Good Essay About Otalitarian Government In Ww I And Then Discuss The Instituting Of Totalitarianism

Totalitarian regimes appeared on European scene immediately after World War I, and indeed all of them had common characteristics despite the ideological separation. In order to understand the origins of totalitarian governments, it is important to trace back to prerequisites that led to the appearance of this phenomenon. Before the 19th century European states were monarchies, which were ruled by “divine” kings. These monarchies then were overthrown by a growing revolutionary trend, starting from French Revolution. Newly formed “democratic” governments pursued and were guided by nationalistic ideals. The Imperialistic ambitions of Britain, Spain and France affected newly unified Italy and Germany, which lately joined the race for the “national wealth”. Germany started to overtake other countries economically: fast industrialization process brought lucrative results, and Germany was able in a very short time to challenge balance of power in Europe. Combined with nationalistic goals and anti-Semitic character Europe became vulnerable to totalitarian regimes right after the end of the WWI.
Totalitarian governments appeared on the European scene in 1920s. They are characterized by having a dictator in power, who has absolute control over its people by exercising terror on them. This control is managed by the methods of mass communication, such as radios and newspapers. There is a heavy censorship present. People are taught their ideologies; indoctrination and cult of personality are the integral parts of totalitarian regimes. Anyone who opposed was persecuted and isolated from the society by various means, such as expulsion or assassination. The police terror flourished. The equality that was promised by the strong leaders, on the contrary, deprived people of the most important right—freedom. There was no freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of associations and freedom of the press. To quote famous words of Mussolini, who said, “all within the state, nothing outside the state, and nothing against the state”. The totalitarian regimes implied greater citizen participation with limited rights.
Post-war economic conditions gave a green light to the dictators coming to power. Decline in economy, mass poverty, disillusionment after WWI and weak governments—all of these served as building blocks for totalitarianism. Italy was a poor nation with a large population. Germany was devastated: economic collapse brought hyperinflation and high unemployment. When a nation suffers from absolute poverty, they become vulnerable and open to be ruled by dictators. In “Mein Kampf” Hitler wrote that when people are poor, they have no jobs and place to live—they don’t care about the government, all they want is to survive, and they will do anything to survive. Particularly for these reasons history became evident of the rise to power by Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, who were able to use the decline of the society. Literally speaking, the ideologies they advocated seemed to bring the mass to the desirable: individual values were sacrificed to the benefit of the society and creation of the classless state. Nevertheless, the end of equal society was nothing more than a dictatorship.
Totalitarian governments had centralized economies that can be characterized as absolute autarchies. Economy of Russia was on its decline after WWI and Bolsheviks Revolution. When Stalin came to power, he started his 5-year plans to promote economic growth. Heavy industrialization and agricultural development were planned to the extent of stabilizing the economy and sustainment of its citizens. Italy was one of few industrialized states before WWI and after. Italy developed plans of industrialization that proved to its sustainable development. Italy and Germany had an aim of expanding agricultural and industrial production as far as possible. In Germany, government spending was mainly concentrated on military. Hitler was able to lift Germany out of depression, and this was due to creating job places through rapid industrialization. Germany was able to sustain its nation with everything needed. It can be concluded that industrialization was a very important process to make totalitarian regimes survive: industries provided people with jobs apart from satisfying basic needs, and governments could support their economies with domestic production.
Totalitarian societies differed from democratic states, mainly because of having a common goal. Common idea united totalitarian societies, and the whole population was constantly and dynamically moving to achieve that aim. Socialism was goal of Stalinist Russia; people had implicit faith in that someday the whole society will reach socialism, and this notion inspired the whole nation. German societies were united with the belief in “Aryan race” and that Jews were to blame for defeat in WWI. In Italy people also believed in “superior” and “inferior” race as Germans, and both regimes anticipated Victorians of WWI.
Post-war conditions created a policy window for dictators overtaking the state and established a centralized power in the international arena. Governance was restructured in such a way that made it possible to exercise absolute control of the state on its citizens and at the same time support economic growth of the country. Extreme nationalistic shade of the state, which resulted in the invasion of foreign territories, in addition to total mobilization, served as precondition for upcoming war. Totalitarian governments achieved nothing except further destruction of its state, for this time on a much broader scale.