World War 2 Leaders Comparison: Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler Report

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Updated: Mar 15th, 2024

World War 2 remains one of the most significant and historically important events in the entire world because the United States of America, Japan, and the majority of European countries were involved in it. It would be proper to mention that all the battles were based on certain political and revolutionary ideas. Therefore, leaders of the countries that fought for their rights were obliged to encourage and motivate their citizens to stick to their guns. It is a well-known fact that such figures as Hitler and Mussolini were fascists who made other people consider their policies fair in relations to individuals of other ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, these dictators succeeded in multiple battles of World War 2. The following paper is intended to discuss leadership styles and organizational impacts as well as aspects of culture and ethics of such historical characters as Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

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Adolf Hitler

The first person that will be discussed in the given paper is Adolf Hitler. To begin with, it would be proper to present several facts from his biography to understand how this person could make all the population of Germany follow his ideas that were abnormal. This leader occupied the position of “Führer” since 1933 till 1945. Hitler was a professional orator who could persuade almost any audience that his point of view was the most appropriate in any situation (Clinebell, 2014). The politician started invading all the neighboring as he wanted to govern entire Europe after the end of World War 2. Also, his military forces persecuted Jews due to particular nationalistic prejudices. While Hitler was in the head of Germany, the country followed what is called a Nazi regime. The National Socialist German Workers’ Party’s members were responsible for the deaths of approximately 19 million civilians and about 29 million soldiers during World War 2.

Leadership Style

When Adolf Hitler was in the head of NSDAP, he successfully followed his leader principles established at the beginning of his political campaign in Germany. According to this regime, every officer was obliged to listen and obey his or her superiors, regardless of their orders. No one could express their complaints about certain dissatisfactions with these rules (Clinebell, 2014). Otherwise, such people were likely to be shot immediately. Hence, the entire structure of the government he built represented a pyramid. Hitler was at the top of this government, whereas all other soldiers and officers had to follow his directions without any altercations. It would be proper to mention that militaries could not acquire higher ranks in the Workers’ Party with the help of democratic elections. Instead, the leader’s commission of the most prestigious officers decided whether a person is worth promotion or not. As it is mentioned above, the primary criterion for passing was unquestioning obedience to every word of the government’s head.

In fact, the main feature of Adolf Hitler’s leadership style was the strategy to give awkward and pointless orders to his auxiliaries. The primary purpose of such actions was the intention to put militaries into certain positions that contradicted that of other leader’s subordinates. Using such a method, Hitler was leaving all the weak personnel behind, whereas the winners were promoted and given multiple privileges in his eyes. Due to such relationships among the “Führer” and his subordinates, these officers did not trust one another. Moreover, they were always competing to become better in the sight of their commander. Such relationships in the circles of officers made Hitler more powerful as no one could oppose him and his opinions at that moment.

It is an interesting fact that the ministers never gathered to discuss the further development of the Hitler Cabinet after 1938. Moreover, the heads of every governmental structure were not allowed to meet informally if the governor was not aware of such events. In fact, Adolf Hitler never gave his orders in the form of paperwork. Instead, he addressed every person verbally because he had a more personal influence on an individual in such a communication form (Dyson, 2013). Sometimes, the orders were delivered by the “Führer’s” associate, Martin Bormann. This person was in charge for all the documents released by the government, received phone calls, sent messages, In general, Bormann could be claimed Hitler’s secretary. It is essential to stress that this individual abused his position to control all the information flow and its redirection to the leader of Germany.

The power and intents of Adolf Hitler could be seen from his military strategies and actions. Germany participated in World War 2 more than other states according to the will of its leader. The politician took all the important decisions as to the country’s forces without anyone’s pieces of advice. Moreover, the governor decided to improve various departments of the German army in 1938, which could be seen as an attempt to become the main aggressor of the twentieth century. It is a well-known fact that he successfully invaded such states as Norway, France, and some of the Low Countries in 1940. However, the attack of German soldiers on the United Kingdom failed.

In 1941, Hitler sent his armed forces to the territories of the Soviet Union, whereas his officers were holding the western front. After these actions, other countries united to confront Nazi Germany. In turn, “Führer” was not able to make wise and efficient decisions anymore. Therefore, his army started losing its positions in Europe. Although leaders of other states proposed Hitler to surrender, he preferred to fight till the end and accept the defeat of Germany.

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Organizational Impact

The organizational impact influenced by Hitler defined the entire structure of Germany. As the leader professed and promoted his fascist ideology, other people followed the context of his speeches on a regular basis. Due to his perfect skills in rhetoric, the “Führer” managed to establish a dictatorship in the country where no one could protest his public addresses. In fact, no citizen had such a desire (Elgie, 2015). Moreover, the crowds were shouting and praising their governor when he was proclaiming the dominance of the white race over others.

As it is mentioned above, Hitler always put himself in the first place. Hence, no one had a legal right to disobey his orders. This politician hoped to rule Nazi Germany until his death and thought that the discussed nation could exist not less than 1 000 years after the end of World War 2. It appears that the organizational impact of Adolf Hitler was almost perfect. The only issue was presented by his hate to representatives of other races and nations.

Culture and Ethics

The cultural and ethic considerations of Adolf Hitler that are widely known all over the world presented hate and evil. According to the political ideology of Hitler, people with colored skins did not have a right to exist. Although the “Führer” did not seem to be full of threat in person, many people feared him because it was impossible to predict his decisions. This person could kill even his officers without any logical reason. It would be proper to mention that Hitler also had some mental problems as his thinking was not adequate in particular instances. This man did not show respect to other people’s opinions and did not take anyone’s advice seriously. It seems that the main aim of Hitler during World War 2 was not the intention to capture more territories.

In turn, he wanted to exterminate every other race in the world because of his own prejudices. It is an interesting fact that politicians of modern Germany are ashamed for this period in their country’s history. Not only contemporary people do not support the views of Hitler, particular laws established by the government prohibit using various nationalist symbols, sayings, and other acts that support similar ideas. The last statement of Hitler as to his refusal to surrender stressed that all the warfare in Europe started because of his personal interests. Thus, he never respected the population of Germany and other people who surrounded him on a regular basis (Thoroughgood, Sawyer, Padilla, & Lunsford, 2016). The politician was not ashamed of his deeds. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that no one wanted to become his family members because of his egoistic and selfish manner.

Benito Mussolini

To begin with, it is necessary to discuss several facts from the biography of an Italian fascist leader, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini. This person maintained active in the sphere of politics and journalism. Despite his main occupation, he had many talents and was creative. Nevertheless, he established what is called the National Fascist Party when he was at the post of Italian Prime Minister. It would be proper to mention that before, in 1925, he reorganized the entire government in the country and set up a legal dictatorship. Mussolini was in good relationships with Adolf Hitler from Germany as they had the same views and opinions as to such political movements as nationalism, fascism, and persecution of people with different skin colors. The politician believed that Italian armed forces could rule in France after the invasion of Germany in 1939. From this point, Mussolini planned on exterminating the populations of Africa. However, the Italian army was destroyed by the soldiers from the Soviet Union in its territories. After this defeat, the leader was deprived of his governmental position.

Leadership Style

Mussolini is now considered to be one of the worst leaders in the entire history. He deserved no respect from contemporary Italians due to the fascist ideology he promoted in the 20th century. The political figure is widely known for his selfishness and egoism (Rooduijn, 2013). In fact, he had many common traits and qualities with that of Adolf Hitler’s. It is essential to mention that approximately 250 000 Italian citizens entered the country’s Fascist Party because of Mussolini’s persuasions, motivations, and neat and powerful public speeches. However, many Italians hated their leader because of all the chaos that happened in the state when the politician was occupying the highest ruling position in its government.

Despite the propaganda of racial and national discrimination, Mussolini did not have any connections with the population of Italy. His subordinates were responsible for various issues and problems that happened to local people and their lives, whereas the leader of the maritime state was not paying attention to various vulnerabilities that required immediate intervention. Regular residents were prohibited from addressing Mussolini. Instead, he received all the news from his secretary as well as Hitler. Moreover, he was not concerned about the destiny and the future of Italian people. All the political strategies he developed were aimed at meeting his own interests. Not only the politician did not help his motherland, but he was considered to be a tyrant by local people. Other officers’ and politicians’ opinions were insignificant to him because he always insisted on things to be done according to his orders, excluding all other possible decisions.

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It is necessary to stress that Mussolini did not want to be respected by his people. Indeed, they all hated him for being self-centered. He had a tremendously adverse reputation comparing to that of other states’ leaders (Pendleton & Furnham, 2016). Even Hitler was supported by Germans because he could persuade them with his speeches.

Another interesting fact is that Mussolini sent the army of Italy to participate in World War 2 when it was not necessary. Many soldiers died in the battle with the Soviet Union. Hence, an enormous number of families left without sons and fathers. However, this strategy was already at the dawn of the leader’s political career. At this moment, the country’s army was not equipped properly – it did not have many weapons, machines, and other elements that were necessary for any battalion. As it mentioned above, Italy did not have any profitable industry on the international market in the middle of the twentieth century. Therefore, people could not work on a regular basis, and they always lacked financial means to survive. Hence, Mussolini was not supported by anyone. Even his closest people and colleagues admitted the fact that he was the worst leader in the entire history of the European maritime state.

Some people thought that Benito Mussolini was no more than another Hitler’s subordinate as the latter always ordered him what to do and what decisions to make. When the Italian leader was deprived of his rights to occupy the governmental position, his friend from Germany made several attempts to improve his career. However, the population of Italy would never vote for this person again. At the end of 1940’s, the politician was executed because he led his state’s army to three battlefields during World War 2 without any need to do this.

Organizational Impact

Benito Mussolini was one of the first European leaders who promoted fascism and made it a powerful movement all over the continent. At first, Italian people believed him that the movement of racism could positively impact the future of the nation. Also, he promised that he knew the necessary strategy that had to be implemented to make Italy a great country among other European states. Moreover, Mussolini said that the discussed movement was essential to be adopted by every citizen of Italy, regardless of people’s social statuses (Haslam & Reicher, 2016). Also, he successfully returned the element of the Catholic religion to the territory of the country after it was abandoned by local people for an extended period.

All the businesses were under control of Mussolini’s subordinate officers and politicians. Such a strategy prevented various unfortunate law violations. For instance, people were always obliged to pay taxes, sell only legalized goods, follow all the necessary standards set by the government, and so on. Like Adolf Hitler, the Italian leader built the national structure centered at him, which meant that everyone had to follow all his direction and orders unquestionably. This attracted the attention of mass media and other popular sources of the state to him. However, because Mussolini was a former journalist, he allowed various information sources to practice their activities in the territory of Italy. Moreover, he supported such new inventions of mass communication as the radio and videotapes.

In addition, Benito Mussolini created a specific party that included young people. The party was free, and every member could be mobilized and monitored in the future. It would be proper to mention that the politician killed all his colleagues who did not support his opinion and views. To conclude, it is necessary to state that he promoted violence and murdered anyone who stepped on his path.

Culture and Ethics

As it is mentioned above, Benito Mussolini supported the ideology of fascism. Due to his personal beliefs, the official Rome that helped the leader to become powerful and occupy the position of Italian Prime Minister also proposed to provide fascist education to popularize the discriminative movement all over the country (Thoroughgood et al., 2016). Mussolini thought that various subjects that explain the importance of fascism to students developed their strong moral principles and trained their physical shapes, social integration, and qualities beneficial for militaries. Also, Mussolini was supporting the religion of Roman Catholicism. Therefore, the government and armed forces of Italy also became responsible for the life of the Pope in the Vatican. In the end, it is necessary to state that Mussolini was an anti-communist politician. Due to his views on this ideology, he sent the army of his country to support Nazi Germany in the battle against the Red Army (Goeschel, 2016). In general, Mussolini was a lot like Hitler. Also, he demonstrated his faith in God because the Roman Catholic Church supported him and helped him when the leader was at the beginning of his political career.

Conclusion

Hitler was a leader of former Nazi Germany and the person who established the governmental structure that was beneficial only for him as every officer and subordinate was obliged to obey the “Führer’s” orders unquestionably. Hitler had an intention to rule all the European territories. However, his selfishness and egoism played a significant role in his life and made him commit suicide as he did not want to surrender under any circumstances. Benito Mussolini also followed and popularized the ideology of fascism in the territory of Italy, where he occupied the position of the 22nd Prime Minister. This politician was Adolf Hitler’s friend who helped him in several battles during World War 2. The population of Italy hated the local parliament’s leader due to his indifference to their opinions and wills.

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References

Clinebell, S. (2014). Snapshots of great leadership. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 13(1), 139-141. Web.

Dyson, S. B. (2013). Origins of the psychological profiling of political leaders: The US Office of Strategic Services and Adolf Hitler. Intelligence and National Security, 29(5), 654-674. Web.

Elgie, R. (2015). Studying political leadership: Foundations and contending accounts. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Goeschel, C. (2016). Staging friendship: Mussolini And Hitler in Germany in 1937. The Historical Journal, 60(01), 149-172. Web.

Haslam, S. A., & Reicher, S. D. (2016). Rethinking the psychology of leadership: From personal identity to social identity. Daedalus, 145(3), 21-34. Web.

Pendleton, D., & Furnham, A. (2016). Leadership: All you need to know (2nd ed.). London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Rooduijn, M. (2013). The nucleus of populism: In search of the lowest common denominator. Government and Opposition, 49(04), 573-599. Web.

Thoroughgood, C. N., Sawyer, K. B., Padilla, A., & Lunsford, L. (2016). Destructive leadership: A critique of leader-centric perspectives and toward a more holistic definition. Journal of Business Ethics, 1(1), 1-23. Web.

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