Democracies are more likely to win “Total Wars” than totalitarian regimes.’

Throughout the span of Hitler’s rule, there was constant confusion within the Third Reich. Hitler’s government was not a monolithic government; instead, there were many different centers of power, including the different military branches and different ministries. The “administrative anarchy” led to constant

I, William Schnautz am writing this letter to inform the Church Administration of my resignation of my office of overseer and deacon, due to reason chancges in personal matters I am unable to preform my duties in a manner that is pleasing to God. To safeguard my membership in the Church of Christ it would be best to remove myself from the offices that I hold, so that I can reevaluate myself and to properly manage my family in a way that follows the will of God.

According to Fredrich’s “six point syndrome”, a totalitarian state must consist of an official ideology, a single mass party, terroristic police control, monopoly control of the media and arms and central control of the economy. During the Nazi Reich between 1933-1939, under Hitler as Fuhrer (supreme leader), the Nazi regime was able to successfully achieve aspects of totalitarianism by exerting tight control of the media and police; leading to control of certain aspects of German social, political, legal, economical and cultural life. However, there are significant features of the Nazi regime that simply fail to fit Friedrich's six, all encompassing concepts of totalitarianism.

Dictionary.com defines total war as “a war that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, the territory or combatants involved, or the objectives pursued, especially one in which the laws of war are disregarded.” After reading this definition one might think that World War II may not have exactly been an example of total war because only one side truly disregarded the “laws of war”. That being the Axis powers. Typically, one would perceive this notion because it certainly was not the United States or Britain who participated in the genocide of an entire ethnic group during the War. While this view is very much true, it is also my opinion that it is inaccurate to believe that all parties in the war did not commit some level of atrocity

Throughout history, there have been a multitude of examples of wars brought too close to home. At times, there comes a point in war where consideration of innocent lives becomes thin, and all energy is put towards war efforts, rather than any other aspect of human life. These points in history are referred to as total war. Examples of total war can be seen as far back as in the ancient civilizations of Rome and Persia, however, the paragon of total war can be found in World War Two. Based on the overall involvement of a vast multitude of civilians, economies and countries targeted and impacted throughout the war, World War Two is the strongest example of total war in American history.

Dictatorship throughout the ages has mainly led to oppression and conflict between people and government. Some of the notoriously bad dictators took office around the 1920’s and 1930’s. There were three main dictators in that time period and they all ran different countries in very different ways. Josef Stalin was known as the dictator of the Soviet Union, he was all about communism and did not care if there was opposition to his ideas. On the other hand, Benito Mussolini was in charge of Italy and all about fascism. Possibly the worst known dictator of all times was Hitler, in charge of, Germany, he was all about Nazism. Each had a different outlook on ruling, but they all did things similarly to lead to nations hatred against them. Basically, their ultimate goal was to do what was best for their countries, however, there want for power tended to get in the way. They all wanted to accomplish many things, they used many different ideas and ways to run their nations. They were all blamed for their nations demise in one way or another. This essay will discuss the similarities and differences between Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini.

In a totalitarian dictatorship there is an official ideology, covering all aspects of a man’s existence to which everyone living in that society must adhere. A totalitarian dictatorship is also a single mass party led typically by one man the “dictator” and has a system of terroristic police control in order for the dictator to remain in power [doc 1]. Totalitarian governments also had total control over the military, economy and means of communication such as newspapers and propaganda.

Total War: All of society, including military forces as well as civilians, was encouraged to participate in the idea of total war. This is a tactic used when all restrictions are neglected as far as weaponry and territory. Usually, the economy takes the hit the hardest because it becomes second to the government with regards to importance. For example, during the time period of 1943-1944 in the U.S., car factories switched gears and instead used their time to construct tanks and other machines to be used in the war. The U.S. was not the only country that quickly became accustomed to adaptation. In Britain, some fruits were basically not seen for a few years because the space they would have taken up was needed for space on the merchant ships. The involvement in the automobile and weaponry industries creates larger more invasive government. Children are expected to help in some way; if it means

Total war is the idea that there are no restrictions on weapons used, territory or people involved, and the laws of war are generally disregarded. In total war, “there [is] no difference between civilian and soldiers” (118). Many people believed that since, “It was war and we had to expect it” (117) and by it they meant the worst.

Throughout history totalitarian leaders would violate people’s safety, their peace of mind and their freedom to rise to power. For example, Germany lost the war in 1919 which cause the need for reparations and a new leader, that is when Hitler became the leader of Germany and in that time Germany was going through a lot of hard times which caused the people to look forward to the future. Another example of totalitarian leaders in that time was Stalin who used people’s fear to gain trust from his people and cause paranoia in people of that time. Both of these totalitarian leaders violated democratic ideas by violating the safety and freedom of their people to manipulate them and their minds. And then they would oppress the minority group, for example, those who were Jewish were treated badly and killed.

The passages from Pauley chapter 5 and Williamson chapter 6 shows how the three authoritarian empires [German Reich, Italy, Soviet Union] planned to maintain power for centuries. All three nations followed two principles to ensure their regimes lasted, turning coercion into consent and using Youth Groups to indoctrinate the future generations. The German Reich also created a new world order Volksgemeinschaft ‘People’s Community’, but only the racially pure could be a part of it.

The 20th century was marked by many unforgettable events such as World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Some of these events occurred because of the birth of a government system called totalitarianism. A totalitarian regime is gained either through legal or illegal means and transforms the entire society into a single party regime with the sole purpose of conquering society (Zani, 2003). One of the founding fathers of totalitarianism, Joseph Stalin, ruined the lives of many by taking complete control over their lives through brainwashing techniques and destroying their rights to express their opinion.

A total war is a conflict which involves bringing together resources; this includes both industrial and military resources aiming at having an output that the enemy will not overcome at all (Castellano, 2016). The biggest difference that exists between a total war and a normal war is that there is really zero difference between those fighting in the same war and the civilians in this period; all these people are considered an enemy.

This implies a relationship in which the state through its instruments dominates society. Hence in the totalitarian state all political, economic, social, cultural and intellectual activities should be directed towards fulfilling the aims of the state” (“Totalitarianism”, 1999). In a totalitarian state, individuals have no rights and they must obey the government without question. If individuals questioned or disagreed with the government, they were silenced by death or prison.

Almost 70 years has being passed since the last world war was declared its end. These days, it is said that if the third world war is occurred in the current world, it should be a total warfare with nuclear weapons (Gunn, 2004:70). In general the World War II (WWII) is often considered as a case of total war; now, there can be a question about the existence of total war in the world history.