Contemporary history

Contemporary History Hitler Vs Stalin essay January 26, 2013 Hitler Vs. Stalin Many historians consider tyrants – Hitler and Stalin – and their ideologies to be quite similar. These two despots were the most famous and probably the bloodiest dictators in this period. No wonder these two are compared to one another. In addition, the scheme of taking power by any autocrat seems to be very simple: dissatisfaction from contemporary rules or death of the leader and skillful takeover by a person with some horrific vision of the future. But historic events are never as simple as that. Now, arises the interesting question if Hitler’s and Stalin’s roads to power were similar or different or maybe both options are true to same extent. Nevertheless, Hitler tried twice to gain power in a period 1923-1934 while Stalin only once in years 1924-1929 (West, 2012). Both Hitler and Stalin were both military geniuses although their evils tend to heavily outweigh their good deeds. They were both expert propagandists and were amoral and willing to do whatever they could to better their country; they were also both quite paranoid and good strategists. Their expert propaganda skills came into play to allow them to both attain and keep power. Hitler has been described as the world’s greatest propagandist saying that he was nearly able to brainwash people with his words. Their propaganda skills were also the reason they were able to commit the atrocious acts they committed without being overthrown. It seems they were very smart to be able to control their people like this. Another quality they both had in common was their complete and utter lack of morals. Hitler had no grief when he sent millions of Jews to concentration camps, nor did Stain feel any anguish as he killed thousands upon thousands of his fellow countrymen, both of these acts had another thing in common. They were both done for the good of the Mother/Fatherland. This shows that both men had extreme pride in their countries and would do literally anything to make them a stronger country although not necessarily a nicer place to live in. Another similarity they had between them was their extreme paranoia, with Stalin eradicating most of his commanding officers shortly before WW2. Hitler was plagued with various mental illnesses and temporary spouts of blindness caused by a mustard gas injury he received in WW1. This caused Hitler to be quite suspicious of anyone. While they were both very odd men, no one can say that were not extremely smart in the military operations, both of them running strong, efficient militaries, which they used to conquer much of Europe, they were both quite found of infantry based warfare, Hitler invented the Blitzkrieg, or ” lightning war” which he used to quickly capture a good chunk of Europe. While Stalin was also a great military strategist running what many considered to be the most powerful military in the world at one point. While Hitler had many more bad moments than good ones, he gave final approval to many items that are in use today. Granted, their original use was military, but without them, things would be different to some degree. Hitler had the autobahn constructed to transport supplies and personal. The road everyone takes today did not exist before 1930 or so. While many nations thought of and tinkered with Jet engines for aircraft, until Hitler approved of numerous projects involving them, none were operational. The infamous V-1 and V-2 rockets were the first ones to be used to send armed missiles across the Channel into London, this was 1944 and onwards (A+E Television Network , 2013). Under Stalin’s rule the Soviet Union was transformed from an agricultural nation to a nuclear superpower but at the cost of millions of lives. The USSR’s industrialization was moderately successful and with the help of the United States’ provision of supplies under the Lend Lease Plan, the country was able to defend against and eventually defeat the Axis invasion in World War II, though at an enormous cost in human life. Stalin’s political, social and economic policies as well as his great negotiating skills and his intelligence network laid the foundations for the USSR’s emergence as a superpower. (A+ E Television networks, 2013) Hitler and Stalin were alike in many ways and different in few, this tends to hold true for most of the tyrannical geniuses of the world though, usually being separated by the skill in which they control their military. No one can say that Hitler and Stalin were not extremely smart men who knew what they desired and what it took to see it through by whatever means necessary for the greater good of the countries and themselves. Works Cited A+ E Television networks. (2013). Joseph Stalin biography. Retrieved from Biography. com: http://www. biography. com/people/joseph-stalin-9491723 A+E Television Network . (2013). Adolf Hitler Biography. Retrieved from Biography. com: http://www. biography. com/people/adolf-hitler-9340144 West, P. (2012). Ideologyl. Retrieved from sunysuffolk. edu: http://www2. sunysuffolk. edu/westn/ideology. html