of political evil”, commonly known as totalitarian states, should not be considered as mere extensions of already existing political systems, but rather as completely new forms of government built upon terror and ideological fiction. Therefore, this was also a time in which political philosophers such as Hannah Arendt, the author of the standard work on totalitarianism, “Origins of Totalitarianism”, could thrive. When looking at totalitarianism as a political philosophy, two initial questions have to be dealt with: what is totalitarianism and what kind of effect it had on countries ruled by totalitarian regimes. The reasons for its occurrence have briefly been mentioned above, although there are much deeper ideological, social and economic reasons including imperialism and anti-Semitism. In order to fully understand it, we must also contrast it to other political systems like authoritarianism and dictatorship, which are similar to a certain extent, but lack crucial elements that are in the core of totalitarian ideology. Out of the many examples of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century, Nazi Germany, Communist China and the Soviet Union stan...
Joseph Stalin's Rule Stalin was an evil dictator whose rule did nothing to improve Russia." Joseph Stalin was a dictator of Russia, his plan was to revolutionise. the country. During his reign he achieved his goal but at the cost of millions of lives. He imprisoned millions of his citizens, army and members of the Communist Party.
Historians argue that in Nazism, ‘the value of the totalitarian concept seems extremely limited’ as they compare the regime to other totalitarian states. They state that Nazism could not have been totalitarianism because it wasn’t as organized and monolithically structured as Stalin’s Russia. The Nazism ideology was a mere scheme of self-fulfilment and lacked the methodical theory of Marxism. Under no circumstance was there a level of state possession and influence over the economy in comparison to that which developed in Stalin’s Russia. In spite of the Nazi Party’s dominance over state affairs, authority was divided between themselves and a quantity of major power groups including the industrialists and the armed forces, while Stalin’s Communist Party possessed unconditional power over all Russian state affairs. A German historian stated that Hitler ‘...brought about a state of affairs in which the various autonomous authorities ranged alongside and against one another...’ Hitler relied on a level of popularity from the nation acquired through promoting himself through propaganda to maintain his leadership. There are no implications that Stalin sought popular appeal to maintain his power. Generally, historians have debated the weak dictatorship of Hitler but never have they contemplated ...