The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the 1930s as Totalitarian States

The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the 1930s as Totalitarian States

A totalitarian state usually refers to a country in which the central

government has total control over almost all aspects of people's life.

Main features include an infallible leader, one-party rule, elitism,

strict party discipline, purges against enemies and political

dissidents, planned economy, strong armaments, indoctrination,

encouragement of nationalism, an official doctrine that everybody has

to believe, and absolute obedience of individuals to the State, etc.

In the 1930s, to a large extent, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin

and Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler could be deemed totalitarian

states.

The rise of totalitarianism in Europe was partly due to

dissatisfaction with the Paris Peace Settlement. Both Germany and the

Soviet Union were not invited to the Paris Peace Conference. Having

not consulted in advance, the Soviet Union was forced to agree to the

independence of the three Baltic States and Poland. As the major

defeated country, Germany was heavily punished by the Treaty of

Versailles. She was to lose all her overseas possessions, pay a huge

indemnity, accept almost total disarmament and the "war-guilt" clause,

etc. Also, both countries had an unsuccessful experiment of

parliamentary democracy. The success of the October Revolution in 1917

was largely due to the incapability of the Provisional Government to

solve wartime difficulties. Similarly, Hitler rose to power in 1933

because he took advantage of the discontent among Germans with the

incompetent Weimar Republic in tackling postwar difficulties. Both

Russia and Germany lacked democr...

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1930s seemed to be pacifist. Before 1945 Stalin made no direct

territorial annexation for Russia. He joined the League of Nations and

disbanded the Comintern. By "Socialism in One Country" he promised not

to support proletarian revolutions overseas. In fact, he just wanted

to fish in troubled water over the hostility between Nazi Germany and

the western democratic countries. In 1939 he signed the Nazi-Soviet

Non-Aggression Pact, intending to get back the three Baltic States.

Facing the imminent Nazi threat, moreover, Stalin gave up the Marxist

idea of internationalism but stirred up enthusiasm of Russian

nationalism at home. Hence, both aimed at territorial expansion.

To conclude, both Stalin's Soviet Union and Hitler's Nazi Germany

during the 1930s could be considered totalitarian states to a very

large extent.