The concept of totalitarian regimes emerged especially in Europe between the two world wars. Totalitarian regime is in essence a form of contemporary dictatorial government whereby it aims at dominating in all societal aspects in an attempt to control all or most phases of public and private life of its population. The regime does this mainly through the use of the state’s propaganda, terror and inflicting fear in addition to using technology such as media.
Totalitarianism attempts to manipulate the thoughts, beliefs, and views of its population by teaching them the value of their bodies more than their brains. It is worth noting that different totalitarian governments have different social and political ambition.
The chief totalitarian states that cropped up between World War I and II were the Soviet Union spearheaded by Stalin, fascist Italy under Mussolini, and Nazi Germany headed by Hitler. This section of this paper will attempt to compare and contrast totalitarian regimes of Germany and the Soviet Union.
Some of the similarities included having a party. The two regimes had one political party that normally suppressed all the others claiming to represent the interest of the vast majority of their population. In addition to that, both had ideologies such as Nazism and Marxism which were to be official doctrines to be observed by all.
Furthermore, the two totalitarian regimes had only one very powerful leader in that; Hitler in Germany and Lenin and Stalin in Soviet Union. Other similarities between the two regimes included a centralized economy, controlled communication as well as use of excessive force to the opposition.
On the other hand, the two regimes had slight differences. Notably was on the issue of ideologies. While Hitler of Germany believed in the ideology of Nazism, Starling of Soviet Union believed in the ideology of Marxism. Additionally, while the Marxism Soviet Union discouraged private enterprise, the Nazi Germany allowed it. Thirdly, while Nazi ideologies rejected all the traditions of the 19th and early 20th century, the Marxism Soviet Union accommodated them.
Holocaust was basically an ideology or a system that was sponsored by the Nazi regime with an aim of persecuting and murdering the Jews who lived in Germany. The Germans felt that they were racially superior and deemed the other races an inferior and threat to “German racial community.” This was contradiction with the objectives of the enlightenment which was committed to compassionate human ideals, cosmopolitan citizenship as well as the spirit of tolerance.
The legacy of world war II
The aftermath of the World War II brought about mixed reactions from massive casualties to rising to superiority. To begin with, it is said that more than 50 million people died in war and that then war had the largest migration of people ever. In addition United States as well as the Soviet Union became the world superpowers in that US came up with an atomic bomb while the soviet union had was said to have trained the largest army in the world.
Furthermore, the war made disintegration of European‘s overseas empires. For instance, Britain lost India, Syria and Lebanon gained their independence from France. Additionally, United States of America formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.
The members of this organization included the armed forces of Portugal, Canada, France, Norway Britain, Italy and later Greece, Turkey and Spain. In reaction to the formation of NATO, the Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact which comprised of the armed forces of Soviet Union and its satellites.