The Essence Of Power – Hitler V. Ghandi Essay, Research Paper
In the late 1800?s and the early 1900?s the
people of northern Europe, southern Africa and
Asia were in despair. They had no leaders. They
were defenseless. India had been taken over by
the British Empire and now the 315 million Indians
were under the rule of the 100 thousand British
soldiers there. In Germany there were six
different political groups; nobody knew what to
do. These countries were in shock, they need a
change, but more importantly, they needed a
Mohandas K. Gandhi was a law student, born and
raised in India, but schooled in England. Early
on in his career he returned to his birthplace and
attempted to practice law there, but he was very
unsuccessful. A few years later he moved to South
Africa, and again attempted to set up a law
practice there. But South Africa was now in
British control and the Indian lawyer was
subjected to a lot of racial prejudice. Almost
immediately he was abused because of his heritage
and his law practice went down the drain. Gandhi
began to notice the awful discriminations that all
Indians suffered from. In 1894 he began a
movement that would shape the way that Indians are
viewed even today. He began to take charge; he
began to lead his people.
Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria in
1889, about the time that Gandhi was realizing his
mission in life. Like Mohandas K. Gandhi, Hitler
was very smart as a child. Being the son of a
public servant, he was able to attend the best
schools and was able to partake in any
extra-curricular activities he desired. All his
father wanted was for his son to follow in his
footsteps and attain the rank of public servant or
even better, but the boy was very stubborn and
when his father refused to let him chase a career
as an artist, he decided to stop doing his work,
and his grades began to fall drastically. When
his father died he quit school and for the next
few years lived off his family?s money. He did
nothing but read books, draw pictures and daydream
all day long. When he was 18 (in 1907) he moved
to Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire and tried to get into an art school there.
But unfortunately for the world, he failed his
entrance exams, twice. His mother died a few
years later and he inherited quite a bit of money,
so for the next part of his life he lived quite
comfortably in Vienna as an “artist.”
Around this time Hitler became very interested in
politics. He joined the military and became a
Social Democrat. He developed a huge hatred for
Jews and Slavs and became an extreme nationalist.
He recognized that no form of government could
ever last as long as the people of all different
nationalities were treated equally. When the war
broke out in 1914, Hitler immediately volunteered.
He was accepted and served as a messenger. But
Hitler was too smart to stay as merely a
messenger. His knowledge of war and his extreme
military tactics helped him to achieve the rank of
corporal.
After Germany?s defeat in World War I, the country
went into a state of turmoil. When Hitler
recovered from the shock of having lost the war,
he joined a small political group called the
German Workers Party. He quickly gained rank and
changed the name of the political group to the
National Socialist German Worker?s Party. The
NSGWP was soon to take over the title of Nazis.
In May of 1929, the NSGWP had only about 3% of the
Germans following them, but by the time Hitler
took over in 1933, around 35% of Germany were
backing the Nazis. In 5 years Hitler had taken
over the NSGWP and Germany. Hitler rose because
Germany needed a leader, and that was exactly was
he offered them.
Hitler and Gandhi both gained the respect of
their people in very short periods of time. They
both even used some of the same techniques. Both
Hitler and Gandhi knew that writing and having his
thoughts and ideas published was very important,
but the only way to really get the peoples
attention was to go out and speak to them. “?the
people can be moved only by the power of speech.”
They both used speech as a weapon and they used it
well. At one point in his life, Hitler even
refers to the, “magic[al] power of the spoken
word? ” Propaganda was also very important to both
of these leaders. Hitler introduced the swastika
and his infamous, “Heil, Hitler” salute, while
Gandhi used his everlasting hunger strikes to stir
the nation. Both of these leaders gave their
countries what they needed, a person to tell them
what to do, a figure of power, a leader.
While Hitler and Gandhi both used some similar
techniques to gain their power, once in control,
they were very different men. Hitler abused his
powers, while Gandhi wanted nothing more than to
free his people. “It is not because I value life
low? ” but Gandhi at any point of his reign would
have been willing to give his life for the freedom
and safety of his people.
Hitler’s ego, greed, and self-centeredness caused
him to abuse his great deal of power. He took
advantage of what he had, which was a great many
people who worshipped and followed his every move.
After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles didn?t
allow the Germans much breathing room when it came
to the military, but by the 1940s, the Germans
were not being watched as closely and Hitler was
little by little allowed to rebuild his army. At
this time he instigated the “Hitler Youth Program”
which was a compulsory program for all youth of
Germany which was run by the schools and
government powers. Every youth over the age of
thirteen was forced to join. He introduced his
idea of “Blitzkreig” which was a five-step process
to take over the world. Within a few years he had
most of Europe and some of Asia under his control.
His use of brute, “naked force” is what gave
Germany the edge they needed to begin on the road
to world domination. Hitler cared so little for
his people that he would sacrifice thousands of
them to get what he wanted. He had power, and he
abused it as much as he could. Thus began
Hitler’s biggest attempt at abusing his power.
Thus began the Holocaust.
Gandhi had a diametrically opposite approach to
attaining his goals. First, he did not believe in
using violence to get what he wanted. He felt
that “Suffering in one?s own person is ? the
essence of non-violence and is the chosen
substitute for violence to others. ” As Gandhi
said on page 200, “I have no weapon but
non-violence.” Gandhi felt that the only way to
defeat a powerful force that was to sit back and
use any non-violent method possible. If someone
died, it was just as big a blow to the opposition
as it was to you. But Gandhi, like Hitler was
also very stubborn. His stubbornness, was another
weapon he used to get what he wanted. When his
non-violent marches all of the sudden turned into
a brutal murder of 8 British military officers,
Gandhi was very upset. The Indians had become
powerful and were starting to take over and
eliminate their British superiors. Gandhi thought
this to be worse than what they had before and he
refused to eat or drink until all the killings has
stopped and the Indians once again began to march
and use passive resistance to gain their
independence (Gandhi often referred to this as
Swaraj or self-rule). By this time, Gandhi was so
powerful that all the killings stopped, just to
save his life. As independence approached and
Hindus and Muslims continued to fight and kill
each other, Gandhi once again put his belief of
non-violence into play. He went on his own to a
Muslim-majority area of Bengal, placing himself as
a hostage for the safety of Muslims living among
Hindus in western Bengal. Once again, within
days, the fighting stopped and Gandhi?s
stubbornness had saved the day.
Hitler and Gandhi both had many devices set up to
help them not only gain power, but once in power,
to keep their power. Hitler chose to scare the
masses into following him, while Gandhi chose the
less violent, but harder way to go, using only his
two most lethal non-violent methods; love and
truth. Gandhi loved everyone and everyone was
forgiven. Both of these leaders accomplished
their goals as well. Hitler accomplished not only
killing 6 million Jews, but he also tore apart
Europe and especially Germany. And while Hitler
was out running his concentration camps, Gandhi
fulfilled his dream of having a separate, free
India. He single-handedly freed 315 million
Indians, Muslims, and Hindus from British control.
When we look back on these two men, Gandhi will
forever be known as one of the greatest men who
ever lived, while Hitler is what people think the
devil would be like. Both of these men had great
amounts of power, but each used it differently;
one for good, one for evil. It?s obvious who came
out on top.
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