Comparison of Hitler and Stalin
Comparison of Hitler and StalinDuring the period leading up to World War II, there were two men
who were on opposing sides, the men were Adolph Hitler and Joseph
Stalin. These men were each triumphant in their rise to power in their
countries and they were very comparable in the ways that they
succeeded. Their success was mostly attributed to their new ideas and
their politics.
Although Hitler and Stalin hated each other, the two leaders
were similar in many ways. Hitler and Stalin each rose to the highest
position attainable in their respective countries, and there were
three main reasons that they were able to do this. Both men were
skilled users of propaganda, each was amoral, and they both had the
ambition to make their countries powerful in the world. Since each was
a skilled user of propaganda, they could use their words to twist and
manipulate the minds of people into believing that what they were
saying was the absolute truth. Using this power, they would get people
to do anything for them, which proves their amorality. Since their
countries were still trying to recover from World War I, they desired
to restore the power back in to their countries. These three reasons
will prove that Hitler and Stalin were similar in many ways.
The names Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are synonymous with the
word propaganda. In order to understand how Hitler and Stalin used
propaganda, an understanding of what the word means, is required.
According to Merriam-Webster, “propaganda is the spreading of ideas to
further or damage a cause; also the ideas or allegations spread for a
purpose”. Hitler and Stalin each used propaganda as their tool to
further their ideas and help them gain the backing of the people in
their countries. The form of propaganda that Hitler used, and was
successful in using, was his words. Hitler made many speeches, but the
one speech that was a famous one, was his final speech at his trial
for treason. In this speech he gave his views and opinions on the
events preceding the trial. This is an excerpt from his speech: “…I
aimed from the first to….become the destroyer of Marxism….The army
that we are building grows more from day to day, from hour to hour.
Gentlemen, not you who will be the ones that deliver the verdict over
us, but that verdict will be given by the eternal judgement of
history, which will speak out against the accusation that has been
made against us….That court will judge us….as Germans (who) wanted
only the best for their people and their Fatherland, who fought and
were willing to die. You might just as well find us guilty a thousand
times, but the goddess of the eternal court of history will smile and
tear up the motions of the states attorney and the judgement of this
court: for she finds us not guilty”. After Hitler gave this speech,
the court was sympathetic towards him, he was sentenced to only five
years in prison for his crime. After nine months of his sentence had
been served, he received...
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