A totalitarian government is one that regulates every single aspect of the nation and imposes itself upon the private lives of its citizens as well by controlling the government, media, and spying on the public.

The basic totalitarian principles include controlling a single party controlling the entire government, the use of the mass media to spread propaganda and build support for the government, and the surveillance of people in order to better protect the government.

Throughout the twentieth century, several nations became synonymous with the concept of the totalitarian government.

The Soviet Union, which came to be in the 1920s, became a tyrannous nation thanks to leaders like Joseph Stalin whose government functioned as an epitome of the totalitarian government using mass surveillance, propaganda, and the slaughter of his own people when they disrespected the Communist Party.

Nazi Germany which got its start later in the century, in the 1930s, is better remembered for its slaughter of six million Jews and the invasions of many European nations, but Adolph Hitler's government functioned similarly to Stalin's.

The Nazi Party became the only party in the nation, freedoms of speech and of the press were ended, and those in opposition to the Nazis would be jailed as prisoners of war.

CHINA'S DARK SIDE

WHAT ARE THE TOTALITARIAN PRINCIPLES?

One of the basic totalitarian principles is the single party rule over a nation. In the Soviet Union it was the Communist Party and in Nazi Germany is was the Nazi Party. The single party system allows the leaders to rule without political interference from an oppositional party.

Another totalitarian principle is the suspension of free speech and control over the mass media. The suspension of free speech prevents dissenting opinions of the government from spreading and dissenting speech is often punished by imprisonment or even death. The control of the media is a way for the government to spread propaganda while also preventing criticism and dissent from being spread.

Surveillance of the public is also a major component of the totalitarian government as it, not only, allows the government to know who is speaking ill of them, but also allows the government to contain the people and prevent any kind of revolution.

TOTALITARIAN PRINCIPLES OF THE SOVIET UNION

After coming to power following the Russian Civil War, the Soviet Union came to power in the 1920s and instantly began its tyrannous reign on Europe.

The Soviet Union's first General Secretary was Joseph Stalin who later became synonymous with the atrocities that he committed upon his own people.

The Communists ruled through a single party system and denied its citizens the right to join any other party. The Communists used propaganda to rally support and build a false image of their leaders such as Stalin, who was painted as a kind and heroic figure and who fought for the rights of all people.

The image of Stalin that was marketed to the people of the Soviet Union and the rest of the World (Stalin had been known as Uncle Joe in the United States during the nation's friendly relations with the Soviets until the end of World War II) could not be farther from the truth.

Not only was there no freedom of speech in the U.S.S.R. but the media was used as a propaganda tool, the government spied on its citizens in order to prevent dissent, and many Soviets nationals were killed or tortured if they were suspected of being critical of the government.

TOTALITARIAN PRINCIPLES OF GERMANY

When Adolph Hitler and the Nazis came to power in the 1930s in Germany, they adopted many of the same tactics that the Soviet Union was using in spite of the fact that the Communists were among their greatest enemies.

Aside from the atrocities that the Nazis committed upon the Jewish people in Europe and their invasions of other nations such as Poland, the Nazis governed Germany epitomizing totalitarian principles.

The Nazis were best known for their spread of propaganda which they used to build a false image to their people as true ideologues and truly German.

Freedom of speech was a joke to the German people at the time, as was freedom of the press, as many publications were shut down by the Nazis. Hitler's government also spied on everyone in the country to prevent dissenters.

Those who were found to be dissenters were jailed or executed by the government which was ruled entirely by the Nazi Party.

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