Evaluating the Historical Comparisons of Hitler and Stalin
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, great men
almost always are bad men.”
Lord Acton 1887
No other men could fit this description of power and corruption more
perfectly than Hitler and Stalin. Throughout history they have been
both idolised and demonised leading to the overwhelming fascination
the world has with them. Both successfully rose to heights of power in
their own countries which was unprecedented, they were able to
manipulate the public, had strong ideologies and regimes and between
them they were responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent
people. Although on the surface these two men were political
opposites, Hitler a socialist and Stalin a communist, neither were in
fact really either. Instead they used their political stance as a
podium to gain power and control. Eventually they both evolved into
“totalitarian dictators” with the ultimate goal of absolute power and
European domination. So perhaps Lord Acton’s theory was correct that
power is the evil force which corrupts men. Both Hitler and Stalin
were ambitious, power hungry men whose regimes began to turn more
sinister as they gained more power and iconic status. Their barbaric
acts and their ability to control a nation through propaganda have
always influenced historian’s interest in them. It wasn’t until the
late 20th century that historians really began delving into the
amazing amount of evidence which has now become available to link the
two together. The reason historical comparison only emerged some 40
years after their height of power is because evidence on the two was
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...talinism (History Review, Issue 49,
September 2004) p51
[16] http://www.kdhs.org.uk/history/v2/a/as_unit6/kersh1.htm
[17]I Kershaw & M Lewin (edited by) Stalinism and Nazism,
Dictatorships in Comparisons (Cambridge University Press, 1997) p 90
[18] Ibid p 93
[19] Ibid p 9
[20] M Bennett, Nazism and Stalinism, (History Review, issue 45, march
2003) p 8
[21] http://www.jpfo.org/wolfe-blackbook.htm
[22] M Bennett, Nazism and Stalinism, (History Review, issue 45, march
2003)
[23] Ibid
[24] R Pearce, Review of The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s
Russia, (History Today, vol. 54, issue 11, November 2004) p79
[25] Ibid
[26] Ibid
[27] Ibid
[28] M Bennett, Nazism and Stalinism, (History Review, issue 45, march
2003)
[29] http://www.jpfo.org/wolfe-blackbook.htm