Compare And Contrast Mussolini And Stalin

Two of the biggest leaders in World War II were Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin. Italy was allied with Germany and Japan during WWII. They were known as the Axis Powers. Benito Mussolini was the ruler of Italy during the war. Russia, known as the Soviet Union during WWII was allied with Britain, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, China, and the United States. They were known as the Allied Powers. Joseph Stalin was the ruler of the Soviet Union during the war.
Despite both men being dictators in their respective countries, they had varying views on leadership. Stalin was a Communist and Mussolini was a Fascist. Communism is “a theory advocating the elimination of private property.” (Merriam – Webster dictionary, 2017). Fascism is a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that …show more content…
1). Stalin is often known as the great helmsman of the Soviet state but more than that he was a “political genius who had led his country to victory in war and to superpower status in peace.” (Roberts, 2006, p. 1). Stalin used Machiavellian methods in his leadership such as the use of “intimidation and fear-mongering” (Weeks, 2011, p. 21) to get his army to obey him. Stalin had two main goals in his leadership “using all means to preserve his personal power while protecting at whatever cost the security of the Soviet state against any perceived internal or external enemies.” (Weeks, 2011, p. 3). Benito Mussolini’s alliance with Adolf Hitler during World War II “illustrates the enormous power the Duce exercised in foreign policy in the second decade of his rule, power that allowed him to impose his will on his country and its people.” (Cardoza, 2006, p. 121). Due to his alliance with