Hitler as a Totalitarian Dictator
In order for me to begin answering the question whether or not Hitler
was a totalitarian dictator I must first identify the significance of
the key phrase ‘Totalitarian Dictator’ exactly what it means and what
factors of a totalitarian dictator were employed in Germany.
I believe a totalitarian dictator must attempt to control every aspect
of life for the people of the nation also dictate as a single party
and only one ruler, they should also have full control over aspects
such as the media and what gets into papers; on the television and on
the radio, the education system and the way the new generation is
taught, the states economy and social life. A totalitarian dictator
would also show very nationalistic views although the use of military
is used to hold order and obedience.
The encyclopaedia Britannica gives the definition:
“In the broadest sense, totalitarianism is characterized by strong
central rule that attempts to control and direct all aspects of
individual life through coercion and repression. The state achieves
popularity through a strong, charismatic leader.”
To answer the question, I must adopt the factors stated above and
compare them to the example of Hitler and Nazi Germany in order to
decide what extent Hitler was a totalitarian Dictator.
Some of the features of a totalitarian dictator Hitler has been
employing even before he had much power. These were the use of
violence and terror to influence and control people, and it was a main
weapon for Hitler against radicals and anyone who would speak out
about his ideas.
Hitler set up the SS and Gestapo to take care of t...
... middle of paper ...
...
censored from newspaper articles and radio shows to cinema screen
productions, Goebbles organisation of the propaganda was essential in
the manipulation of public opinion to be favourable towards the Nazi
Party. Rallies held be Goebbles and Hitler were attended by hundreds
upon hundreds of people and the SA would parade and it was Hitler’s
ability as a charismatic leader and Goebbles excellent ability to
organisation and distribute propaganda which was an essential factor
in the maintenance of Hitler’s total control over Germany.
All of this information leads us to believe that Hitler had total
dictatorship over Germany and he certainly set out to do so, and
although they were largely successful, there were elements of Nazi
rule that were far from totalitarian due to a lack of unity and
purpose within the party.
Hitler blamed the Jews for the evils of the world. He believed a democracy would lead to communism. Therefore, in Hitler’s eyes, a dictatorship was the only way to save Germany from the threats of communism and Jewish treason. The Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was the instrument for the Nazis to convince the German people to put Hitler into power. Point one of the document states, “We demand the union of all Germans in a great Germany on the basis of the principle of self-determination of all peoples.” 1 This point explicates the Nazi proposition that Germany will only contain German citizens and also, that these citizens would display his or her self-determination towards Germany to the fullest.
The setting was perfect as the people of Germany were primed and ready for any leader that would tickle their ears with what they were wanting to hear. World War I was over (#4) and the people of Germany were in an economic depression that crippled the country. The German mark had lost so much value that it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. A good portion of the youth in Germany were raised in fatherless homes. In an article written by Dr. Alice Hamilton, she says this about Hitler's youth: "They were children during the years of the war when the food blockade kept them half starved, when fathers were away at the front and mothers distracted with the effort to keep their families fed. They came to manhood in a country which seemed to have no use for them. Even compulsory military training was no more and there was nothing to take its place" (Perry et. al 358). Hitler, being the sleazy opportunist that he was, capitalized on this state of affairs. In ways that were not politically correct, he was able to influence this segment of the population and hold them in allegiance to his agenda. "Hitler made each insignificant, poverty stricken, jobless youth of the slums feel himself as of the great of the earth, since the youth was a German, a Nordic, far superior to the successful Jew who was driven out of office and counting house to make place for the youth and his like" (Perry et. al 359). The following is an example of how Hitler coerced and manipulated people and how we as managers and leaders can learn from his mistakes. This essay will also address how we can effectively influence people and earn their loyalty. In order to effectively influence peopl...
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...
Hitler and the Nazi Party's Total Control Over the Lives of German People from 1933-1945
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
Before World War II Hitler successfully implemented tactics through propaganda to secure his position as the next German Chancellor. Without using propaganda to increase his popularity Hitler would not have been able to gain the support he needed to gain control of Germany. He manipulated the German people by stating that Germany needs to become united to preserve their freedoms and to keep peace throughout the country. When Hitler was campaigning as a candidate for Chancellor he stated in one of his speeches, “Show tomorrow your firm national unity… Support with me and the Reich Chancellor the principle of equal rights and of peace with honor” (Larson, p. 175). By using a manipulative style of speaking to the public Hitler was able to present himself as one for the people, showing that he prioritized them above everything else. However, this was all a trick to increase Hitler’s popularity so he could eventually become dominant over all aspects of German life. The Nazi Regime achieved this through strategic implementations of propaganda. This desensitized the public into believing Hitler could help Germany in its time of economic and political struggle. A few people were surprised by the amount of propaganda used by the Nazis. One person was a Jewish philologist in Dresden, he noted that, “On every commercial vehicle, post office van, mailman’s bicycle, on every house and shop window, on broad banners, quotations form Hitler are everywhere and al...
The second World War was a consequence of one man and his idealistic dream. Adolf Hitler strove to further the "Aryan" race at the expense of other people and cultures. However, for such an idealistic man, Hitler was fairly unoriginal. He borrowed the swastika, the main symbol used in the war to indicate Nazi rule, from ancient civilizations. Hitler also borrowed mythology from other cultures to promote his ideas.
In WWII Germany was controlled as a fascist totalitarian state under the rule of Adolf Hitler. In 1933, the president of the Weimar Republic appointed Hitler as the chancellor of Germany. He continued gaining support from Germans by telling the Germans what they wanted to hear. He blamed problems on the Jews and promised to solve problems from the depression. Hitler gave the working class more jobs by destroying Jewish companies, the unemployed workers were given jobs of construction of building more works, and farmers were offered higher wages for crops. As chancellor, he controlled the media and censored comments against the war. As a fascist state, extreme nationalism was displayed and gained support through propaganda against Jews. Hitler wanted a larger military for territorial expansion. Eight countries were conquered by him: Poland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the ...
The Holocaust was the great plan to make Jews to become instinct and other people that Hitler considered inferior to him. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in Germany led this great plan from 1933 to 1945. Approximately twelve million people had their lives taken, half being Jews. Everything changed and became impacted all around the world when Hitler took over Germany, he had a strong prejudice against the Jews. His goal was to create the perfect race of human, blonde hair, blue eyed Germans. The soldiers in Hitler’s camp was his followers, the Nazis, which did all of his dirty work for him. There were also many other people that contributed to his massive event. There became different clans and groups of people going out on their own and doing the killing also, not only Jews. For example, the doctors that ran test on people and experimented on the people didn’t care about their patients wellbeing or health
Support for the Nazi party was due to the growing belief that it was a
On 30 January 1933, the German president, Paul von Hindenburg, selected Adolf Hitler to be the head of the government. This was very unexpected. Hitler was the leader of an extreme right-wing political party, the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party. Hitler sought to expand Germany with new territories and boundaries. Hitler also focused on rebuilding Germany’s military strength. In many speeches Hitler made, he spoke often about the value of “racial purity” and the dominance of the Aryan master race. The Nazi’s spread their racist beliefs in schools through textbooks, radios, new...
In 1889 in Austria Adolf Hitler was born. Over the course of his life, he would go on to become the most infamous dictator of all time and cause the death of over eleven million people.
Hitler quickly turned Germany into a totalitarian dictatorship in which all social and economic societies were with the Nazi Party. Up until the start of World War II the terror was relatively small compared to the murder, imprisonment, and harassment of Jews, homosexuals, and even the mentally ill of WWII. After the beginning of World War II, the murder and exterminat...
MODERN HISTORY – RESEARCH ESSAY “To what extent was Nazi Germany a Totalitarian state in the period from 1934 to 1939?” The extent to which Nazi Germany was a totalitarian state can be classed as 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. In modern history, there have been some governments, which have successfully, and others unsuccessfully carried out a totalitarian state. A totalitarian state is one in which a single ideology is existent and addresses all aspects of life and outlines means to attain the final goal, government is run by a single mass party through which the people are mobilized to muster energy and support.
One of the most infamous and powerful dictators of the 20th century would have to be Adolf Hitler. He was the leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. His attack on Poland in 1939 started World War II. He also caused the death of over 6 million Jews and other groups he believed were a threat to Aryan supremacy, during the Holocaust, with the establishments of concentration camps. Hitler then later killed himself on April 30, 1945, in his Berlin bunker with his wife Eva Braun.