World War II Research Report
The Soviet Union
Danny Buck
History 114
Dr. Murphy
November 24, 2014

World War II Research Report
The Soviet Union Totalitarianism came about in Russia during the time of Stalin. Before doing research I had thought that it would have started with Lenin, but it did not. “Why did Russia, in its enlarged incarnation as the Soviet Union under Stalin, become one of the three most repressive and brutal totalitarian states of the 20th century (the other two being Nazi Germany and China under Mao)? The urge to modernize rapidly is often put forward to explain the character of the Soviet Union. But what equally needs to be explained is the very backwardness that created such an urge. And the Russian intelligentsia had long been preoccupied both with modernization and resistance to it.” (Hollander, 2006). It was a brutal way of life where the people existed to serve the state.
The Rise of Totalitarianism

In the late 1910’s the czar was over thrown and he and his family were murdered. Lenin came to power and communism took over the country, but it was not totally repressive until Stalin came into power. Stalin’s goal was to modernize the Soviet Union. He wanted to industrialize the Soviet Union and increase the production of products. He thought that if he could make the Soviet Union a manufacturing giant that it could be a super power. He also wanted to maintain complete and absolute control and to not allow any interference from anyone. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in around 1923 while he was in prison. He gained popularity after he got out of prison in 1924. He gained popular support after this time with his agenda of anti-semitism and anti-communism and his hatred of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. He also preached pro-German propaganda at this time. His party grew and he was appointed chancellor in