Comparing Stalin and Hitler: Similarities and Differences in Leadership - Essay Sample

Introduction

Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were leaders in the 20th century. Stalin was a leader of Russia, while Hitler was the leader of Germany. During their regime, these two leaders had some similar characteristics and differences in leadership. First, they became leaders in the same century in history. Stalin and Hitler had different ideologies for ruling their nations. The doctrines of the two leaders helped to shape the economy of their countries. Stalin changed some domestic policies in Russia to support industrialization and the economy. Hitler's aim of developing the economy was also endorsed in German. This paper will briefly compare the similarities and differences between Stalin and Hitler's domestics policies.

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Similarities

Before 1924 the Russian government under the Soviet Union decided to ensure gender equality (Stepheson,2013). In 1926 Stalin introduced a new family law where women were given some rights in marriage. Hitler also introduced some specific roles to women. These roles were applied to Nazi women in Germany. Both Stalin and Hitler looked at the well-being of women and children. For example, Hitler did not encourage women to work but to take of the children, while Stalin ensured women benefited from free health services. Hitler could not see any reason why women should work in the fields. During Stalin and Hitler, reign girls were introduced to education at an early age. In 1935 Stalin enforced some policies that increased population growth of Soviets while, in German 1933, Hitler implemented the law of encouraging marriage to increase the population of Germany (Stepheson,2013). Hitler encouraged marriage by giving out loans to newly married couples.

In Russia, Stalin made some changes in economic policies, while in Germany, Hitler brought some significant changes in the economy. Both Stalin and Hitler made a deal of a five-year plan to develop the economy. The five-year plan in Russia began in 1928, and it focused mainly on industrialization (Husain &Libertz,2019). Industries were set up for mining coal, oil, iron, steel, and machine production. Most of the unemployed people got jobs in these industries. The same situation was being experienced in Germany. After Hitler was elected the president of Germany in 1933, the economy of the country was very devastating, with the support of the Nazi's Hitler was able to revive the economy. Many people in Germany faced unemployment, but, in 1939, the population of unemployed began to decrease (Husain &Libertz,2019). This happened because Hitler introduced some policies that enhanced the growth of industries, factories, and the agricultural sector. The economic growth brought great achievements to both the Soviets and the German economy.

Russia and Germany had similar characteristics about racial segregation's, Jews suffered twice, in the hands of Russian and Germans. When Stalin adopted the rule of assimilation, to achieve the soviet identity, so many policies changed (Weindling,2014). For example, Stalin made Russian the official language. Jews in Russia suffered a lot of persecutions. For instance, all their religions were abolished, and they also suffered arrest from the Stalin government. Adolf Hitler supported the Nazis in killing the Jewish. The Jewish people were seen as an inferior race compared to other races (Weindling,2014). Hitler believed that the value of an individual lay on the membership of his or her race. The Jewish were the enemies for Nazis and Hitler, and they ended being persecuted.

Differences

Stalin was against any region belief in Russia, while Hitler supported religion in Germany. In 1928, Stalin started a campaign for the closure of all religious worship places (Schuster,2015). Anything that was associated with the church was destroyed. When the Nazis invaded Russia in 1941, over 40,000 churches and 25,000 mosques were closed and converted into cinema halls, schools, clubs, and warehouses (Schuster,2015). In 1929 worshipping was still prohibited in Russia, and in 1936 the constitutional act stated that any propaganda related to religion was a crime. In 1930, leaders of the church were banned from conducting any religious services. Those leaders who went against the law were arrested and imprisoned, and others were killed. In the year 1932, a new law was enforced to ensure no church attendance. The continuous campaign against religion led to the abolishment of Sharia courts as well as Islam. In 1935, Stalin issued a directive that pilgrimage to Mecca was illegal. Hitler had a different move about churches, unlike Stalin (Schuster,2015). In 1933, Hitler signed an agreement with the catholic church to continue providing its services. Hitler assured to protect the church as long as it stayed away from politics. Hitler was praised for this great move not only by the catholic church but also by other denominations such as the protestants.

Conclusion

To sum up, Stalin and Hitler are great leaders who are always remembered by historians. These two leaders contributed significantly to the growth of Russia and German in terms of economic, industries, and machinery. During their reign, they had so many similarities according to how they ruled. For example, they ensured equality coexisted; women and children are in good health. Stalin and Hitler created employment opportunities for millions of unemployed people. Although they experienced some challenges, they made these great achievements. These leaders varied in matters relating to religion; Stalin was against the practice of any religion while Hilter protected the religion such as the catholic church.

References

Husain, M. Z., & Liebertz, S. (2019). Hitler, Stalin, and Authoritarianism: A Comparative Analysis (Part 2). Journal of Psychohistory, 47(2).

Schuster, D. (2015). Nazi Germany and Religion-Some Thoughts on the Legal Framework Set by Religion Policy in a Polycratic Government System. In the State as an Actor in Religion Policy (pp. 55-69). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.

Stephenson, J. (2013). Women in Nazi society (Vol. 35). Routledge.

Weindling, P. (2014). Victims and survivors of Nazi human experiments: science and suffering in the Holocaust. Bloomsbury Publishing.