The Meaning of the Term Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism was a one-party political system that was based on
dictatorship. It first started in Europe in the 1920s and 30s. It
was an absolutism that emphasized the importance of the state at the
expense of individual liberties. It displays the following features:
One-party dictatorship and one-man rule were emphasized in a
totalitarian state. Only one party ruled in a totalitarian state, for
example, the Fascist Part in Italy, the Nazi Party in Germany and the
Communist Party in the Soviet Union. All other political parties were
made illegal, banned and suppressed by terrorist acts. The party and
the part leader had absolute control over the state. All citizens
owed absolute obedience to the ruler, for example, Il Duce in Italy
and Fuhrer in Germany.
Opposition was suppressed. The totalitarian government can tolerate
no opposition. All opposition parties, newspaper and opponents were
suppressed by terrorist acts, persecution and secret police. Secret
police were set up to watch and arrest opponents, for example, OVRA in
Italy, Gestapo in Germany and Cheka in Soviet Russia.
The totalitarian government controlled thoughts and public opinions.
The totalitarian government controlled thoughts and public opinions
through censorship, religion, mass media and education. Textbooks
were changed to glorify the state, and were used to produce loyal
citizens, e.g. children in Germany were forced to join the Hitler
Youth to produce loyal Nazis.
The totalitarian government owned or supervised all industrial
productions. All economic production served the interests of the
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...er the weak,
hence supported the dictatorial rule of totalitarianism, which adopted
an expansionist foreign policy.
The personal ability of the totalitarianism leaders drew wide support
from the people. Mussolini and Hitler had good oratory skills to
build a good image of their political parties. They also had good
organization skills, such as the Blackshirts of Mussolini and the
Brownshirts of Hitler. They were able to make alternative promises to
gain support from different classes. Hence make the revival of
totalitarianism in Europe in the 1920s and 30s inevitable.
In short, the revival of totalitarianism in Europe in 1920s and 30s
was due to a number of subjective and objective factors. The above
reasons finally brought the revival of totalitarianism and hence
brought Europe to the Second World War.
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 power included in their ruling which was probably why they all ended up dictating their county. They all abolished the democracy idea and used similar methods to rule their country, they all had control over the media for example censoring media and books and editing them in order to favor their own image. There are major similarities and minor differences between the ways of these leaders?s ruling. There would be a bigger gap between Stalin and the rest because he claimed himself as a communist whilst Hitler and Mussolini were fascists.
Following the beginning of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union would start what would become two of the worst genocides in world history. These totalitarian governments would “welcome” people all across Europe into a new domain. A domain in which they would learn, in the utmost tragic manner, the astonishing capabilities that mankind possesses. Nazis and Soviets gradually acquired the ability to wipe millions of people from the face of the Earth. Throughout the war they would continue to kill millions of people, from both their home country and Europe. This was an effort to rid the Earth of people seen as unfit to live in their ideal society. These atrocities often went unacknowledged and forgotten by the rest of the world, leaving little hope for those who suffered. Yet optimism was not completely dead in the hearts of the few and the strong. Reading Man is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag by Janusz Bardach and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi help one capture this vivid sense of resistance toward the brutality of the German concentration and Soviet work camps. Both Bardach and Levi provide a commendable account of their long nightmarish experience including the impact it had on their lives and the lives of others. The willingness to survive was what drove these two men to achieve their goals and prevent their oppressors from achieving theirs. Even after surviving the camps, their mission continued on in hopes of spreading their story and preventing any future occurrence of such tragic events. “To have endurance to survive what left millions dead and millions more shattered in spirit is heroic enough. To gather the strength from that experience for a life devoted to caring for oth...
Nazism possess the core features of totalitarianism, however has a few differences which distinguishes it. Totalitarianism, by the Friedrich-Brzezinski definition, is when the government establishes complete control over all aspects of the state,maintaining the complete control of laws and over what people can say, think and do. Nazi Germany satisfies most of this criteria, as they had a one party system without political opposition. Moreover, they had a single unchallenged leader, in Hitler, to whom the entire nation conformed to. Furthermore, the party had nearly complete control over the country, controlling what people thought through propaganda and censorship, as well as what people could do through fear and terror. However, there are
A dictator is a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained power by force, and generally not liked by the community. The major dictators of the 20th century left an infamous legacy behind them, all using similar tactics during their reign. Mussolini, dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1942, used his power to abolish all other political parties in Italy, thus making him superior. Hitler gained dictatorship in the 1930’s. In that time, he purged opposition and used his newly confiscated power to create his definition of superior humans, annihilating entire groups due to them not meeting his criteria for appropriate human value. Stalin exterminated millions who opposed them and expelled all free expression. The leaders had similar rises to power and methods of that assumed power.
In her excerpt "Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government" from her book The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt reveals that terror is at the core of a totalitarian government, and that this terror is based upon ideology. This type of terror exceeds fear. Totalitarianism dominated many governments during the twentieth century. Unlike other forms of government that oppress its people; a totalitarian form of government escapes the boundaries of definition. A totalitarian government is commonly mistaken as a tyranny or dictatorship. Arendt explains that this is because it must begin as a tyranny to lift the boundaries of the laws. Arendt uses two particular governments as examples to help clarify the nature of a totalitarian government; fascist Germany and communist Russia. According to Arendt, the totalitarianism that rose in Germany was based upon the ideology of racism. It was propagated by Hitler and enforced by the Nazi regime. This form of totalitarianism led to the ultimate form of terror: human cruelty and death. Arendt compares that in communist Russi...
You would be lying to yourself if you thought that an attempt of a society based solely on hate has not tried to survive throughout our human history. A totalitarian society is defined as a centralized government that doesn’t tolerate parties with differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life. There have been various attempts to design a totalitarian type of government, but all have failed for more than one reason. A society based solely on hate can’t survive due to the obstacles of freethinkers and challenges of forcing an emotion like hate on people would destroy the society slowly from the inside out.
Has there ever been a more ruthless and evil leader than Adolf Hitler? According to statistics, Joseph Stalin was far more heinous. Joseph Stalin is considered one of the most controversial leaders in world history. Although the Soviet Union was transformed into a modern superpower under his rule, the ethics used are questionable. The 5 year plan came to be as an outline for Russia’s development. In addition, Stalin’s glorification came as a necessity to motivate people. Also, in order to maintain his control, Stalin exterminated his opposition.
create a German Air force and in March 1935 he said that he was going
In many real and fictionalized totalitarian societies, children live apart from their families. There can be many reasons for them doing so. It could be because they want to brainwash them and don’t want their thoughts to be skewed from the belief of their families. And it could also because they don t want them to have any special connections to any other people to replicate a feeling of equality amongst all people. It also causes them to have no sense of individuality. Also, by separating the child at birth it prevents the parent from growing any feelings such as love towards the child. By separating the children from their families at birth it sets them up in a position to be taught without questioning the way the society wants them to believe.
The domination of political control must be all encompassing and commands authority from the public and private lives of citizens to the functions of social and economic institutions in order to be distinguished as a totalitarian state. Through the study of Juan Linz, Hannah Arendt and other political philosophers, we are able to define the Soviet Union under Stalin’s control as a true totalitarian regime. The simultaneous components of the center of power surrounding Stalin and his Central Committee, a Stalinist ideology manipulated from Marxist and Leninist philosophy, and the mobilization of the population to participate in collectivization and the Five-Year Plans are parallel to Linz’s three basic characteristics a totalitarian system: a monistic centre of power, an ruling ideology and an active participation of citizens for social tasks. The terror legitimized by this ideology, the propaganda surrounding Stalin’s “personality cult”, the millions of citizens purged in the 1930’s and the constant fear of internal enemies and surveillance by both the secret police and friends and neighbours defines totalitarianism as Arendt’s “novel form of government.” A totalitarian movement reaches deep into every aspect of society with a monopolized power that attempts to control every citizen's thoughts and actions. It spawns from the myth of total unity or as Stalin describes, unity of a “living organism.” The vision of the party members and citizens must completely align with those of the great leader as they are working towards a collective future and while total immersion is expected, surveillance and terror will promise to oust any hidden dissidents. Stalin as a leader functioned ruthlessly and efficiently to develop the Soviet Union ...
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...
The extent to which Nazi Germany was a totalitarian state can be classed as to a substantial amount. With Hitler as Fuhrer and his ministers in control of most aspects of German social, political, legal, economical, and cultural life during the years 1934 to 1939, they mastered complete control and dictation upon Germany.
The origins of Fascism as a political ideology and party are often attributed to Benito Mussolini who pioneered the concept in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Kallis, 2000). The Fascist ideology viewed the nation as an all-embracing entity; outside of the state no one person is inherently valuable (Kallis, 2000). Fascism utilises the totalitarian style of governing and is therefore opposed to the socialist doctrine which advocates a cooperative society (Kallis, 2000). There are several definitions of the word Fascism and it is defined by The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary (2013) as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralised autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition”. When Fascism is mentioned it is usually in reference to certain regimes in countries like Italy, Germany, Spain and Indonesia; with Italy and Germany being the most notable. This essay will explain the ideology of Fascism as it pertains to both countries and discuss the similarities and differences between Italian Fascism focusing on Benito Mussolini’s reign and fascism in Germany, specifically Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism, also known as Nazism.
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 War One to make their countries into world powers.
By the mid-1930s, Stalin had forcibly transformed the Soviet Union into a totalitarian regime and an industrial and political power. He stood unopposed as dictator and maintained his authority over the Communist Party. Stalin would not tolerate individual creativity. He saw it as a threat to the conformity and obedience required of citizens in a totalitarian state. He ushered in a period of total social control and rule by terror, rather than constitutional government.