Joseph Stalin and Totalitarianism

Stalinism is the term used to refer to Joseph Stalin's political regime. Totalitarianism is a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.) Jospeh Stalin was the ruler of Russia, the successor of Lenin and the head of the communist party. When Stalin was in office, he ran by the totalitarian type of government. Like Fidel Castro, in Cuba, the constitution of the country didn't matter, only Stalin's word did.

He introduced Five Year Plans. His five year plans stated that each industry would eb under state rule. How much, what and where stuff was produced was decided by the government. There were three five-year plans. These five years plans all have standards which each industy had to meet. He controlled Russia fully and ruled Russia with limited freedom towards its citizens.

Causes of WWI

One of the main reasons as to why WWI began was because of Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism. Militarism is a nation's policy to maintain strong armed forces. Imperialism is a nation's attempt to gain control of weaker nations. Alliances is the formation of military agreements among the nations and nationalism is the extreme loyalty to one's nation.

Some examples of Militarism during WWI was when Great Britian and Germany raced to have to largest navies. Another example was when France, Russia and Germany contended to have the largest and most powerful armies. Alliances definitely formed during WWI. They were divided int o the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were the Triple Alliance and Great Britian, France and Russia were the Triple Entente. European nations fought against each other of land too. Europe's countries were trying to colonized as much as Africa as they could. They would colonize African nations in order to get raw material and sell them. This set most of European countries against ecah other. Nationalism was another cause of WWI. The Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary want independence.

Because of these causes and WWI, four great empires came to an end: the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, The Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. This also caused for a start to new nations such as Estonia, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.