Nazi Germany
vs.
Stalinists Russian
Though ideologically different, both Nazi Germany
and Stalinists Russian created totalitarian states that
were ready for war.
Evidence
authoritarianism
totalitarianism
Weimar Republic
Kapp Putsch
Nazi Party
Adolf Hitler
Mein Kampf
SA (Sturmabeteilung)
Ernst Roehm
Gustav Stresemann
Paul von Hindenburg
Heinrich Bruning
Franz von Papen
Kurt von Schleicher
Reichstag Fire
Enabling Act of 1933
Kristallnacht
SS (Schutzstaffel)
Gosplan
Five Year Plans
collectivization
kulaks
Stalin’s Purges
Both were Totalitarian States
 Both totalitarian regimes were one-party states with the goal of
thorough societal transformation.
 No civil liberties or freedom of the press were allowed
 The government relied on constant propaganda to mobilize the
population and the arrest and persecution of political enemies
to prevent opposition.
 Millions of civilians were imprisoned or murdered in both
states.
 Both of the governments’ economic goal, to expand industry,
was to be achieved by state intervention.
 In both states, the leader was treated as a godlike figure.
Ideological goals were profoundly
different
 Communism believed it was achieving equality and social justice that
would be a model for international change
 Nazism sought an unequal order with privileges for the racially
pure elite at the expense of peoples like the Slavs and Jews, who
were considered inferior.
 Nazism called for German expansion into east and glorified
violence;
 Communist ideology under Stalin focused on “socialism in one
country.”
Differences continued
 German ideology particularly targeted Jews, while the Soviet
Union promised equal treatment of peoples of all ethnic
backgrounds
 Economically, although the German government intervened in
the economy, it relied on capitalism and was allied with the
middle and upper classes
 In the Soviet Union, the Communists crushed those classes and
expropriated their property; there was virtually no private
economy.
 Stalin pursued rapid and extensive industrialization with FiveYear Plans and forced collectivization of agriculture.
Preparation of War
 Through their economic policies during the 1930s, both states were
preparing for war, with strong industries and government planning.
 Both states had built effective propaganda machines and achieved
notable successes that stirred the patriotism of their peoples.