Hitler Vs. Stalin

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate April 2001

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Historians, analysts, and educationalists of all different measures have attempted to label one of these two leaders has "the most monstrous dictator our time has ever studied"� When one first asks the question : Who was more tyrannous out of the most tyrannous ? The most obvious answer would be Adolf Hitler because through his extensive use of propaganda, he made what would seem to be an obsolete goal of genocide, a scare great enough to cause the US to take affirmative action. On the contrary, Stalin executed millions upon millions of his own countrymen in his attempt to diminish the audacity of the Russian people leaving them with little thought of any chance for resistance. Alan Bullock, author of Hitler and Stalin ,states "Adolf Hitler's actions can not even be compared to the monstrous actions of Joseph Stalin"� (1). However, one man's opinion isn't enough but through interpretation and analysis of both their reigns of terror, one can only hope in identifying the dividing factor in these two leader's ideas and actions.

The names Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are synonymous with the word propaganda. Hitler and Stalin each used propaganda as their tool to further their ideas in an attempt to gain the support of their fellow countrymen. There are many different forms of propaganda that can be used effectively but Hitler's speech was his most successful means of expression. This is an excerpt from Hitler's final speech before his trial for treason and in this speech he made the people aware of his opinions and views on the events preceding the trial : "...I aimed from the first to...become the destroyer of Marxism....The army that we are building grows more from day to day, from hour to hour....You might just as well find us...