Totalitarianism+Mao+and+Hitler


 * Model**
 * Technology- How did the leader use new innovations and techniques to spread their influence and ideals? Was it successful?
 * Physical Size of Nation- How large is the area being ruled? Did this size impact the means of ruling, and if so how?
 * Use of Terror- Did the leader use terror? What forms of terror were used? Did this terror help to secure the leaders rule or did it cause the public to turn against the leader?


 * Mao**
 * Use of Technology
 * Mao used mass printing to distribute his Little Red Book to thousands of people throughout the huge country.
 * Physical Size of Nation
 * China as a nation at the time of Mao was approximately 900 million people spread over 3.7 million square miles
 * Use of Terror
 * Mass trials of both civilians and military commanders along with the rich landed peasants and elite class who resented the communist system. These trials led to many being sent to labor camps or simply executed by the dozens.
 * Murders both directly and indirectly were carried out. Not only were many political rivals murdered along with critics, but also millions died from land reforms that led to famines.
 * Among these killings were purges, where both mass and symbolic and mass murders were conducted. Many well known people in high standing were executed for shock and mass murders were done for effect.
 * Public humiliations and the fear of being ruined led to fear.
 * Hitler**
 * Use of Technology
 * Hitler assumed control of all of the media outlets and used new advances in mass communication to spread his message and speeches to the whole country.
 * Physical Size of Nation
 * Within Germany's 138,000 square miles there was about 80.6 million people during the rule of Hitler.
 * Use of Terror
 * Trials were conducted and many members of the other parties that posed a threat to Hitlers rule were imprisoned or killed.
 * Jews and other "enemies of the state" were purged in masses.
 * Secret Police
 * The SS and the Gestapo provided constant fear to the inhabitants because all it took was a neighbor to denounce you and you might be sent to a work camp or imprisoned. All actions were watched and analyzed under the watchful eye of the police.

Both Mao and Hitler are very similar in the way that they maintained their power through totalitarian techniques that include use of technology and terror and the size of their nation. Both of the leaders used whatever technology that they had to spread their message across their countries and distribute their propaganda. In regard to the size of their perspective countries, Mao had to rule an area more than 20 times the size of Germany which made the job much harder. Also, since Germany was more industrialized than China, more modern forms of communication such as telegraphs and mass media could be distributed to the entire country. But in China, information traveled much slower, making the job harder for Mao to directly control peasants at the farthest stretches of the country. But both leader were similar in their methods of using terror. Through use of unfair trials, mass killings, and techniques that led to constant fear, both HItler and Mao were similar because their totalitarianism led to the deaths of millions, but HItler took it one step further with the Holocaust an the creation of his secret police.
 * Comparison**