Totalitarian Leaders
Mussolini:
Country/Year to Power: Italy 1922-1945
Political Party: Fascist
Came to Power: March on Rome-demanded to
be named Prime Minister by King Victor
Emmanuel
Nickname: Il Duce
Secret Police: Black Shirts
Mussolini:
Strategies used to stay in Power:
• Strengthened the military
• Invaded Ethiopia to show power
• Partnered with Hitler
• Used propaganda and censorship
Stalin:
Country/Year to Power: USSR 1928-1953
Political Party: Communist
Came to Power: Lenin died. Stalin named the
successor after having Trotsky exiled to
Mexico and later executed
Nickname: Man of Steel
Secret Police: Checka
Stalin:
Strategies used to stay in Power:
• 5 Year Plans
– Increased industry
– Improved farming and transportation
• Used propaganda and censorship
• Created Collectives (large farms) and the
Kulaks (wealthy farmers) resisted
• The Great Purge- killing of political opponents
Hitler:
Country/Year to Power: Germany 1933-1945
Political Party: Nazi
Came to Power: Elected Chancellor of the
Weimar Republic-within a year names himself
dictator. Creates the Nazi Party.
Nickname: Der Fuher
Secret Police: Gestapo/SS Storm Troopers
Hitler
Strategies used to stay in Power:
• Anti-Semitism (“against the Jew”)
– Nuremburg Laws
– Hitler Youth
– Kristallnacht (“night of broken glass”)
• Mein Kampf (“my struggles”)-manifesto
• Final Solution- exterminate Jews from Europe
(Holocaust)