Totalitarianism In Ww2

At the time of World War I, the world had expected it to be the “war to end all wars”. Unfortunately, all it would accomplish would be setting the stage for World War II to take place just a couple decades later. The war was seen as unnecessary, with world leaders having many opportunities to not go to war, and yet becoming one of the world’s most devastating and bloody wars that it had ever seen. It became the catalyst for the social and economic conditions that would create more animosity between the nations of the world, and that would eventually make World War II possible.
What is seen to be the one of the most obviously destructive components of World War I was the tremendously large number of casualties from around the world. By the end …show more content…
But what is “totalitarianism”, and how did it become so widely spread at this time? The Oxford Dictionary defines totalitarianism as “the system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state”. When an entire country is suffering economic depression, unemployment, poverty, and lack of guidance, it only takes one inspirational and charismatic leader to give that nation hope. If the people believe in that leader and what he promises, they will follow him and become submissive, because the survival of themselves, their family, and their future is at stake. This is what caused totalitarianism to be accepted so readily. The world would experience this during the time of totalitarian regimes coming to power in Europe in the 1920’s and 1930’s. This would become one of the leading causes of World War II. One of the first regimes to come to power was Mussolini and the Fascists in Italy, during the year of 1922. In the year 1927, Stalin would defeat Trotsky and take over Soviet Russia. And most importantly, Hitler and the Nazi party would take over the German government in