Whole books
have been written on this subject, such as Hannah Arendt's On
Totalitarianism. After World War I, three totalitarian regimes emerged in Europe:
communist Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and fascist Italy. In all three cases, a prime reason for
the rise of an extremely controlling dictatorship led by a ruthless strongman was economics.
Towards the end of World War I, the Russian economy was in such a shambles that a revolution
broke out, overthrowing the monarchy. In defeated Germany after the war, the economy was also in
a shambles, and Italy also had severe economic problems. In all three countries people didn't
have jobs, suffering was widespread, faith in existing institutions was low, and people were
looking for a messianic leader and/or movement that would change society and save
them.
Second, both fascism (of which Nazism was a version) and communism
worked from the premise of completely reforming society to get rid of the corruptions of the
old: this rose from the sense...
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