COMPARISON TOTALITARIAN LEADERS
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Country
Title
Italy
Il Duce
(“supreme leader”)
Timeframe
1922 - 1943
Political
Ideology
Fascist
His supporters were called the
“Black Shirts”
Benito Mussolini
Rise to power
Became popular as he promised to
• Rebuild Italy’s economy and army – restore Italy
and unify Italy to its Ancient greatness
• Provide strong leadership
March on Rome in 1922 was a coup d'état that brought
him to power
• About 30,000 supporters marched to Rome to demand
that Mussolini was put in charge
• The current King gave in due to threats of violence/riots
Mussolini in Rome in 1922
Benito Mussolini
He changed
Italy by …
•
Creating a totalitarian state with oneparty rule, censorship, secret police
and terror - All teachers in schools and
universities had to swear an oath to defend the
fascist regime.
•
Adopting Anti-Jewish policies in 1938 stripped Jews of their Italian citizenship
Adolf Hitler
Benito Mussolini
Country
Germany
Titles
Chancellor and Führer
(head of government)
1933 - 1945
Timeframe
Political
Ideology
Nazism (German form of
fascism)
Born in Austria in 1889
Moved to Germany in 1913 - Joined the German army
and fought in WWI
Joined the National Socialist Party (Nazi Party) in 1919
Rise to Power
• Failed to seize power in 1923 –
was put in jail for 9 months.
• While in jail he wrote the “Nazi
bible” – Mein Kampf (My
struggle)
• this book set forth his beliefs and
goal of taking control of Europe and
eliminating Jews/Communists
Rise to Power
Hitler was a great public speaker
that gained the public support by…
• Attacking and blaming the problems
associated with the depression on
the democratic government and
Jews/Communists
• Promising to overturn the Treaty of
Versailles –retake lost land and
rebuild army
Rise to
Power
• He was appointed Chancellor
in January 1933 (was 3rd
choice)
(The Nazi party never got
more than 37% of the votes)
• In February 1933, the
German National Congress
(Reichstag) burned down –
The Nazis blamed the
communists!
• Hitler stepped forward during
this national emergency and
made himself a “dictator of
Germany”
He changed
Germany by…
• Suspending all civil liberties such as
freedom of speech, press, right to
assembly…
• Creating a totalitarian state with oneparty state, censorship, propaganda,
secret police and terror – all opposition
parties were eliminated
• Identifying “enemies of the state” Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Jehovah
Witnesses etc.
Josef Stalin
Benito Mussolini
Country
USSR (Soviet Union)
Title
General Secretary of the
Communist party
1922 - 1953
Timeframe
Political
Ideology
Communist
Rise
• Lenin died in 1924
to
and after his death
Power
Stalin was able to
gradually eliminate
all opponents
within the party
• In 1928, Stalin
gained complete
control of the
Communist party
He changed the country by
• Creating a totalitarian state with one party rule,
indoctrination, propaganda and censorship of
media
• Launching “purges” to wipe out enemies of the state
• sent about 14 million people to gulags (work camps) deported
about 8 millions minorities (sometimes entire ethnicities) to
remote parts of Siberia
• Promoting atheism
• it was dangerous to be publicly
associated with religion
The Great Purge
(1936-38)
• Name of one of the most
intensive campaigns to
root out enemies
• Anyone who didn’t back
him 100% was an
enemy – even killed high
ranking soldiers
He changed the country by…
• Adopting a Command Economy in which the
government makes all economic decisions
• Adopting “Five Years Plans”
• These included unrealistic goals for how much to produce
within 5 years – focused on heavy industries (steel, coal) at the
expense of consumer goods
• Developing large government owned farms
(Collectivization)
• the goal was to increase the production and share rare
equipment such as tractors
Collectivization created these large
government owned farms were 100s of
farmers lived and worked together.
 millions of farmers died as their food was
taken away to be shared with everyone in USSR
No private farms were allowed.