THESIS

Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party plunged the world into a cataclysmic war that
lasted six years, and resulted in an estimated 60-70 million deaths worldwide.
Hitler and the Nazis systematically rounded up and exterminated over 6 million
Jews, Gypsies, gays and Russian Prisoners of War. Many of these 6 million were also
forced into brutal labor camps and/or forced to undergo horrific medical
experiments. Hitler did all this in an effort to purify Europe and bring about a
master race that would rule for 1,000 years.
Joseph Stalin systematically murdered an estimated 50 Million Soviet citizens in an
effort to maintain power in the Soviet Union and turn that country into the workers
paradise by collectivizing much of that country. He was initially an ally of Germany
in World War II and collaborated with Adolph Hitler in conquering and dividing
Poland. Actually, under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union was the only nation to have
been, at some point, allied with every nation who fought in World War II. After the
war Stalin forced most of the nations of Eastern Europe to submit to control by his
government. This resulted in liberation from Nazi control merely to be subjected to
a tyrant who may have been worse.
By almost any standard these two men are considered among the most evil people
to control a nation in the 20th Century. My paper will take a detailed look at how
these men were able to attain and then maintain power. This paper will discuss how
they were able to persuade a large portion of their population that the path they
professed was the best and most responsible. Additionally, this paper will discuss
the reaction, or lack of reaction from the rest of the world to these events.
This paper will argue that Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin were able to cause so
much death and devastation because they were not confronted until they became

too strong to stop without a massive expenditure of blood and treasure. Finally, this
paper will look at the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to determine if they have the
potential to pose a similar threat.