Definition
Dictatorship is form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations. The term dictatorship comes from the Latin title dictator, which in the Roman Republic designated a temporary magistrate who was granted extraordinary powers in order to deal with state crises. Modern dictators, however, resemble ancient tyrants rather than ancient dictators. Ancient philosophers’ descriptions of the tyrannies of Greece and Sicily go far toward characterizing modern dictatorships. Dictators usually resort to force or fraud to gain despotic political power, which they maintain through the use of intimidation, fear, and the suppression of basic civil rights. They may also employ
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Rule by dictators has taken several different forms. In Latin America in the 19th century, various dictators arose after effective central authority had collapsed in the new nations recently freed from Spanish colonial rule. These caudillos, or self-proclaimed leaders, usually led a private army and tried to establish control over a territory before marching upon a weak national government. Antonio López de Santa Anna in Mexico and Juan Manuel de Rosas in Argentina are examples of such leaders. Later 20th-century dictators in Latin America were different. They were national rather than provincial leaders and often were put in their position of power by nationalistic military officers. They usually allied themselves with a particular social class, and attempted either to maintain the interests of wealthy and privileged elites or to institute far-reaching left-wing social …show more content…
By May 1933, the Nazi Party felt sufficiently strong to publicly present their beliefs when Goebbels organized the first of the infamous book burning episodes. Books that did not match the Nazi ideal was burnt in public – loyal Nazis robbed libraries to remove the ‘offending’ books. As Bertolt Brecht said “Where one burns books, one eventually burns people”.
The same approach was used in films as the Nazis controlled film production. Films released to the public concentrated on certain issues: the Jews, the greatness of Hitler, and the way of life for a true Nazi especially children, and as World War Two approached, how badly Germans who lived in countries in Eastern Europe were treated. Leni Riefenstahl was a young film producer who impressed Hitler with her ability and thus given a free hand in producing Nazi propaganda films. Riefenstahl made “Triumph of Will”, which is considered one of the greatest propaganda films ever created.
Newspapers in Germany, above all Der Stürmer, printed cartoons that used anti-Semitic caricatures to depict Jews. After the Germans began World War II with the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Nazi regime employed propaganda to impress upon German civilians and soldiers that the Jews were not only subhuman, but also dangerous enemies of the German Reich. The regime aimed to cause support, or at least agreement, for policies aimed at removing Jews permanently from areas of German
Poland was devastated when German forces invaded their country on September 1, 1939, marking the beginning of World War II. Still suffering from the turmoil of World War I, with Germany left in ruins, Hitler's government dreamt of an immense, new domain of "living space" in Eastern Europe; to acquire German dominance in Europe would call for war in the minds of German leaders (World War II in Europe). The Nazis believed the Germans were racially elite and found the Jews to be inferior to the German population. The Holocaust was the discrimination and the slaughter of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its associates (Introduction to the Holocaust). The Nazis instituted killing centers, also known as “extermination camps” or “death camps,” for being able to resourcefully take part in mass murder (Killing Centers: An Overview).
In the article it states that “They didn’t simply burn books which they found disagreeable, but the books which advocated ideas which they believed would undermine the health, safety, and welfare of the German nation” (Cline). In the book this is also a reason why the burning of books began due to the book’s content disrupted the perfect happiness everyone in their society had to feel. People in this society are easily offended and in order to protect them they sent out the firemen to burn each message that was trying to be spread in order to keep everything in
(Page 102) Many great works of Jewish authors and even American authors were burned. The point of the book burnings was to erase any form of non-German knowledge and to only allow ideas that supported the Nazi Party. In the book, Liesel steals a book from the fire, which turns out to be a Jewish book. The was caught for stealing by the mayor 's wife, but was easily forgiven and was even allowed to read books in her private library.
In today’s world, there are several types of governments that control their countries. There are democracies, dictatorships, republics, monarchies etc. Absolute monarchy was a very common form of government centuries ago. Throughout this time period, many leaders, dictators, monarchs made mistakes that the government looks at today. The abuse and misuse of power by absolute monarchs inexorably led to the rise of modern democracy. This is shown through leaders abusing their powers as absolute monarchs, the unreliability of monarchy, and corrupt governments.
First, is in 1941, where the Nazis published an article after the Ghetto in Warsaw was established. This article indicated how they were building clean hospitals, making Jews do work, and provided these people with newspapers, career training, and other services as well. While this may seem, surprising the basic purpose was to portray the Nazis as being a symbol of hope and heroism, improving living conditions as they invaded country after country. The next stage was in May 1942, when a 90-minute film was taken that was never finished or published for the public to see. The purpose of this film was to convince the German citizens that this was the lifestyle of the Jews and that they chose to live this way. An example was the Jewish people entering the Ghetto being well-dressed, polite, and mannerly, and then becoming dirty and rotten as they continued their life in the ghetto. Other examples include the Jewish people fighting each other, wearing torn clothes, living in overcrowded areas, causing riots, and eating barely any food, while the truth was it was the Nazis that forced this lifestyle unto
However, though authoritative regimes have the right to exist, it is also considered, now, to be generally immoral; and, combats ideas of personal freedoms and individual rights. Thus, many countries have adopted and manipulated ‘democracy’ in order to reach authoritarian goals. Democracy stands apart from other types of regimes in that it generates freedom, promotes true and fair representation, and encourages self expression. Both communism and authoritarian regimes can become corrupt through the smothering of these individual freedoms. The denial of true representation for the people can stifle socioeconomic goals and development born from invention and innovation. The stigma on authoritarian regimes have become strong enough where currently, countries are self-pronounced democracies with little to no truth behind it.
Many early films made were based on religious contexts and have evolved from romanticism to thrillers, telling different stories (Fang, 1997). There have always been different national cultures being expressed in film. This is seen both in a deliberate and an unconscious fashion until the rise of Hitler in 1933 who stressed that the film should be seen as an art form (Briggs & Burke, 2009). Used by Hitler, the United States, and other world leaders during World War II, the film was seen as a force of with considerable impact onto discourse and culture. Realizing film was not only an entertainment apparatus, but also a tool to disseminate propaganda to the masses. During the Cold War with the red scare running rampant across the U.S., many actors, writers, and directors were black listed from working on films if they were suspected of communist leaning and denied
After gaining independence, Latin American countries had difficulty in how to govern the newly instated states. In the chaos, people took advantage of this and instated themselves as dictators. They had simply took the position from the Spanish that they tried to vanquish (class notes). The power structure remained and the people who fought for independence were largely ignored and continuously oppressed. These dictatorships had remained in power until very recently. Paraguay was finally freed from the dictatorship in 1989 (Chapter
The holocaust was the mass murder of about six million Jews during World War II. The hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group is known as antisemitism. Antisemitism was a centuries old phenomenon. Jews in Europe had always been a minority. In some countries , Jews could not own land, attend school, or practice certain professions. The Holocaust, which was between 1933 and 1945, is history’s most extreme example of antisemitism. A German journalist that was named Wilhelm Marr originated the term antisemitism in 1879. Which symbolized the hatred of Jews, and also hatred of a variety of advanced, catholic, and international political trends of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that were often joined with Jews. The tendency under attack included equal civil rights, required equality, free trade, ownership, account free enterprise, and self control from violence. Between the most casual definition of antisemitism all through history were pogroms. Pogroms were violent riots that were begun against Jews and many times supported by government authorities. Pogroms were often encouraged by blood libels, which were false rumors that Jews used the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes. In the modern era, antisemites added a political quality to their ideas of hatred. In the last third of the nineteenth century, antisemitic political groups were formed in France, Germany and Austria. Advertisements such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion developed or provided support for fake theories of a global Jewish plot. A convincing part of political antisemitism was nationalism, whose supporters often falsely accused Jews as disloyal citizens. The Nazi party, which was established in 19...
Nazis of Germany burnt books to rid the ideas that were not their own. Rebecca Knuth told CBC News the following quote to explain how the Nazis felt about the people that they did not agree with or felt had very different views. “When you destroy a book you are destroying your enemy and your enemy’s beliefs” (Losowsky). In other words, the Nazis were scared of the opposing views from other countries. Another way the Nazis contribute to getting rid of contradicting views is, “The burning was a coordinated action by the Nazi German Student Association’s Main Office for Press and Propaganda, which they called a “cleansing” (Burning). Even the
A dictatorship is a form of government characterized by the absolute rule of one person or small group of people who hold all political power, leaving citizens without a voice on how they are ruled. In the novel “The Queue”, the Gate serves as the authoritarian state, where an invisible government aims to rigidly control its citizens. This surveillance and control has different psychological impacts on the every day existence of people trying to navigate this oppressive and deceptive regime, leading to a slow disintegration of mental and physical health for some characters. In “The Queue”, citizens must line up at the Gate in order to receive bureaucratic permission for almost all daily activities. However, as the queue swells with people,
“Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.” Plato wrote this in 360 B.C.E. in his book titled The Republic, despite it being centuries old, it still speaks the truth. This can be seen in the years before World War 2, when the world saw three major dictators rise to power. Dictators such as Adolf Hitler of Germany, Hideki Tojo of Japan, Benito Mussolini of Italy and Joseph Stalin of Russia were the main dictators who came to power during this time period. The outbreak of these dictators were one of the many direct causes of WWII, and while Stalin was on the side of the Allies, he was still a brutal dictator of his country. But why do these dictators rise to power and what is to say they won’t rise again? An in depth look at the situations that Germany, Italy and Japan were forced to endure along with a look at trends in history can answer these questions.
In the Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, the importance and significance of books plays a central role as a recurring motif. An important scene in the Book Thief occurs at a book-burning rally. In this scene, Nazi book-burning represents both the raw, authoritarian suppression of free speech, while also acknowledging the power and influence of books upon society. Book burning was common in Nazi Germany as a method to censor ideas from people, as books were seen as a possible source of a threat to the Nazi regime, with the potential to spread what the Nazis saw as dangerous ideas among the general population. As such, Nazis often targeted books and writings that could potentially undermine Nazi ideology and ultimately sever the Nazi party’s control
"75th Anniversary of the Nazi Book Burnings." AbeBooks:. AbeBooks Inc., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. .
Leni Riefenstahl is seen in two lights; one being as a Nazi propagandist and the other as a passionate pioneer filmmaker. Those who view Riefenstahl as a propagandist are critical of her actions and motives that took place within the reign of the Third Reich. Those that view Riefenstahl as a filmmaker admire her passion for the arts and her desire to fulfil her dreams. In a critical view it can be said that Riefenstahl had a significant impact on Nazi propaganda and how it contributed to the Nazi Regime. However it is also possible to conclude that Riefenstahl was solely focused on her career and was blind to the severity of the regime, as were millions of others. Whether or not Riefenstahl knew what was happening, her overall contribution was not as significant to the Third Reich as it was to the art of cinematography.