Upon becoming more popular and gaining more of the people’s support, both parties eliminated opposing political parties in some manner. Both banned opposing parties, but Hitler got Nazis into the legislative party, then took control, while Stalin exiled then killed Trotsky, whom he had a power struggle with. Stalin then used terror to keep power and eliminate opposing parties. Both leaders led political parties to support and power, but used different methods of gaining that power. Another similarity between Hitler’s and Stalin’s struggles to power is their method of gaining the people’s support.
The Reichstag Fire led to the Enabling Act because Hitler had managed to convince Hindenburg that it was a ‘communists uprising’. This manages Hitler to prove to Germany that communists were bad people and he would have get more votes, in the next elections. However, I also disagree with the statement ‘the Reichstag Fire more important than the Enabling Act in allowing Hitler to consolidate power’ because of other several reasons. Firstly, the Enabling Act made a Hitler a virtual dictator. Nobody could stop him, even Hindenburg.
In order to do this Stalin instituted a party purge to silence the opposition of Riutin and his supporters, the assassination of Kirov, executed delegated party congresses, The trial of the twenty-one and general Purges. Between the years 1929-34 Stalin faced opposition from within the communist party A purge was the systematic elimination of opponents by Stalin, The assassination of Kirov allowed Stalin to use it as an excuse to begin the purges. In 1932, Kirov had helped to defeat Stalin on an important issue concerning Mikhail Riutin, who had circulated a document that was highly critical of Stalin. Stalin was furious and demanded Ruitins execution. However the central committee and the politburo refused to order Ruitin’s execution, Stalin viewed this as a betrayal.
With the Nazi Party now firmly rooted in the political scene, Hitler sought to combine his power through the implementation of the Enabling Act; this law would effectively abolish any trace of power held by the Reichstag and the president. The introduction of the Gleichschaltung from 1933 to 1934 allowed a widespread reconfiguration of all areas of German life and thus saw the Nazification of the nation, enforcing the extent to which Nazi ideology had permeated the scope of German society and the limitless parameters of Hitler’s authority. This was assisted by the intimidation inspired by Hitler’s SA and SS, who successfully eliminated any opposition of the Nazi state. Finally, however, it was the support of the Reichswehr that would pave the rule of Nazism in Germany, which was only obtained as a result of the Night of the Long Knives, where the threat of usurpation by the SA was abolished and Hitler’s ruler ship in the event of Hindenburg’s death was guaranteed. The conservative parties and elites made up of the army, right-wing parties, politicians, businessmen and Junkers had a major role in the
The Nazi party now forced to think tactically and with the burning of the Reichstag building through a communist Hitler was able to blame the extremist party for the beginning of a revolution and with President Hindenburg's approval he arrested the ‘enemies of the state’. With this fortunate accident, the ‘missing’ SPD party and the agreement with Zentrum Hitler was able to get his two thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act which entitled him to pass laws without parliamentary approval. Although on the surface Hitler seemed to have a lot of control, this was not complete, due to the fact that President Hindenburg could over rule him and perhaps even terminate him as chancellor. This power, however, led to multiple sudden adjustments to Germany, after becoming a one party state by July 1933, through making the SPD party and all other competitors illegal, he continued to set loose on Germany’s very powerful and threatening trade unions. Trade unions posed a strong threat to the NSDAP due to their power in Germany, considering their support for the SPD and even KPD.
It can be argued that Stalin established a complete personal dictatorship in the years 1929-39 as he eliminated all those who posed a threat to him to enable him to have complete rule over the USSR. This was done through terror purges, social relativism and the personality of cult. Firstly, through the terror he was able to remove all political opponents through the Moscow show trials. These were carried out between 1934-9 where his political opponents pleaded guilty to impossible charges of treason and then were executed. The key defendants that were removed were Trotsky, Kamenev, Buhkarin, Yagoda and Zinoviev.
During the beginning of the 1900s, there were plenty of revolutions and violence that took place. The Chinese revolution in 1911 and Russian Revolution in 1917 shared similar goals, they wanted to end the power of their current leader and establish a new one. For Russia, it was Tsar Nicholas II and for China it was the Qing Dynasty, Russia wanting a functioning communist government and Chinese revolutionaries wanted a democratic government. The first outcome is different in that China relied on agriculture to maintain its economy and Russia relied on industry to fuel its economy. The second outcome of the revolutions was that the countries were dramatically changed, two great powers were stopped and communist leaders eventually took over in the two countries.
One reason why the United States should dismantle all its nuclear weapons, unilaterally, is because they are a threat to human existence. If there was a third world war, the United States would most likely use them if it feels that its sovereignty and interests are at risk. After all, the United States is the only country that has used nuclear weapons. Millions of innocent people perished in Japan, when the U.S dropped two nuclear bombs in them. Nowadays, there are nuclear weapons which are hundreds of times
Hitler started by ordering the Austrian Nazi Party to make as much trouble as possible. The Austrian Nazis held parades, set buildings on fire, and let bombs go off. When the Austrian government banned them, Hitler held a meeting with the Austrian leader: Kurt Schuschnigg. Hitler threatened to invade Austria unless Schuschnigg gave all important jobs in his government to the Nazi. Schuschnigg compromised by appointing the Nazi Seyss-Inquart as Minister of the Interior.
Assess the significance of the “Night of the Long Knives” The Night of the Long Knives is significant, because it can be seen as the event that shut down Hitler’s opposition from both sides, through forcibly removing the Conservative elite and the SA as a political threat, while simultaneously gaining the armies support. The event in itself set a bad precedence for Nazi rule and can be seen as the beginning of the Nazi terror state. However, it is suggested Hitler’s removal of the SA, was necessary to stop revolution, on the other hand, it could be said the Night of the Long Knives was Hitler’s way of taking complete control of Germany. One effect of the Night of the Long Knives is its significance in the rise of the SS, led by Himmler, from its minimal standing as an extension of the SA, to independence. Bullock says that: “Himmler’s SS were now given their independence of the SA, and placed directly under Hitler’s orders with Himmler as SS Reichsfuehrer”# this source suggests that Himmler and the SS only became powerful through Hitler’s direction.