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People Comparable to Hitler

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Submitted By elogan9
Words 1966
Pages 8
Logan 1
Emily Logan
Mr. Sgrignoli
CHY 4U1
6 June 2014
TITLE
Although Adolf Hitler is often credited as the Twentieth Centuries most evil man, there are others who could easily be seen as equally sharing this assumption. Undoubtedly, Hitler was an extremely evil man and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people during his time in power in World War Two, however there are other past world leaders who were responsible for the deaths of many more people. Through examining Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929-1953, and Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1945-1976, it is clear that Hitler cannot accurately hold the title of being the most evil man in history. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20 in the small Austrian town of Braunau. In his early years Hitler excelled at school and was admired for his leadership qualities (history.com), however when he reached high school he found the work to be much more difficult. When Hitler was fifteen years old he failed his exams and was informed he would need to repeat that school year. Stubbornly, Hitler refused to continue with his education and dropped out of school. When he was eighteen years old his father, Alois Hitler, passed away. Hitler used the money he
Logan 2 inherited from his later father to move to Vienna in hopes of pursuing a career in the arts. He applied to the Vienna Academy of Art and the School of Architecture, to which he was both rejected from. After this rejection Hitler turned his attention away from the world of art and instead focused it on the world of Politics. When World War One broke out Hitler volunteered to become a soldier for the German army, something he excelled at. In October 1918 he was temporarily blinded in a mustard gas attack. While Hitler was recovering in a hospital he learned of the news that Germany has surrendered and that the war was over. This supposedly deeply saddened and angered him and was reportedly the cause of his obsession of having Germany rise to complete world power. In 1919 while monitoring the activity of the German Workers’ Party for the German government Hitler adapted many of the anti-Semitic, nationalist, and anti-Marxist ideas that the party had. (biography.com) He joined the party and through his speeches he gained popularity, eventually becoming the leader in 1921. By 1933 Hitler and the Nazi party, the political party he established, rose to complete power in Germany. In 1939 the German army invaded Poland, thus starting World War Two. Throughout the war Hitler’s anti-Semitic, black, gay, and mentally and physically disabled hatred became apparent through the extremely horrific conditions of German concentration camps. Prisoners were worked and starved to death and well as killed by shooting and gas chambers. Prisoners were also subjected to many medical experiments that passed for torture. As the years progressed it became clear that Germany would not be able to win the war, so on April 30, 1953 Hitler killed himself. Throughout his years in power, it is estimated that Hitler was responsible for the deaths of around 11 million people. (wikipedia)
Logan 3
Joseph Stalin was born on December 18, 1879 in Gori, Georgia which was a part of the Russian empire. Stalin spent many years studying Russian Orthodox Christianity at the Tiflis Theological Seminary in order to become a priest. During his time in the seminary he joined a secret society called Messameh Dassy that advocated Georgian independence from Russia (Adams). Many of the group’s members were socialists who introduced Stalin to their radical ideas. The seminary found out about Stalin attending Messameh Dassy meetings and expelled him for this reason in 1899 when he was 19 years old. After his expulsion, Stalin joined the Russian Socialist-Democratic Labour party. Around this time there was a crackdown on people who were thought to be revolutionaries, and so Stalin was forced underground. When Vladimir Lenin formed the Bolsheviks Stalin was eager to join it because he shared the same views as Lenin. Stalin proved to be very useful to the Bolsheviks and quickly gained popularity with the group and with Lenin himself, so much so that Lenin had him appointed General Secretary in 1922. After Lenin gave Stalin this important position, he realized that he had made the wrong decision. He saw the cruel nature of Stalin and as Lenin’s health began to deteriorate, he gave testament that Stalin should be removed from his position so that he would not be able to rise to power. On January 24, 1922 Lenin died of a stroke and his testament was not made known to the public so that Stalin would remain a favorable leader in the eyes of the people. He remained the people’s favourite and so in 1922 he became the leader of the Communist party of the new Soviet Russia and by 1930 he consolidated near-absolute power. His cruel and paranoid nature was brought to light during the 1930 Great Purge in which members of the Communist Party and other government officials who opposed him and his ideas. Under Stalin’s orders people were killed through murders, purges, forced labour, expulsions, manufactured famines,
Logan 4 torture, and massacres. Historians and researchers are unsure of the exact number of deaths that Stalin was responsible for but it is estimated that during his rule of the USSR between 20 and 60 million people died under his orders. (Ghosh)
Mao Zedong was born on December 26, 18993 in Shaoshan village, Hunan province, China. Mao attended school, despite being born to peasant family, and gained interest in history and politics. During the Xinhai Revolution, a revolution caused by the Chinese people’s animosity towards the emperor of China and the countries absolute monarchy, Mao joined the rebel army as a private soldier. This revolution created the Republic of China and monarchy in the country was abolished. In 1912 Mao resigned from the army and focused his time on independent learning. It was at this time that Mao became familiar with the ideas of socialism. Inspired by Friedrich Paulsen, the liberal emphasis on individualism led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for the greater good; that the end justifies the means. (Wikipedia) In 1921 the Communist Party of China was formed and Mao soon became the party’s secretary for the province of Hunan. He greatly influenced the people of Hunan to learn about socialism and made sure that they could easily gain access to revolutionary literature. Mao had established a united front with the Koumintang, the party for those with republican views, but in 1927 the new leader for the party reversed the party’s policy of cooperation with the Communists. The Koumintang quickly rose to power and gained control of both the Nationalist army and government, forcing Mao to go into hiding in the countryside. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937 the two groups were forced to be allies once again, but as soon as the threat on invasion had passed the truce was broken and the country erupted
Logan 5 into a civil war. After war broke out the Koumintang’s support rapidly decreased and as a result the members of their government were forced to flee to Taiwan, leaving the People's Republic of China, formed by the Communists in late 1949, in control of the entire Chinese mainland. Mao became the leader of the party, and therefore the leader of the country. In 1950 Mao began to show just how radical his ideas to better the country were. Mao ordered the deaths of thousands of landlords and wealthier peasants so that their land could be given to pooper peasants. He also ordered the murders, mainly by public execution, of members of government who opposed him as a means of securing power. Eight years later, in 1958, Mao launched a five-year plan known as the Great Leap Forward. This plan made it extremely hard for farmers to grow enough crops and many people were forced into factory jobs with extremely little pay. A famine quickly began and millions of people began starving to death, but Mao ignored just how badly off the people of China were because he believed that the Great Leap Forward would be good for the country in the long run. Mao also implemented labour camps during his time in power as a way to increase work productivity in the country. In is unknown how many people died under the orders of Mao, but it is widely agreed on by historians that he was responsible for the deaths of 45 million people.
Through an examination of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong it is clear that Hitler cannot accurately hold the title of being the most evil man in history. Although Adolf Hitler is often credited as the Twentieth Centuries most evil man, these two men have proven to be just as cruel and ruthless in their ways as he was.

Works Cited
"Adolf Hitler." History. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://www.history.co.uk/biographies/adolf-hitler>.
"Adolf Hitler Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/adolf-hitler-9340144#early-years&awesm=~oGWOGM3BJfVjG9>.
"Biography of Mao Tse-tung." Biography of Mao Tse-tung. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2014. <http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/mao.bio.html>.
"Great Purge." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 June 2014. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge>.
Ghosh, Palash. “How Many People Did Joseph Stalin Kill?.” International Business Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://www.ibtimes.com/how-manu-people-did-joseph-stalin-kill-1111798>.
"Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Killed More? by Timothy Snyder." Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Killed More? by Timothy Snyder. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/mar/10/hitler-vs-stalin-who-killed-more/>.
"How Many People Did Hitler Kill." historyrocket. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2014. <http://www.historyrocket.com/World-War/world-war-ii/hitler/How-Many-People-Did-Hitler-Kill.html>.
"How many people did Stalin kill?." History of Russia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2014. <http://historyofrussia.org/stalin-killed-how-many-people/>.
"Joseph Stalin." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/joseph-stalin>.
"Joseph Stalin." Jewish Virtual Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2014. <https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/stalin.html>.
"Joseph Stalin." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 June 2014.
"Mao Zedong." Mao Zedong. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2014. by Chris Trueman <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/mao_zedong.htm>.
"Mao Zedong." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong>.
"Nazi human experimentation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation>.
"Stalin's takeover of power." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/russia/stalinstakeoverofpowerrev1.shtml>.
"The Holocaust." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust>.
"Was Joseph Stalin once a seminarian?." The Straight Dope. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2014. by Cecil Adams <http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2397/was-joseph-stalin-once-a-seminarian>.

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