Compare And Contrast Mussolini And Stalin

Its post-World War 1, Germany, Italy, and Russia are among other countries, like the United States, that are in a depression. Russia just had a revolution and a civil war. Italy and Germany are suffering from spreading revolutionary ideas. And Germany and Russia just gained new governments. Europe is tired and out of work. During this world wide depression, three men rise up to take control of their countries. Their names are Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin are important because they rose up in their political parties to rule their “helpless” countries and help them emerge as leading powers in the world. In their early years, Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin were smart students that either got rejected
or expelled from top schools. They each led a revolution that, in some cases, failed. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin’s aggression led to secret or not-so secret, police forces which eliminated possible political or other threats. With the elimination of possible adversaries, they rose to power by either being elected or appointed. Propaganda was used by all three to give the people a common goal to strive for. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin used their authority and influence to better their countries by bringing their individual countries out of depressions and improving the infrastructure of their countries such as by building roads and other improvements to try to put people back to work. Though Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin lived and grew up in the same era, they each had a different childhood and teen-life.
Hitler and Stalin’s fathers beat them while their mothers tried to protect them to the best of their abilities. Mussolini’s father was different from Hitler’s and Stalin’s because he was a radical Socialist. In school, they were all very smart, but Mussolini was a bully and he got expelled twice. Hitler was neither bullied or a bully. He always wanted to be an artist and to get accepted into the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, but was rejected twice. Stalin was bullied because he was pocked-marked, had one arm shorter than the other, and was short. After education came jobs. Mussolini became a teacher after going to college and earning his teachers degree. Hitler became a battalion messenger during World War 1 and won the iron cross twice. A month before the surrender of Germany during World War 1, Hitler became blind for a few weeks after a gas attack. He later thought Jews were the cause of Germany’s problems. Stalin was swept into the Bolshevik Party at the age of 19. He then staged bank robberies to support their cause. Stalin was arrested many times before being exiled out of the country by the Czars police forces. After Lenin came to power, Stalin was named general secretary for the party. Because of Hitler’s, Mussolini’s, and Stalin’s childhood and teen years, they wanted the best for their countries and to punish those they believed were at
fault. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin’s aggressiveness led to their single party countries which led to stability in their chaotic countries. Hitler’s Brownshirts, Mussolini’s Blackshirts, and Stalin’s Checka were all secret police forces that eliminated opposition. They all wanted to help their country to prosper. The secret police forces were mostly made up of thugs and World War 1 soldiers who were unemployed. Stalin’s Checka also killed citizens who didn’t follow the law. Hitler’s Brownshirts and Mussolini’s Blackshirts killed Jews. The Brownshirts also killed many other “faulty” races that weren’t German. One example of this is Kristallnacht, or “night of shattered glass” on November 9, 1938. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin’s aggressiveness was helpful to the “good” or “perfect” citizens of their countries, but not to the dictators’ opposition and those they found “faulty”. Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini all gained power differently, though they ended at the same finish line. Hitler tried to start a revolution during the depression in Germany, but he failed. After the Beer Hall Putsch, he was sentenced to prison where he thought long and hard about how to get into power. Hitler finally figured out that the way to get into power was by being elected. So in 1933, Hitler was elected into the Reichstag and after a month in his new position, he became chancellor and started to create a new government. Unlike Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini were both appointed into power. Stalin was appointed by Lenin after he exiled Leon Trotsky. After Stalin got into power, Trotsky mysteriously was murdered. Mussolini was appointed by King Emmanuel 3. Before he was appointed, Mussolini threatened to march on Rome if he wasn’t appointed prime minister. Hitler and Mussolini shared the same ideas, fascist ideas. Hitler became part of a fascist party in Germany, called the National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi Party for short. When Hitler was in the German Parliament, the Nazi Party had 800,000 members and had the largest political party in the parliament. Mussolini was the founder of the Fascista Party and he also created the fascist movement and its ideas. Stalin, on the other hand, was part of the Bolshevik Party since he was 19 years old. The Bolsheviks were Communists, and Fascists didn’t like Communists. Though Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini had different power rises, I think they all had the same goals and ideas for their countries, though I think they didn’t want to admit it. Propaganda led Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin to their rise to power and their continuation in power. Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini used speeches and media to spread their ideas and gain more power. Though Hitler’s speeches were filled with emotion, they all had the same basic idea, spread their ideas throughout their country. They all used media, like radios and movies to reach these goals, because if some people couldn’t go to their speeches, then they listened to it on the radio. Hitler also used a book he wrote, Mein Kampf or My Struggle. It was about his ideas and how he wanted to change Germany. Mussolini and Stalin also used posters with their faces and either their slogan or something they wanted their citizens to remember. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin all gained their support and power by propaganda and advertisement. I think that if they had to get support the old-fashioned way, they would have had a lot less supporters and powers. They also might not have become dictators. In conclusion, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini were the best possible choices for their countries because they brought them out of the depressions and helped their countries to become leading powers in the world. I think that if Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini weren’t in power during and after their countries depressions, Germany, Italy, and Russia would have had worse problems in modern times and World War 2 would have been fought for a different reason and at a different time.