Hitler vs. Stalin free essay sample

Due to Stalin’s persistent tyrannical and obsessive paranoia in administering this government, his legacy proves to be more pertinent than his western counterpart due to the economic growth throughout his country, military achievement reached in the Second World War, the effects of Public memory that ensued and lastly, the ultimate spread of communism over the world. After the Russian Revolution Lenin had set up the NEP or the New Economic Plan. Though this new policy proved to work, Stalin terminated the NEP for his five-year plan. This five-year plan proved to be deadly or extremely harmful for the people of Russia. Many farmers and citizens died from starvation and were exiled because of this five-year plan. During the second five-year plan Stalin granted rewards for citizens who exceeded their quotas to encourage hard work and other citizens to work hard. Though Hitler had also raised his war-torn country’s economy, and brought his fellow Germans a better lifestyle, Joseph Stalin had focused on profitability rather than well being of his citizens. We will write a custom essay sample on Hitler vs. Stalin or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However the economic growth did lead Russia and its army to afford better military equipment as well as new technologies and new artillery, necessary to defeat Hitler and the Nazis. After World War I the Russian Military and economy underwent dramatic transitions as well as Germany. From poor artillery, arms shortage, and a general lack of resources, the Russians went from being the joke of European military to the biggest threat and superpower during the Second World War. The use of the NEP and five-year plan-though were horrible on the society- worked in the construction of a new Russia that was so technologically behind the rest of the world. Russia was a key element in the defeat of Germany in the Second World War. The ‘Great Patriotic War’, rightly named in that it had created a Soviet motherland, had forged to its peoples and the groups into a community. † Winning the war against Germany was obviously good for the moral of all the Russian people because it brought as sense of unity and power as well as confidence in themselves as a nation. Hitler and Germany also had dramatic changes to their wealth and way of life. Germany had gone thro ugh a revolution as well, with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. The revolution had been accompanied by terror and violence, costing the lives of hundreds of its opponents and depriving thousands of their freedom or homeland. † This is known as the Nazi revolution. Hitler had signed the bill of â€Å"Protection of State and People, which revoked the rights of the German people and gave Hitler ultimately more power to do s he pleased. This power led Hitler to gain the advantage over his opponents and later led him to eliminate his enemies. When people hear World War II many automatically relate it to the Holocaust nd Adolf Hitler being the spawn of Satan with his evil intentions and mass murders. However â€Å"History is written by the victors† (Winston Churchill) and although the stories of Stalin have not gone unwritten, they were just not mentioned as much. The general assumption is that Hitler was just incredibly insane to hate a culture so much to kill them by the millions, but he may not even be able to compare to Stalin. â€Å"Stalin was greedy for power and to establish his power, he eliminated first of all adversaries, then seized by a mad lust for blood as he struck at the whole soviet peo ple†. Although Adolf Hitler is no hero and sent millions of people to their death, there is no source saying that he intentionally killed millions of Germans for his Lust for power. He may have leaded them to their death through warfare and stubbornness of battle strategies, but did not starve them to death like Stalin did with his five-year plans. However Hitler was a very passionate speaker as well as courageous for his country. â€Å"He is quite unselfish, and has infinite courage- I disbelieve the stories which would have it otherwise† which would make it seem as though he had more of an impact on the twentieth century. Another impact that Stalin had on Europe and the world during the twentieth century was the spread of communism arising in countries like China, Korea Cuba, Etc. meanwhile fascism died in Germany with the Nazi party. Communism arose in many Eastern Europe countries and other countries under Russian rule as well. After the war, Stalin took his spoils and split Berlin in half with the Berlin wall. The Soviets then found themselves stuck in an arms race with the United States to ensure them to be the super power of the world. The United States wanted to open Free Trade with every one in the world while the Soviets preferred to shield off their resources from international trade. Stalin feared that trade with the west would let Russia be open to influences of the west which would have overpowered the strength of Stalin’s Regime. In conclusion when comparing the careers of Hitler and Stalin it is safe to assume that the impact of Stalin was greater than that of Hitler. Though Hitler did triumph at accelerating Germany’s failing economy, as well as conquer much of Europe, he did not live to see his plan reach and end and committed suicide at the end of WWII. Joseph Stalin on the other hand gained control of his nation at an earlier time in history and had ended his reign later than Adolf Hitler. Though Stalin did influence and impact the twentieth century more than Hitler, much of the impact Stalin caused would be missing had it not been for Hitler. A fair assessment would be to state that the impact of both these dictatorships impacted the twentieth century and had Hitler not been involved with this specific time period, Stalin’s impact of the twentieth century would not be as important. Bibliography Snyder, Timothy.