Dictatorship is when the government takes control of the entire country including the citizens’ lifestyles, rights and freedoms. This implies that in a totalitarian government like the one established by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin, political opponents were not allowed to influence any activities in their own countries. This paper is therefore intended to bring out the similarities and differences of the above three dictators in terms of their ideology, usage of propaganda and methods that they used to improve their countries’ economies (Weber, 107). Though they were dictators the three had got the same aim of making their countries better. But in their ruling they developed abnormal obsession of power which contributed to their dictatorship. They used same methods to rule their countries by abolishing democracy and taking control of the media. This meant that they censured media and published books which favored their images (Murray, 160).
Adolf, Joseph and Benito did very bad things. To start with their similarities, they all gained office through legal means. Each of them had his political party which he used to sail through to the office. These men found solutions to the unemployment and famine problems in their countries. Hitler came up with plans of rebuilding Berlin in a classical style. He wanted to make up Berlin be with a new look. On the other hand Stalin came up with a five year strategic plan in which he set economic goals which he had to achieve within five years. In deed these economic goals brought an end to the unemployment problem in Russia. Indeed Mussolini came up with ideas that improved the public works in Italy. This system was named as the corporate system and it solved the unemployment problems that were persistent in Italy. He also rebuilt Rome giving the city a new look (Overy, 200).
These leaders had got what they considered as the special policies, and they used them to thrush and dismantle their opponents. For instance Mussolini came up with the Black shirts policies. Through this policy, his government physically attacked the opponents. The attacks were carried in the streets and the opponents holding political offices were driven away from their official offices. Hitler had special policies of his own and they were branded the Brown shirts. In the Brown shirt policies, Hitler forced the Germans to vote for his party, the Nazi party. He also came with the Gestapo, special policy which he implemented by arresting the Jews. The arrested Jews were sent to concentrate. On the other hand, Stalin also had special policy which he used. He tortured his opponents and made them confess crimes that they didn’t commit (Roberts, 2009).
Politically, these three leaders were different. Hitler was a nationalist and he believed in pan Germanism. Hitler had no political program because he never believed in National Socialism and he never revived or developed any political force to propel him to power. On the other hand, Mussolini was a real socialist. He built on his father’s socialist beliefs. However he didn’t really live to his beliefs and he parted from his fellow Socialists and started his own Fascist party. Stalin on the other hand was a real actual political philosopher who believed in communism. Hitler used the NSDAP as a vehicle for his personal development, Mussolini used his father’s Socialist party for his personal advancement and so is Stalin, who used the party for his personal gains (Jonathan, 43).
Work Cited
Murray, Williamson. “The Change in the European Balance of Power”. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2005, pp. 157-164.
Overy, Richard. “The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia”. Penguin Books. 2005, pp. 200.
Roberts, Martin. “The New Barbarism – A Portrait of Europe 1900–1973”. Oxford University Press. 2009, pp. 110
Jonathan, Peter. “Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant”. Lebanon, NH: University Press of Vermont. 2008, pp. 43
Weber, Thomas. “Hitler's First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War”. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. 2010, pp. 107
