Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin were both powerful, ambitious leaders that worked their way into positions of power. Stalin took over after Lenin died to lead the USSR after the Russian Revolution. Hitler became leader of the Nazi Party and gained the people’s support with promises of a strong leader that resisted western powers. On their rise to power, both Stalin and Hitler became leaders of political parties, eliminated opposing parties, and promised a better future for the people and country, but Stalin used the people’s support as leverage in his power struggle with Trotsky while Hitler used his passion and the economic situation in Germany to become leader of the Nazi party and gain support over the socialists. Both Hitler and Stalin started their journey towards power by joining political parties.
It it over-simplistic to state that opposition was successful or unsuccessful in Russia from 1855 and 1964. The effectiveness of opposition in Russia had to be evaluated according to the regime in power. For example, the opposition to Tsarism under Alexander II was unsuccessful as his assassination led to reactionary Tsarist rule for thirty six more years. However, the opposition under Nicholas II’s rule was highly successful, helping to lead to a communist government. All Russian governments in this period faced strong opposition to their regime with the period as a whole punctuated by riots, disturbances and revolutions.
All the way through the 1890’s and the early years of the 1900’s a storm was brewing among the people of Russia. A majority of the people wanted to reform the political system by either changing it completely or modifying it to suit. This is why a revolution occurred in 1905. The political system in Russian was an autocracy whereby the Tsar, the divine ruler, owned and controlled absolutely everything in the country. Many of the people looked up to the Tsar like a father, not because he was inspirational or because he was exceptional but because 85% of the country, the Peasants were uneducated and so were very easily controlled and influenced.
Violence was building up in Russia but the news of Russia going to war united the people, as evident “never during the twenty years of his reign had the emperor been so popular as that moment”. A great number of Russian’s were asking the questions ‘was Russia ready for war in 1914?’ as Russia took over Austrian land and suffered heavy defeats by the Germans. There was a standing army of 1 423 000 with the large amount of peple it was nicknamed the “the Russian steamroller”. There was 3 100 000 men in the reserves and 10 million in the militia. Within a year most of the soldiers were out of it.
Gandhi brought civil disobedience and other methods of peaceful protest to the world and earn limited independence for India. Gandhi proved to best leader of the three because he was able to achieve his goals with solutions that satisfied the people and made great change for the world. Stalin came to power in the USSR in 1928 and planned to create a new kind of society, made up of only socialist men and women. He wanted to build a strong army and a powerful industrial economy. Stalin ruled as a dictator and anyone who spoke out against him was subject to punishment as harsh as death.
As he continues to make his speech FDR makes it clear that he will be more involved with the people. Franklin D. Roosevelt wants the vision of the people to become a reality. “For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.” With this speech, he addresses several issues that currently surround the country at the time of the Great Depression and economic panic was sweeping the nation. Roosevelt commented on the unimportance of material wealth, unemployment, the greatness of the constitutional system, and the future.
Through out the Meiji period, the ruling Oligarchs made serious strides in bringing Japan from an almost medieval stage of development to a modern developed nation state. Almost all of the decisions these powerful men made in bringing their country forward were not made with the peoples best interest in mind, but rather in the Oligarchs lust for power and profit. When the Meiji rulers took over from the Tokugawa rulers, they knew they had to industrialize their country as fast as possible in order to keep up with Western technologies. For the most part the rulers used private companies to modernize the country. The private zaibatsu (10-15 extremely powerful corporations) ,the heads of which had direct ties to the ruling Oligarchs, directed the economy towards pure profit at the expense of workers rights.
This gave Hitler tremendous power within the organization as they knew they could not afford to lose him. The Party Gets a New Name In April, 1920, Hitler advocated that the party should change its name to the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). Hitler had always been hostile to socialist ideas, especially those that involved racial or sexual equality. However, socialism was a popular political philosophy in Germany after the First World War. This was reflected in the growth in the German Social Democrat Party (SDP), the largest political party in
In Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf , he states that the use of propaganda is a means and a must for National Socialism. If Nazism was to remain powerful, it was vital to have good public opinion. By controlling the mass media, Hitler was able influence public opinion, implement his policies, and maintain his power. In one of his speeches, Hitler states, “Truth is the foundation on which the power of the press stands and falls. It may be good to have power based on arms but it is better and more joyful to win and to keep the hearts of the people.” Throughout Triumph of the Will, adoration and approval for Hitler is clearly shown on the faces of those in the crowd.
This development was concerned with essential social and monetary changes and picked up in ubiquity under two presidents. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson embraced two separate methodologies to dynamic change. Furthermore every one could sway congress to pass enactment in keeping with his adaptation of the dynamic dream. These two individuals, despite the fact that they had distinctive standards as a main priority, had one objective: to roll out improvements to the country for the better of the individuals and the nation. Embarking to achieve this objective, Roosevelt came to be a president of the normal man while Wilson turned into the "better" dynamic president.