Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a type of society governed by not one ruler but a whole group. Basically, totalitarianism is a dictatorship just with more than one person. Even though it sounds like a democracy it isn't. In a democracy the people that vote have a voice, whereas in a totalitarianism the group of leaders can check all of your information and can over power your voice.

Stalin became a leader after Lenin died. Below Lenin was Joseph Stalin and another friend. Stalin was able to compete and win this other friend becoming the leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin's point was to make the soviet union the most industrialized country in Europe. This is where the Five-Year Plan came in handy.

The whole point of the plan was to make people work in mills and factories. Stalin even forced people to give up their land so they could make it a farm for business. If they didn't give up land they would be killed.

The Great Purges were a huge numbers of murders and people going to labor camps. The economy was doing better but many people's lives were given up for the rise of the Soviet Union. Many people were also sent to exile.

Stalin was going at any risk to make Russia one of the most advanced nations ever. Doing this meant propaganda, censorship and fear. Stalin had to make his people understand that they needed to be proud of their country. Their country had to be the leader of the European world.

Although Stalin went to extremes he meant well. He wanted a world with communism where everything would be equal. No one had to worry because they would be living the good life. Although communism had its good things some people just took it too far and one of those people was Stalin.

Film Lesson: Doctor Zhivago

The film "Doctor Zhivago" depicted the Russian Revolution as the overthrown of Czar Nicholas II and the beginning of the Soviet Union. Showing the challenges of love through out the war. Zhivago starts happily and ends depressed when he returns home. Having a love affair with a beautiful nurse, although he loves his wife very much. The views of the revolution lead them together.

Some of the reasons the Russian people wanted change was because they were being used. The lower class was just being used to make the nation stronger by working in factories and making a lot of technology. That way Russia would be ahead of the other Europe.

Communism was shown as a good thing because the Russians lived a harsh and restricted life. Dr.Zhivago later saw that the poor had to move in with the rich because the rich had more room. This showed him what communism was all about, the rich controlling the poor.

Causes of WWI

WWI is a difficult war to understand the causes of because it wasn't as straight-forward as WWII was. WWII was about power. A lot of people say that Hitler started WWII for the embarrassment that Germany had to go through during WWI. But most of the reasons have to do with many nations. Not just one specifically.

You can say a big thing that was the cause of the war was nationalism. In this case, it was the sort of nationalism where the country wanted to dominant other countries. The horrible side of nationalism. That is the best way to call it.

Germany was pretty smart in spreading out nationalism. The country's plan was to make alliances with many European countries. This way their ideas would be spread out through Europe. But German political leaders decided to expand around the world, they lost many allies. Leaving only Austria-Hungary as their friend.

France was a pretty strong nation like Germany. With Napoleon as your leader, of course you had to be just as strong. But like every other nation land is a priority. This led to the competition with Italy. Who wanted command land and was also full of nationalism.\

Britain wasn't a favorite of dealing with war affairs. Since the country had a industrial advancement. With a huge navy. Also controlling many European countries. Britain just wanted to stay neutral. But when nations started messing with Britain's territory in Africa it was time to fight back.

Materialism was a big factor to the war. Countries were competing for the best weapons and the best armies. After making weapon after weapon, they were going to put it into some use.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand led to the war because of the backing up each nation had. The Arch Duke was from Austria-Hungary, which was being backed up by Germany. The Arch Duke was shot by a Serbian man. Serbia was being backed up by Russia. Austria-Hungary was obviously hurt by the fact that this one man hurt their Arch Duke. This meant war. And since they each were connected with each other, this meant war with a lot of nations.

It's sort of like each reason connects. Or maybe at the end of the day its just pride.