To understand and identify the aspects of the totalitarian system in both countries it's important to consider both countries history. On November the 11th 1918 Germany agreed to signed the Armistice. After Germany was forced to accept Versailles agreement by accepting guilt for WW 1. As a consequence the German people were demotivated and had no confidence in the new liberal democratic Weimar government and international forces. This resulted in risings such as the Spartacist rising where communists fuelled by the success of the Russian revolution almost occupied nearly every major city in Germany.
Also his methods of massacring anyone he felt was a threat seemed to be effective in dealing with opposition. By 1939 majority of bishops were killed in Russia and there were only 12 left also 400,000 party members were purged due to his Stalin paranoia of them scheming against him. However to suggest that Stalin was the more effective in dealing with opposition in the period 1855-1964 compared to the other rulers would be wrong. In order to assess this argument we must compare the success of Stalin against opposition to the success of the other against their opposition. By comparing the key events in terms of opposition like the Assassination of Alexander II in 1881, Blood Sunday and the October manifesto in 1905, the February and October revolution in 1917, and how effectively they were dealt with, then we can come to a judgment on the argument.
This Blitzkrieg caught Stalin by surprise because he was still recovering from the purges that had wiped out a great amount of his top officers. This unfortunate happening for Stalin was an advantage for Hitler. He and his army managed to wipe out two and a half million Russians. Even though the Germans had the advantage the Russians weren’t going to give up without a fight. They also had an advantage because Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet pact with Stalin which took Stalin by surprise.
WHY WAS THERE AN UPRISING IN HUNGARY DURING 1956? (12 MARKS) There was an uprising in Hungary during 1956 due to several factors, starting with the appointment of the Hungarian dictator Martyas Rakoski. He ruled from 1949 – 1956 and described himself as ‘Stalin’s best pupil’, whereas the public nicknamed him ‘the bald butcher’. He was known for developing tactics that were oppressive and brutal, resulting in 2,000 deaths of Hungarian people and 387,000 being imprisoned. Some of the features from his regime included the banning of all other Non-Communist parties, Cominform beginning a reign of terror having executed many political leaders and their supporters and having Russian officials control the government.
Later that year in Potsdam, many open disagreements took place because Germany had lost the war so Russia had promised to fulfil, Churchill had lost the 1945 election and Roosevelt died so Truman, who replaced him was angered by the large scale reparations imposed on Germany and the setting up of a communist government in Poland. He did not trust Russia, so kept him in the dark about him having the atomic bomb in 1945 before he dropped it on Japan to get them to surrender. By America using the atomic bomb, Stalin knew that it was possible for it to be used against them. Russia was therefore tricked by America preventing the Red Army from going to Japan. This threatened Russia and warned them that America was wary of them and could act on it.
On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy launched his crusade against "communism" as he saw it. The speech delivered in Wheeling, WV was infamous for its reference to members of Congress who McCarthy accused of being members of the Communist Party. The insinuation was that these men were silent enemies working in favor of the Soviet Union for the downfall of the American government and way of life. In the Wheeling speech, McCarthy played on the Cold War and Red Scare fears (fear of a communist takeover) by asserting that the communist world, particularly the Soviet Union, was in a showdown with the democratic nations led by the United States. He charged that there were 205 communist spies in the state department who were selling out the United States.
In the early 1930’s Stalin felt threatened by his growing opposition and was determined to bring the party under his total control. At the 17th Party Congress in 1934, Sergei Kirov received the vast majority of votes which led to his assassination due to the threat that he posed to Stalin’s leadership. Many argued that this was a turning point in Russian history. It unleased a terror that killed millions in the next four years. Stalin was able to eliminate all effective opposition through a series of purges.
The Soviet Union emerged from the war with 27,000,000 million civilian and military causalities something which Stalin was keen to use as a bargaining tool in the talk at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. However, Stalin arrived with very different views compared to the other allies of America and Great Britain. By July 1944 the Red Army had swept through Central Poland and had destroyed any non-communist resistance this showed that Stalin was not prepared to have any non-communist thinking in his sphere of influence despite what was about to say at Yalta that he would give the Baltic States free elections. Stalin was obsessed with the idea of a ‘security belt’ which could be an argument showing his deep mistrust of the west. This aggression towards the West meant that America had no choice at times but to counteract Stalin such as when Truman stopped the Lend-Lease aid programme to Russia in May 1945.
He was also under threat from other groups especially the Communist Party. After the Wall Street Crash ( October 1929) many people looked to extremist groups such as the Nazi and Communist Parties. People blamed the Social Democrats who were linked to the Weimar Republic for the economic failure and this is why popularity grew for the Nazi Party. It was essential to gain a two thirds majority in the Reichstag if Hitler hoped to pass any laws of his own. So one of the first things Hitler did after becoming Chancellor was to dissolve the Reichstag and call for a fresh election on the 5th March 1933.
But United States leaders had other concerns. No sooner had World War II ended, then a "Cold War," between the forces of democracy and communism began (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). Long years of fighting had devastated the democratic nations of Western Europe, which left the communist Soviet Union as the dominant power in Europe and Asia (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). The Soviet Union had already over run most of Eastern Europe; now they seemed determined to spread communism all around the globe (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). To help counter that threat Truman started secretly sending money as well as supplies to help back the French forces against Ho Chi Minh's forces (Schomp The Vietnam War 5).