Compare and Contrast the regimes of Mao and Hitler
Rise to power
Ideology
Impact of domestic policies
Economic Policies
Youth
Women
Mao
Hitler
Long-Term
Differences
Force and Terror
Mao
Establishment of Red Guards during Cultural Revolution [1966-1976] to purge the 4 olds (HICC).
Hitler
Exploitation of Pre-existing problems
Propaganda
Consolidation and maintenance of power
Differences
Similarities
pro natalist policies
Comparisons
Dealing with the Oppostion
Differences
Similarities
Wave of anti-intellectualism encouraged. Schools were closed during the CR, students were encouraged to beat up their teachers.
Differences
Similarities
Economic
Propaganda
Use of Terror and Force
Had to violently defeat enemy to get there- Chinese Civil War
Creation of Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) to prepare youth to become future leaders of the Nazi regime. Membership was compulsory for Ayran Germans by 1936, and vital for admission into German universities
Foreign Policies
Both Hitler and Mao promised to rejuvenate their respective economies. Hitler promised to reduce and erase unemployment through the creation of jobs. While Mao saw that taxes had been levied heavily on the peasants and hence promised to redistribute land to peasants. While methods were inherently different, it can be seen that both Mao and Hitler placed huge emphasis on rejuvenating their respective economies
employment
Domestic Policies
mother cross
Manipulation of the existing system
abortion legalised
Invasion of an External Force
Women
Men
banned contraceptives
The Night of Long Knives 1934
Physical, military-orientated training to prepare them to become soldiers in the Nazi army.
Joined League of German Maidens. Taught Domestic Sciences to prepare them for roles as housewives in the future. Not encouraged to work but some did in minor roles (Nurse, cook in Nazi military etc.)
education
latin banned
domestic skills focused on
Manipulated his way to power through legal means- Enabling Act 1933
law for the reduction of unemployment
Definition of consolidation and maintenance
league of german maidens
There is a difference in Mao's and Hitler's defintions because of the nature of their rule
higher qualifications not recognised
Given freedom to be rebellious. Pased intel to counter-revolutionaries passed to them from PLA during CR.
law for the reduction of unemployment
Both
A wave of anti-intellectualism: Book-burning of books anti-Nazi and Hitler Youth hindered the German youth from accessing education (No. of German students that went to University: 1933 - 127,820 students, 1939 - 58,325 students). Both genders also went through an anti-semitic education system [E.g Learning Racial Studies, Biology] that promoted traditional subjects in schools
fountain of life policy
education system
Cult of Personality
propaganda aimed at students who were
Hitlers aim
Red Guard
Hitler: Volksgemeinschaft - Domestic policies strongly linked to terror and force, and racial policies, because Hitler wanted to create a disciplined society of perfect people. The end goal was to eliminate any foreign influences and people that didn't agree with the nation, as well as war - Here, violence was apart of the ideology.
Nazis
anti feminist and opposed women's rights
Hitler Youth programmes were set up
Mao depended on students to change the education system and influence the rest of China
Similarities --- personality cult that was established in both Nazi Germany and China. Mao and Hitler were portrayed as saviour of the Nation, and above in power existing influences in society, such as religious and cultural icons.
Mao: More open/public in his use of terror and force
women's main purpose were to have children and take care of husband and house
This includes the revision of the practice of Christianity in Nazi Germany, and the denunciation of Confucianism in China, of which both beliefs have been prevalent in societies for decades or even centuries.
Hitler: Institutionalised terror and force. Covertly killed off political opponents/ wasn't obvious to people through SS and Gestapo
marriage law reform
Similarities & Differences
Similarities
Differences
Anti-intellectualism thrived & establishing amongst the youth
The methods of how the youth were trained to prepare for leadership [Conformism VS Freedom]
employment
Hitler's 4 Year Plan
8% to 32%
The plan sought to have Germany become self-sufficient in 4 years, known as autarky
Oil, steel and coal production increased greatly, but still did not hit the plan’s targets.
More food was grown in Germany, but by 1939, one-fifth of food was still imported from other countries.
The income of Germany more than doubled, and military spending increased drastically - from 6% of the GNP to 38%.
Japan invaded China during WWII and the GMD did nothing initially against the threat of these invaders from the peasants, who were raided and attacked constantly by the Japanese
property rights
politics
Hitler: Nazism, external enemy --> allied powers, Greater ermany, rebirth, rejection of democracy that was seen as weak and the enemy
The power given to the youth
Both emphasised importance of preparing youth to take over the old generation of leadership
women's organisation federation 76 million members
in both countries, this allowed the consolidation of absolute obedience to the authoritarian rule of the two leaders, by eradicating age-old icons and shifting people's allegiance from individual beliefs to a unified national one. This added to the air of public adulation, making it hard for opposition to arise.
Mao's aim
equality
Different
In 1923, Germany was invaded by France due to the Ruhr industrial crisis as Germany were unable to pay back the reparations that they had been required to do as part of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
empower women
Included policies like eugenics, euthansia of the old and weak, segragation of the Aryan Race from other races [Black, Jewish, Romani]
Training of youths to become informants of the regimes
uneducated and illiterate in China
modern and educated in Germany
similarities
differences
Cult of personality
they had policies on women
established their role in society
Mao: Communism, external enemy --> Japanese; weaker peasant force was main support base --> Uneducated and often marginalised by the GMD, which made them easy targets for Mao to persuade. Mao interpreted Marxism and applied it to China's situation, redefined the communist movement as a national movement, not a class movement,
Mao wanted female equality while hitler wanted to reduce women to their traditional gender roles
Mao gave them more rights while hitler denied them rights
similarities
Hitler was focused on expansionism while Mao was focused on domestic policies.
different in how other countries responded. European countries concerned with Hitler's expansionist policies adopted policies of appeasement with Hitler, miscalculating his true intentions.
Mao: Social, economic and foreign reforms to change the society into a more communist environment. While there were several uses of violence and censorship, it was mainly to achieve a "greater goal". Here, violence was only a method used to achieve a higher purpose.
Military
click to edit
Hitler: Enabling Act 1934 to legally gain power and establish an authoritarian state. Mao: had complete opposition against Feudalism, encouraged peasants to overthrow their feudal lords.
Note: Bolded words are strong similarities/differences
1953 election
Mao's Economic Policies
click to edit
5 Year Plan
Adapted Soviet model of industrialization
Included emphasis on heavy industry (steel production, electricity power plants, machine tool plants, etc)
Increased industrial output more than 1.5X from 1949 to 1952
Helped cut unemployment in cities by half
Increase standard of living of all citizens
Differences
anti-semitic
appeal to workers
Short-Term
Common objectives and methods
Both Hitler and Mao use their economic policies to help them gain popularity among the citizens (decreasing unemployment, redistribution of land)
Used force to help implement their policies and/or purge opposition
Had government-created economic plans (Nazi 4-year plan, Great Leap Forward, 5 Year plan)
Nationalized industries to try to increase efficiency (collectivization)
Tried to control costs of certain parts of the economy
Both had special emphasis on increasing heavy industry
The Nazis used legal methods to gain power, although there were 'behind-the-scene' driving forces. Therefore, consolidation for them is about how they convinced the masses to follow through with their rule, because they wanted to gain power 'democratically' while using elements of dictatorship to slowly establish his authoritarian state.
major difference. Hitler has a direct impact on his consolidation of power, that he signed the Concordat to gain support from the Catholic church. He leveraged on the fears of Left wing parties
Created the SA to control political opponents (paramilitary)
Developed the Red Army to fight the GMD (military)
Nationalized industries
Hiter
Rearmament
Rearmament created new jobs
manufacturing arms
supplying raw material
manufacturing military equipment, eg tanks and submarines.
Impact
1933 – 100,000 members in the armed forces
1939 – 1,400,000 members
(All this was technically prohibited by the ToV)
The economy grew as the country prepared for war and rearmament.
Whilst large businesses were prospering, small businesses and the middle classes were squeezed out of the market. The government provided aid to farmers, told them what they should grow and how much to grow, and dictated their prices.
The majority of Germans were glad to get secure and fairly safe jobs. Industrial workers had regular work, although they had lost their rights.
Mao had a revolution [civil war], to overthrow the existing regime of the GMD. There was no real need to prove to be 'democratic' because Mao had established himself as a reliable leader, and the communist ideology was perceived to be democratic. Therefore, consolidation was more of gaining control over the existing regime to change it into a communist nation.
click to edit
Mao
click to edit
5 Year Plan
The first 5 year plan emphasised industrial growth . The government redistribute land was confiscated from former landlords and redistributed to landless peasants and owners of small plots, as well as to the landlords themselves, who now had to till the land to earn a living. The reform liberated productive forces, increased the productivity of agriculture, and laid the basis for the industrialization of China. The law defined the principles and methods for the expropriation and re-allocation of land. It protected the interests of rich peasants, middle peasants (meaning self-sufficient peasants) and renters of small plots, as well as the national bourgeoisies, so as to preserve and develop the productive forces as rapidly as possible.
In terms of the industrial changes, their actions were quite similar. They both heavily invested in the industry. They both had planned economy.
Great Leap Forward
Weimar were unable to deal with extremism due to the weak military strength that it had at the time. Military support was conditional as seen by the Sparticist Uprising of 1918-1919, where the military suppressed the Bolsheviks readily, but were unwilling to defend the country during the Kapp Putsch of 1920
Cause the Great Famine from 1958 to 1962 due to failure of Collectivisation and Lysenkonism policies implemented by Mao
The purge of the Red Guards - Futian incident 1930
4000 Red Army troops were tortured and executed on Mao's orders
Drop of agricultural production in 1959 and 1960, the gross value of agricultural output fell by 14 percent and 13 percent (http://countrystudies.us/china/88.htm)
Normalization of violence due to years of civil strife
click to edit
Concentration camps to get rid of potential political opponents
Hitler: SS controlled concentration camps that held Jews, asocials, gypsies, homosexuals and more
Mao: Rectification campaigns (1942) to remove potential political opponents
To show the industrial progress made during the First-Five Yr Plan The First Five-Year Plan, 1953-57
Acceptance of the terror and force because desperation for order to be restored after Weimar inefficiency
Since the method they used to rise to power was different, due to several reasons, their method of consolidation had to take on different natures to address the areas of influence that the dictators had to control.
Developed a close relationship with the people. Cadres living among the peasants converted many to their cause.
Domestic policies used to create a state where people loved their Fuhrer over themselves, as well as become more traditional, and revert to their old methods.
Problem of Previous Governments
click to edit
dynamism
prefectorial election campaign - flying visits
Compared to Mao, Hitler mostly manipulated judicial and social reforms [as well as foreign policy] - economy wasn't important
GMD in China was unpopular as very few of their policies were not to the benefit of the masses, whom were oppressed by the high taxes and the landlords. Additionally, the GMD appealed only to the middle class, and only made policies in favour of the middle class such as increasing nationalistic sentiments among them to create more favour for the GMD
Mao's foreign policies: Sino-soviet Rift, poor relations with USA until 1971(seen as imperialist enemies), over ping-pong diplomacy, to undermine the position of USSR as a world power and boost their own position.
signs of adulation
Hitler day: Birthday celebration 20th april 1933 (44th)
Expansionist Policy denied due to TOV would restore prestige to Germany; Purge of non-Germanic elements restoring Germany to its former glory and preparing it for the future; social Darwinism
students would greet one another using Mao's sayings
had modern advanced technology
posters of Mao
Broadcasts
radios
Reorganisation, militarisation
Mao's foreign policies were built on the fundamental belief that China was superior
had Goebbels in charge
Portrayed themselves to be like a god-like
The first 5 year plan, the Great Leap Forward, Hundred Flowers Campaigns and its after effects were done in an attempt to benefit the society
Historiography
“Education is dangerous – Every educated person is a future enemy.” -Hermann Goering
“Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction.” -Adolf Hitler
“In relation to the political decontamination of our public life, the government will embark upon a systematic campaign to restore the nation’s moral and material health. The whole educational system, theater, film, literature, the press and broadcasting – all these will be used as a means to this end.” -Adolf Hitler
Impacts
Ended the Nationalist Capitalist Phase and saw the nationalization of all industries. The CCP turned to the USSR for advice, and the plan was heavily based on their model. China received a $300 million loan from the USSR and more than 11,000 Soviet advisors worked in China in the 50's. Urban population grew from 57 million in 1949, to a 100 million in 1957. Heavy industrial output tripled, and light industry increased 20%.
Having restored a viable economic base, the leadership under Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and other revolutionary veterans were prepared to embark on an intensive program of industrial growth and socialization. For this purpose, the administration adopted the Soviet economic model, based on state ownership in the modern sector, large collective units in agriculture, and centralized economic planning. The Soviet approach to economic development was manifested in the First Five-Year Plan (1953–1957).
The key tasks highlighted in the Plan were to concentrate efforts on the construction of large and medium-sized industrial projects, so as to lay that the primary foundations for China’s socialist industrialization; to develop agricultural producers’ cooperatives to help in the socialist transformation of the agriculture and handicraft industries; to put capitalist industry and commerce on the track of state capitalism so as to facilitate the socialist transformation of private industry and commerce.
The plan to boost heavy industry worked. Production of metals, cement, and other industrial goods was modernized under the Five Year Plan. Many factories and building facilities opened, increasing industrial production 19-percent annually between 1952 and 1957. The industrialization of China also increased workers’ income nine percent a year during this time.
Even though agriculture was not a main focus, the Chinese government worked to make farming more modern. Just as it did with private enterprises, the government encouraged farmers to collectivize their farms. Collectivization gave the government the ability to control the price and distribution of agricultural goods, keeping food prices low for urban workers. However, it did not increase grain production by much.
Though farmers pooled their resources at this time, families were still allowed a small private piece of land to grow crops for their personal use.
By 1957, over 93-percent of farming households had joined a cooperative.
Both genders were also forced to attend the branches of Hitler Youth after 1936
Great Leap Forward
Mao launched the national campaign to boost China’s economy. It aimed at industrialising China between 1958 and 1961. Mao wanted China to have by 1973 a new, industrialized, centrally-planned economy that would rival or surpass its Western rivals.
Mao was tired of following in the footsteps of the USSR, and launched his own politicised version of a 5 year plan.
It radically redistributed land among China’s rural population and organised workers into communes. The Great Leap Forward failed miserably, decimating the economy and diminishing Mao’s role within the ruling party.
Mao sought to develop agriculture and industry simultaneously, to have China 'walking on two legs'. As part of Mao's continuous revolution he set extremely high targets. The 1958 harvest was good and resulted in inflated targets for 1959 and 60. Due to overtaxation and a bad harvest, a famine resulted, killing in excess of 20 million.
There were several instances where Mao ordered for the infliction of violence and terror in order to shape society into his ideal state of communism. In fact, he believed in continuous revolution to ensure that the transition to communism did not fall back into capitalism.
The Weimar Government was disliked due to their many failures at solving national issues and satisfying the Germans
1.
Hyperinflation in 1923 and The Great Depression in 1929 were both economic problems that the Weimar were unable to or took a very long time to recover from the 1923 event, and they were unable to recover by themselves from the Great Depression
The Weimar Government was labelled the 'November Criminals' as they accepted the Treaty of Versailles, which had a huge negative impact on Germany's land, resources, population, and economy. Additionally, the War Guilt Clause was a huge blow to German pride and made the German people angry at the government for accepting the terms of the treaty
The GMD's reason for not retaliating against the Japanese and protecting the peasants was because the GMD wanted to focus on getting rid of the CCP and communist influence first
It was only the CCP who initiated the 2nd United Front to oppose the Japanese, which caused the CCP to gain the support of the peasants who were previously oppressed
Hitler and the Nazi Party were unable to capitalise on the failures of the Weimar due to the fact that Hitler had been imprisoned after the Munich Beerhall Putsch
This was a major reason for both their rise to power as both Germans and the Chinese were extremely determined to install leaders who showed that they were able to provide economic rebirth and improve the livelihood of the citizens of their respective countries
“The First Five Year Plan produced results that were impressive enough to sustain the Chinese leaders’ dreams… Of course, agriculture could not grow at anything like this pace. Though agricultural production and rural economic conditions were not in deep crisis, their level of performance was a thin reed upon which to rest grandiose plans for rapid industrialisation.” -Marc Blecher, historian
Similarly, the GMD was unable to defend China against the threat of the Japanese. Chiang was seen to be suppressing communists and slow to respond to Japanese incursions
Hence, Mao was credited for forging the Second United Front in 1937, allowing the CCP to establish stronger nationalist credentials than the GMD, leading to Mao's rise
Therefore, it can be seen that both Mao and Hitler were able to present themselves as the saviour of their respective countries, rallying the nation against a common enemy, allowing them to rise to power
Hitler hence used the SA to assault communists, promising to cleanse Germany of communists. Hitler thus was able to rise to power as he was seen to be strong and Germany's only hope against the communists, attracting the support of industrialists, landowners and film studio owners
Similarities
click to edit
targeted specific groups
Mao: peasants as his main support base
Hitler: Aryan race, industrialists and workers
Therefore, the Nazis were only able to utilise the fact that Weimar were economically weak later on following the events that followed the Great Depression in 1929
Formation of the Red Army
to promote Nazi ideas
brainwash youth to become loyal Nazi followers