Famous Dictators In History: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, And Mao Zedong
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
The infamous German dictator Adolf Hitler coins this expression as he explains the propaganda technique “big lie” in order to explain his own political ideology. The Big Lie technique is when a falsehood is repeatedly stated to the point where it convinces others the falsehood to be true. Throughout history, constant speeches filled with lies and empty promises are brought to citizens by their country's political leader. Famous for propaganda and these false statements, individuals such as German dictator Adolf Hitler, Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, and Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin are the most well-known representations to modern society as “dictators.”
Notably to be one of the most famed dictators would be Adolf Hitler, a German dictator of the Nazi Party. Known for initiating World War II after his invasion of Poland in 1939 and his Anti-Semitism ideology. Through use of propaganda, the Nazi’s acquired and maintained crucial amounts of power and the implementation of Nazi policies. Hitler established the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, essentially controlling the military and economy. Several Nazi propagandas such as in newspapers, books, and movies used positive images to glorify the “national community” and the government leaders, while they also created fear and separation by portraying Jews as impure and dangerous. Which would later lead to the tragically famed Holocausts.
Famous Dictators further known for propaganda in their community would be Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. In Zedong’s goal toward eliminating the Bourgeoisie and creating China as a world power, he wrote the book Quotations from Mao Zedong which was widely distributed during the Cultural Revolution. Effectively becoming an icon in mainland China and influencing Chinese society to follow toward Zedong's teachings. Zedong portrayed his goals through colored paintings and posters. Often depicting Chinese society to have gender equality, education of the youth, and stability in the economy. Overall, convincing citizens that Mao Zedong is leading the nation toward prosperity. However, Zedong’s contribution to the nation's largest famine during The Great Leap Forward policy lead him to being number one in the most amount of deaths by dictators.
Coming in a close second is Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin, known for his reign of terror, purges, executions, exiles to labor camps and persecutions as he transformed the Soviet’s peasant society into a military superpower. Stalin launched a series of communist propaganda often based on the improvement of the Soviet’s economy and agriculture. Leading to the government taking control of farms and forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture. Resulting in a widespread famine killing millions along with any of the farmers who refused to cooperate. Stalin also used photographs as a weapon in his Great Purge in order to instill fear in citizens and to express intentions in the correct social orders.
Instilling fear to citizens is expressed by all the famous dictators, especially using propaganda throughout communities in the media. Propaganda effectively convincing citizens to follow by guidelines and in the end, all policies were evidently failures for resulting in millions of deaths. Famous for the atrocities and methods of promoting their policies. Hitler, Zedong, and Stalin are famed representations of the depictions of a dictator.
