"Too Short A Season"
this essay I wrote about four years ago. I realize now how flawed alot of it is, having not known then what I know now. I wrote this essay for Nikki's world history class I believe.
In our world’s history, the two most ruthless men were without a doubt Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin. However, since Stalin was on the winning side of the Second World War, his viscous exploits were not as well documented as were Hitler's. Actually, Hitler and Stalin were similar in many aspects. Both men were guilty of atrocious war crimes, and violations of human rights. Their systems of government were similar in that they were both Totalitarian states, even if run differently, and they both had ideas for conquest.
In 1905, the Russian revolution sped Stalin’s rise to power. He served as a Communist Party organizer in Tiflis and as coeditor of the Tiflis-based Caucasian Workers Newssheet. His first years of governmental involvement were spent mainly in jail, or in exile in the bitter land of Siberia. However, he showed a remarkable ability to escape, and he slowly climbed the tiers of the governmental ladder. Documents have shown that Stalin was by no means a great physical specimen, who was greatly restless, highly emotional, very cynical, and that he obtained a most vindictive nature. However, the Communist propaganda machine gave him a great public image. He portrayed a humble air, and dressed simply, such as a Russian peasant would. He showed off father-like qualities, which helped win over the admiration of the common people. Indeed, the younger generations saw him as a role model.
When Lenin, the then current leader of Russia, began to die, he wished to hand pick his successor. The main contenders were Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Although, in the end Stalin won, he was not sure of his safety. He then started what would be a long line of executions as he has Trotsky murdered at the hands of a K.G.B. agent, while he was in Mexico. This led also to Stalin’s ordering of many other high ranking government officials, and prominent social figures being put to death. At one point he even had a vast amount of doctors executed when his personal physician told him he was ill and should take a personal vacation.
Stalin was a willful man who slowly climbed his way up the ranks. Hitler did much the same thing, with a few interesting twists. During his young adult years, he was not as outgoing or as capable of success as Stalin was. Adolf Hitler grew up with a poor record at school and left, before completing his tuition, with an ambition to become an artist. Between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, young Adolf neither worked to earn his keep, nor formally studied, but had gained an interest in politics and history. During this time he unsuccessfully applied for admission to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. In 1909, he moved to Vienna in the hope of somehow earning a living. Within a year he was living in homeless shelters and eating at charity soup kitchens. He had declined to take regular employment and took occasional menial jobs and sold some of his paintings or advertising posters whenever he could to provide sustenance.
Between December 1918 and March 1919 Hitler worked at a prisoner-of-war camp at Traunstein before returning again to Munich. Shortly after his return he witnessed a takeover bid by local Communists who seized power before being ousted by the army. After he gave evidence at an investigation into the takeover he was asked to become part of a local army organization which was responsible for persuading returning soldiers not to turn to communism or pacifism. During his training for these tasks and during his subsequent duties he was able to hone his oratory skills. As part of his duties he was also asked to spy on certain local political groups, and during a meeting of the German Workers' Party he became so incensed by one of the speeches that he delivered a fierce harangue to the speaker. The founder of the party, Anion Drexler, was so impressed by Hitler's tirade that he asked him to join their organization. Hitler, after some thought, finally agreed to join the committee and became their seventh official in September 1919.
By 1921 Adolf Hitler had virtually secured total control of the Nazi party, however this was not to the liking of all Nazis. In July of that year, whilst Hitler was away in Berlin, the discontent members of the party proposed a merger with a like-minded political party in Nuremberg in the hope that this would dilute Hitler's influence. On hearing the news of the proposed merger, Hitler rushed back to Munich to confront the party and threatened to resign. The other members were aware that Hitler was bringing in the lion's share of funds into the organization, from the collections following his speeches at meetings and from other sympathetic sources. Thus they knew they couldn't afford his resignation. Hitler then proceeded to turn the tables on the committee members and forced them to accept him as formal leader of the party with dictatorial powers.
Later, during his term in prison Hitler began dictating his thoughts and philosophies to Rudolf Hess, which became the book "Mien Kampf" (My Struggle). In the July elections, the Nazi Party won 13,745,000 votes, which gave them 230 out of the 608 seats in the Reichstag. Although the Nazis were the largest party, they were still short of a majority. Hitler, however, demanded that he be made Chancellor but was offered only the position of Vice-Chancellor in a coalition government, which he refused. Finally on January 30th, 1933 President Hindenburg decided to appoint Hitler Chancellor in a coalition government.
The penultimate step towards Adolf Hitler gaining complete control over the destiny of Germany were taken on the night of 27th February 1933 when the Reichstag was destroyed by fire. The fire was almost certainly planned by the Nazis, Goebbels and Goering in particular. A Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was made scapegoat for the fire, but the main outcome was that Hitler was given an excuse to have all the Communist deputies of the Reichstag arrested. This allowed Hitler to obtain a decree from President Hindenburg giving the Nazi government powers to inter anyone they thought was a threat to the nation. Furthermore the Presidential decree allowed the Nazi government to suppress the free speech of its political opponents. Hitler was now in full control of Germany.
It soon came to be known that the Nazis were a deeply prejudice party. Their idea of a model citizen was a well-built man or woman of blonde hair and blue eyes, who was of pure German blood. They felt that all others had tainted the country and should be eliminated. It was at about the same time, in which both Hitler and Stalin began to execute hundreds of thousands of Jewish people, based solely on their beliefs. By the time the war had ended between the two men, millions of Jews were wiped out in the single greatest piece of genocide ever fathomed. But Hitler did not murder Jews exclusively; he also put to death homosexuals, gypsies and members of other countries, which he had invaded. Stalin on the other hand tended to execute those of higher rank in society. But no country felt the collective brunt of Stalin and Hitler, as did the Ukraine. Hitler saw the inhabitants of this region simply as he did the rest of the world: Germen Lebensraum. Staling feared that an independent Ukraine would wreck his great Soviet Empire. Over 25 million Ukrainians died at the hands of the Soviet Union alone. Stalin’s belief was that if there were nobody to cause problems, he would have no troubles.
The governmental aspects of Hitler and Stalin were also similar in that they were both totalitarian states. When Stalin came in as Lenin’s successor, he adapted the same Communist beliefs that Lenin had. As you know, Communism is a governmental system wherein all people are equal in status. The collective whole prospers or fails as such. This was not exactly however what Stalin implemented. Under his rule, the government, namely him, controlled everything. The commoners, which had supported him so greatly in his rise to power, toiled daily on his behalf, or died at his iron hands. He set up the aforementioned K.G.B., or secret police, to carry out his wishes, and spy on those who were deemed untrustworthy. Stalin’s military mind was not precisely as Hitler’s was. He did not have the obsession for world domination, but a sincere desire to see the Soviet Union thrive. One thing Russia had always lacked was a seaport for trade and commerce. Whereas over time other nations with this advantage prospered, Russia stayed destitute and dependent on the charity of others. It was because of this that Stalin focused his militaristic advances on nations that had a seaport, and also which might have better lands for crops and such.
In a most interesting turn of events, Hitler and Stalin signed a treaty, which would allow them to split up the country of Poland between them, as they had both invaded the helpless country at the same time. This truce was short lived however as Hitler soon invaded Russia in Operation Barbarosa. Even though he was warned by his top generals and aids not to do so, as it would spread his resources too thin, he went ahead with his invasion. This was perhaps Hitler’s main drawback: his desire to control everything possible, and to do so immediately. At this time, the height of the war, Hitler was fighting a war on many fronts. He already controlled the majority of Europe and had massive amounts of troops deployed to maintain the peace and to put down resistance movements. He was fighting a losing battle with England, the one European country in which no Germans set foot on. Also in North Africa his troops under General Rommel the Desert Fox, were fleeing from the advancing allied troops under General Eisenhower. His invasion of Russia could not have come at a worse time, as winter was setting in. This vast scattering of troops is what allowed the allies to have the D-Day victory over the Germans. His other downfall was his desire for “greatness”. He had his scientists devoting themselves to creating super weapons such as the V1 and V2 missile, and even had plans for a flying fortress, which never got off the ground so to speak. He was also a fanatic of biblical lore, and believed that there were supernatural powers that his armies could obtain, but obviously nothing ever came of that.
As stated earlier, Hitler was supreme dictator of Germany. He was the law, and those who opposed him would die under it. As Stalin had done in Russia, Hitler set up a secret police, known as the Gestapo. He was not very trusting of anyone around him. In the last days of the war, he confined himself to an underground bunker with his wife, Eva Braun, and ate nothing but cream puffs. His second in command, Goering, was executed when Hitler became suspicious of him for putting up the idea of surrendering. In the end he committed suicide, stopping the confusion and pain of seeing his glorious empire spiraling out of control.
With the end of the war, Hitler’s atrocities were laid bare for the world to see, and we all witnessed the terrible effect of his concentration camps. Stalin however, lucked out, as he was on the winning side. The horrible acts he had committed were not found out, or fully known until many years later. The Nazi regime in Germany was dead, and the country was split up between the Democratic West and Communist Russia. Stalin kept all the land he had acquired in the war and the countries the soviets has liberated fell under his rule. Today Hitler is known rightfully so as a horrible person, and Stalin just as another Communist leader who did some pretty bad things. But during the Second World War and in the years leading up to it, they were all too similar.
In our world’s history, the two most ruthless men were without a doubt Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin. However, since Stalin was on the winning side of the Second World War, his viscous exploits were not as well documented as were Hitler's. Actually, Hitler and Stalin were similar in many aspects. Both men were guilty of atrocious war crimes, and violations of human rights. Their systems of government were similar in that they were both Totalitarian states, even if run differently, and they both had ideas for conquest.
In 1905, the Russian revolution sped Stalin’s rise to power. He served as a Communist Party organizer in Tiflis and as coeditor of the Tiflis-based Caucasian Workers Newssheet. His first years of governmental involvement were spent mainly in jail, or in exile in the bitter land of Siberia. However, he showed a remarkable ability to escape, and he slowly climbed the tiers of the governmental ladder. Documents have shown that Stalin was by no means a great physical specimen, who was greatly restless, highly emotional, very cynical, and that he obtained a most vindictive nature. However, the Communist propaganda machine gave him a great public image. He portrayed a humble air, and dressed simply, such as a Russian peasant would. He showed off father-like qualities, which helped win over the admiration of the common people. Indeed, the younger generations saw him as a role model.
When Lenin, the then current leader of Russia, began to die, he wished to hand pick his successor. The main contenders were Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Although, in the end Stalin won, he was not sure of his safety. He then started what would be a long line of executions as he has Trotsky murdered at the hands of a K.G.B. agent, while he was in Mexico. This led also to Stalin’s ordering of many other high ranking government officials, and prominent social figures being put to death. At one point he even had a vast amount of doctors executed when his personal physician told him he was ill and should take a personal vacation.
Stalin was a willful man who slowly climbed his way up the ranks. Hitler did much the same thing, with a few interesting twists. During his young adult years, he was not as outgoing or as capable of success as Stalin was. Adolf Hitler grew up with a poor record at school and left, before completing his tuition, with an ambition to become an artist. Between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, young Adolf neither worked to earn his keep, nor formally studied, but had gained an interest in politics and history. During this time he unsuccessfully applied for admission to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. In 1909, he moved to Vienna in the hope of somehow earning a living. Within a year he was living in homeless shelters and eating at charity soup kitchens. He had declined to take regular employment and took occasional menial jobs and sold some of his paintings or advertising posters whenever he could to provide sustenance.
Between December 1918 and March 1919 Hitler worked at a prisoner-of-war camp at Traunstein before returning again to Munich. Shortly after his return he witnessed a takeover bid by local Communists who seized power before being ousted by the army. After he gave evidence at an investigation into the takeover he was asked to become part of a local army organization which was responsible for persuading returning soldiers not to turn to communism or pacifism. During his training for these tasks and during his subsequent duties he was able to hone his oratory skills. As part of his duties he was also asked to spy on certain local political groups, and during a meeting of the German Workers' Party he became so incensed by one of the speeches that he delivered a fierce harangue to the speaker. The founder of the party, Anion Drexler, was so impressed by Hitler's tirade that he asked him to join their organization. Hitler, after some thought, finally agreed to join the committee and became their seventh official in September 1919.
By 1921 Adolf Hitler had virtually secured total control of the Nazi party, however this was not to the liking of all Nazis. In July of that year, whilst Hitler was away in Berlin, the discontent members of the party proposed a merger with a like-minded political party in Nuremberg in the hope that this would dilute Hitler's influence. On hearing the news of the proposed merger, Hitler rushed back to Munich to confront the party and threatened to resign. The other members were aware that Hitler was bringing in the lion's share of funds into the organization, from the collections following his speeches at meetings and from other sympathetic sources. Thus they knew they couldn't afford his resignation. Hitler then proceeded to turn the tables on the committee members and forced them to accept him as formal leader of the party with dictatorial powers.
Later, during his term in prison Hitler began dictating his thoughts and philosophies to Rudolf Hess, which became the book "Mien Kampf" (My Struggle). In the July elections, the Nazi Party won 13,745,000 votes, which gave them 230 out of the 608 seats in the Reichstag. Although the Nazis were the largest party, they were still short of a majority. Hitler, however, demanded that he be made Chancellor but was offered only the position of Vice-Chancellor in a coalition government, which he refused. Finally on January 30th, 1933 President Hindenburg decided to appoint Hitler Chancellor in a coalition government.
The penultimate step towards Adolf Hitler gaining complete control over the destiny of Germany were taken on the night of 27th February 1933 when the Reichstag was destroyed by fire. The fire was almost certainly planned by the Nazis, Goebbels and Goering in particular. A Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was made scapegoat for the fire, but the main outcome was that Hitler was given an excuse to have all the Communist deputies of the Reichstag arrested. This allowed Hitler to obtain a decree from President Hindenburg giving the Nazi government powers to inter anyone they thought was a threat to the nation. Furthermore the Presidential decree allowed the Nazi government to suppress the free speech of its political opponents. Hitler was now in full control of Germany.
It soon came to be known that the Nazis were a deeply prejudice party. Their idea of a model citizen was a well-built man or woman of blonde hair and blue eyes, who was of pure German blood. They felt that all others had tainted the country and should be eliminated. It was at about the same time, in which both Hitler and Stalin began to execute hundreds of thousands of Jewish people, based solely on their beliefs. By the time the war had ended between the two men, millions of Jews were wiped out in the single greatest piece of genocide ever fathomed. But Hitler did not murder Jews exclusively; he also put to death homosexuals, gypsies and members of other countries, which he had invaded. Stalin on the other hand tended to execute those of higher rank in society. But no country felt the collective brunt of Stalin and Hitler, as did the Ukraine. Hitler saw the inhabitants of this region simply as he did the rest of the world: Germen Lebensraum. Staling feared that an independent Ukraine would wreck his great Soviet Empire. Over 25 million Ukrainians died at the hands of the Soviet Union alone. Stalin’s belief was that if there were nobody to cause problems, he would have no troubles.
The governmental aspects of Hitler and Stalin were also similar in that they were both totalitarian states. When Stalin came in as Lenin’s successor, he adapted the same Communist beliefs that Lenin had. As you know, Communism is a governmental system wherein all people are equal in status. The collective whole prospers or fails as such. This was not exactly however what Stalin implemented. Under his rule, the government, namely him, controlled everything. The commoners, which had supported him so greatly in his rise to power, toiled daily on his behalf, or died at his iron hands. He set up the aforementioned K.G.B., or secret police, to carry out his wishes, and spy on those who were deemed untrustworthy. Stalin’s military mind was not precisely as Hitler’s was. He did not have the obsession for world domination, but a sincere desire to see the Soviet Union thrive. One thing Russia had always lacked was a seaport for trade and commerce. Whereas over time other nations with this advantage prospered, Russia stayed destitute and dependent on the charity of others. It was because of this that Stalin focused his militaristic advances on nations that had a seaport, and also which might have better lands for crops and such.
In a most interesting turn of events, Hitler and Stalin signed a treaty, which would allow them to split up the country of Poland between them, as they had both invaded the helpless country at the same time. This truce was short lived however as Hitler soon invaded Russia in Operation Barbarosa. Even though he was warned by his top generals and aids not to do so, as it would spread his resources too thin, he went ahead with his invasion. This was perhaps Hitler’s main drawback: his desire to control everything possible, and to do so immediately. At this time, the height of the war, Hitler was fighting a war on many fronts. He already controlled the majority of Europe and had massive amounts of troops deployed to maintain the peace and to put down resistance movements. He was fighting a losing battle with England, the one European country in which no Germans set foot on. Also in North Africa his troops under General Rommel the Desert Fox, were fleeing from the advancing allied troops under General Eisenhower. His invasion of Russia could not have come at a worse time, as winter was setting in. This vast scattering of troops is what allowed the allies to have the D-Day victory over the Germans. His other downfall was his desire for “greatness”. He had his scientists devoting themselves to creating super weapons such as the V1 and V2 missile, and even had plans for a flying fortress, which never got off the ground so to speak. He was also a fanatic of biblical lore, and believed that there were supernatural powers that his armies could obtain, but obviously nothing ever came of that.
As stated earlier, Hitler was supreme dictator of Germany. He was the law, and those who opposed him would die under it. As Stalin had done in Russia, Hitler set up a secret police, known as the Gestapo. He was not very trusting of anyone around him. In the last days of the war, he confined himself to an underground bunker with his wife, Eva Braun, and ate nothing but cream puffs. His second in command, Goering, was executed when Hitler became suspicious of him for putting up the idea of surrendering. In the end he committed suicide, stopping the confusion and pain of seeing his glorious empire spiraling out of control.
With the end of the war, Hitler’s atrocities were laid bare for the world to see, and we all witnessed the terrible effect of his concentration camps. Stalin however, lucked out, as he was on the winning side. The horrible acts he had committed were not found out, or fully known until many years later. The Nazi regime in Germany was dead, and the country was split up between the Democratic West and Communist Russia. Stalin kept all the land he had acquired in the war and the countries the soviets has liberated fell under his rule. Today Hitler is known rightfully so as a horrible person, and Stalin just as another Communist leader who did some pretty bad things. But during the Second World War and in the years leading up to it, they were all too similar.
posted by ozporn at 12:26 AM
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