Compare and contrast the factors that led to the rise to power of two authoritarian leaders in
different regions
The 20th century had witnessed the emergence of two authoritarian leaders: Hitler in 1933
(Germany) and Castro in 1959 (Cuba). Both Hitler and Castro had outstanding and remarkable
abilities to exploit the weakness of their opponents and to successfully use propaganda in order
to inspire the influence the Germans and the Cubans. Meanwhile, Hitler focused on promoting
and spreading his ideology to the public, Castro, on the other hand, took advantage of this use
of force to emphasize his leadership skills. Although some of the methods were less successful,
it cannot be denied that these factors were important to these leaders in their bid to power.
The use of propaganda was the most crucial factor to both Hitler and Castro as it increased the
support and popularity of them among the public. From 1925 to 1929, the Nazi was continously
and intensively producing propaganda posters highlighting their disagreement with the Weimar
Republic’s economic policies before and during the Great Depression. These posters were used
to inspire and encourage Germans to demand change from the government. Furthermore,
People’s Observer and The Attach were aimed to promote their ideology and their legitimate
plans to entirely recover the nation. Many people started to believe that Weimar Republic had
to be responsible for the poor and shameful situation and decided to switch their support to
who can bring back the old Germany - Hitler. With the success of using posters and newspaper,
Hitler easily spread his ideology and plans thus led to a dramatic increase in the support and
popularity by the end of 1933. Similar to Hitler, Castro also used propaganda to increase his
reputation in Cuba. However, Castro focused on the use of radio in their country and the use of
newspaper internationally. Different from the Germans, the peasants and working class people
who were Castro’s targets were not educated properly thus using newspaper and poster did
not make an impact on their thinking. Therefore, he decided to use radio as they could listen
everyday in order to spread his message among Cubans who had suffered from the corruption
of the Batista regime. Hence, his rebel groups witness a significant increase in its membership
and Castro’s reputation dramatically went up across Cuba. Furthermore, Castro also appeared
on a US newspaper as a freedom fighter and a charismatic leader. Since he wanted to protect
his position from international enemies, this was an opportunity for him to allie with other
nations. Liberal theory viewed this article as a reason why he gained global support. This strong
argument was backed up by the fact that US government stopped supporting arms to Batista
government. Therefore, his use of propaganda successfully helped him to gain popularity in
Cuba and prevented potentially opponents internationally. Hitler and Castro shared a similarity
in that the use of propaganda can be considered as the most important factor since it helped
the public recognise them, their charisma and followed their ideology due to the sympathy.
Although Hitler and Castro used different propaganda methods which based on the access of
their citizens, they both benefited a lot from it in their emergence of power.
different regions
The 20th century had witnessed the emergence of two authoritarian leaders: Hitler in 1933
(Germany) and Castro in 1959 (Cuba). Both Hitler and Castro had outstanding and remarkable
abilities to exploit the weakness of their opponents and to successfully use propaganda in order
to inspire the influence the Germans and the Cubans. Meanwhile, Hitler focused on promoting
and spreading his ideology to the public, Castro, on the other hand, took advantage of this use
of force to emphasize his leadership skills. Although some of the methods were less successful,
it cannot be denied that these factors were important to these leaders in their bid to power.
The use of propaganda was the most crucial factor to both Hitler and Castro as it increased the
support and popularity of them among the public. From 1925 to 1929, the Nazi was continously
and intensively producing propaganda posters highlighting their disagreement with the Weimar
Republic’s economic policies before and during the Great Depression. These posters were used
to inspire and encourage Germans to demand change from the government. Furthermore,
People’s Observer and The Attach were aimed to promote their ideology and their legitimate
plans to entirely recover the nation. Many people started to believe that Weimar Republic had
to be responsible for the poor and shameful situation and decided to switch their support to
who can bring back the old Germany - Hitler. With the success of using posters and newspaper,
Hitler easily spread his ideology and plans thus led to a dramatic increase in the support and
popularity by the end of 1933. Similar to Hitler, Castro also used propaganda to increase his
reputation in Cuba. However, Castro focused on the use of radio in their country and the use of
newspaper internationally. Different from the Germans, the peasants and working class people
who were Castro’s targets were not educated properly thus using newspaper and poster did
not make an impact on their thinking. Therefore, he decided to use radio as they could listen
everyday in order to spread his message among Cubans who had suffered from the corruption
of the Batista regime. Hence, his rebel groups witness a significant increase in its membership
and Castro’s reputation dramatically went up across Cuba. Furthermore, Castro also appeared
on a US newspaper as a freedom fighter and a charismatic leader. Since he wanted to protect
his position from international enemies, this was an opportunity for him to allie with other
nations. Liberal theory viewed this article as a reason why he gained global support. This strong
argument was backed up by the fact that US government stopped supporting arms to Batista
government. Therefore, his use of propaganda successfully helped him to gain popularity in
Cuba and prevented potentially opponents internationally. Hitler and Castro shared a similarity
in that the use of propaganda can be considered as the most important factor since it helped
the public recognise them, their charisma and followed their ideology due to the sympathy.
Although Hitler and Castro used different propaganda methods which based on the access of
their citizens, they both benefited a lot from it in their emergence of power.
