Hitler vs. Stalin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hitler vs. Stalin - Essay Example Stalin emerged from the Seminary, not as a priest but as a political revolutionary with a new ideology: Russian Marxism (Stalin, 1913). On the other hand Hitler was a miserable student who never completed high school. Yet he was an avid reader, gaining anti-Jewish, anti-democratic convictions through various pamphlets, and becoming a staunch follower of Nietzsche (Hitler, Encarta 1999). Stalin was a revolutionary, Hitler was a soldier. But they were both opportunists. Russia was suffering from a decadent monarchy, a weakening agricultural market and unemployment. The Bolsheviks were on the rise, promising equality and employment to the masses. Stalin became an important part of the Bolshevik movement through dogged organization and administration work. He became Lenin’s secretary-general. Stalin took over the Bolshevik Party by manipulation and propaganda, displacing Trotsky who was considered Lenin’s natural successor (Stalin, Encarta 1999). He further eliminated his competitors in a carefully planned campaign of political terror. One by one his rivals pleaded guilty to treason and were executed. The real strength of Stalin lied in the fear he invoked among the people of Russia. In Germany, another dictator was rising in a similar way; Hitler. In 1919 Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) party. In the year 1921 he was elected party chairman with dictatorial powers. His campaign involved hundreds of meetings and terrorization of political rivals through hired thugs. His attempt at a coup misfired and he spent 5 years in jail, but after release he rebuilt his party by exploiting a community’s natural mistrust of another. He began blaming Jews and Communists for the Depression and the lagging state of German economy, and the masses supported him enthusiastically. Both Stalin and Hitler vowed to make their countries invincible if they came into power. To a certain extent, they succeeded. Stalin launched a massive