Comparison Of Pre WWII Germany To Russia

Essay, Research Paper

The year is 1933. An Austrian radical named Adolf Hitler takes over the troubled country of Germany and sets forth on a jihad of Aryan conquest that ultimately results in the deaths of over 50 million people and affects the entire world. The most destructive war in the whole of human history, started by a nationalist Austrian painter, who took advantage of a grave situation in a country filled with hard working, strong people. Some claim that the cause of the ascent of Hitler was due to his incredible leadership, persuasiveness, or strategic brilliance, but most agree that without the conditions in Germany during the Great Depression and the dissatisfaction of the German people, Hitler and his war would never have happened. Another reason pointed at by the historians of WWII is the mishandling of Hitler and Germany by the Allied Nations in the previous years while Hitler was rising to power and when he assumed power, their diplomatic failure to stop the formation of the Axis, England and France.s failure to protect Czechoslovakia, and Austrian conquests, and America.s hesitancy to fight in a European war. The main factors contributing to the rise of fascism and a warlord government can also be seen in the second world power created by the WWII, USSR, or, as it is called now, Russia Federation.

.Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s was a broken country, their economy was in collapse, their pride in Germany was severely reduced by the Treaty of Versailles, they had severe hyperinflation, they were not used to the Weimar Republic Democratic rule, and their government was extremely weak. The primary reason for Germany.s embrace of Hitler was his promise of the return of a powerful, rich, idyllic Germany. All of these factors that Germany had in the 1930s have corresponding factors in modern Russia following the collapse of the USSR.

The National Socialist Party, or NSDAP or Nazi Party was retitled from the German Worker.s Party that was formed in Munich in 1919. Their basic premise was a united German people, but they embraced anti-Semitic doctrines and socialism. Socialism was such an important part of the Nazi Party; their name even included a reference to it. Socialism and communism were once used interchangeably. The ultimate goal of all socialists is a classless cooperative commonwealth in every nation of the world. This is a goal also once shared by the Russian people, when they overthrew the czars in favor of Bolshevism. This was also partly one of Stalin.s goals, and Russian agents worked in a variety of countries to try to subvert them to Communism. One such example of their influence is the revolution of Cuba. The ideals that are imprinted into the minds of Russians by the endless flow of USSR propaganda, Communist Party influence, and over a generation of general USSR rule, are akin to those of the National Socialist Party as headed by Hitler, except substituting anti-Capitalism for anti-Semitism.

The most important and scarily close parallel between Russia in 1998 and Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s is their faltering economic situation. When people do not have enough to feed themselves or their children, drastic and often terrible or hasty measures are taken. The German economy definitely showed signs of economic ruin. In addition to recovering from a world war that they had lost, and recovering from reparations paid to European countries for starting the war, Germany had to deal with a depression. Despite the ingenuity of the German people, and their fierce competitive nature, Germany didn.t recover from the war, they got worse. Much worse. In 1929, economic depression hit the world. During the depression, German money suffered terrible hyperinflation, not to mention the bad inflation suffered generally during the 1920s. The Russian economy, a newcomer to the fierce world of global Capitalism, is in a similar dilemma. The Russian government is up against the wall — caught between demands from workers who haven’t been paid in months and the need to pay back a spiral of debt to international lenders. The Russian stock market is down 80%; the financial mess has been worsening over the past two months because of the government’s chronic inability to collect taxes, a reduction in oil export revenues and an exodus of international investors. It does not look good for the Russian economy. Primakov, Russia.s Prime Minister, admitted that Russia would likely print more money to cover its massive debts. Printing money is the worst solution to an economic problem, as the money supply is increased, so the money is worth less. This leads to hyperinflation, much the same as the hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. Russian inexperience with the ways of Capitalism as well as their mishandling of their depression is much the same as Germany.s disadvantages in their economic situation.

For almost 70 years, a Communist government ruled the Russian people. In 1990, the USSR collapsed, the great Russian Empire lost some of its lands and peoples, but still is the largest country in the world in terms of land area, 6.6 million square miles. It.s been only 8 years since the collapse of the USSR, so any adult remembers the old government, and the young people have the legacy. Capitalism and Democracy are alien to the Russian people, who for the almost 70 years were taught in schools and by propaganda that America and eve