Authoritarian states
Conditions and methods in emergence to power
Social Divisions
In China, social divisions primarily revolved around the stark disparities between peasants and
landlords.China during the 1920s had a majority population of Peasents which consisted 85% of the
Chinese population. Despite this, the small minority of Landlords which were only 10% of the whole
population, owned 70% of the arable land. This land was rented and borrowed by peasants who then
had to give out the majority of the crops and incomes to the landlords leading to 80% of the
population into poverty.The peasants were also often mistreated in the rental territories, they were
exploited and their livestock could have been any moment withdrawn by the landlord leaving peasants
to struggle. As a result, a great contention developed among peasants towards landlords..Targeting
this distention Mao Zedong's Land Redistribution campaign aimed at addressing these
inequalities by redistributing land from landlords to peasants, garnering significant support from
the peasant majority.Conversely, in Germany, social divisions were characterized by resentment
towards the Weimar government among different social classes. The working class blamed the
government for their suffering during World War I and perceived betrayal through the Treaty of
Versailles. Hitler's propaganda capitalized on these sentiments, promising revenge against the
government and the revision of the treaty, which appealed to the working-class population.
Similarly, the middle class feared the influence of communism and viewed Hitler as a bulwark
against the spread of communism, thus supporting his anti-communist stance. Moreover, Hitler's
criticism of the Weimar government as "November criminals" and his promise to restore
Germany's glory resonated with the conservative elite who opposed the Weimar Republic.While
social divisions played a significant role in both Hitler's and Mao's rise to power, the degree of
their significance differed between the two leaders. In China, the social divisions between
peasants and landlords, were more significant to Mao’s rise to power as 80% of the population
were peasants thus The CCP's focus on addressing these divisions through land redistribution and
rural reforms contributed to gaining support from majority of population. In contrast, while social
divisions in Germany fueled support for Hitler's Nazi Party, they were not as deeply entrenched
as in China. The Weimar government's perceived failures and the fear of communism provided
fertile ground for Hitler's propaganda, but social divisions did not permeate every aspect of
German society to the same extent as in China.
CONDITIONS OF ECONOMIC CRISES
,The role of the economic crises and their mismanagement by the previous governments caused the
rise of authoritarian states. In Germany, the economic crisis of the 1928-32 Great Depression resulted
in widespread unemployment of 5.6 million and national income falling by 39% which the the
Weimar government failed to resolve. This was significant to the NSDAP’s rise as the party
capitalised on the poor conditions through targeted propaganda, namely the rural population with 120
000 leaflets in 1929 handed out to jobless farmers and the 1932 “Work and Bread” campaign targeted
at the disenfranchised working class. The impact of economic crises is evidenced by the boost in
popularity by gaining 12 million votes during the Depression period of 1928-32, showing that it was
the trigger for accelerating the NSDAP’s popularity. Historian Kershaw views the Great Depression as
an important short-term cause for the rise of the NSDAP, however historian McDonough refutes this
by evaluating that other political rivals such as the left-wing KPD failing to benefit from the crisis as
the NSDAP did, only gaining 1.7% in votes from 1928-32. In evaluation, this shows that the
economic crises were important but had to be capitalised on through the Nazi’s right-wing party
ideology and propaganda, such as nationalistic Grossdeutschland ideology, that distinguished the
NSDAP from its political rivals. In China, the reign of the GMD similarly saw economic crises in
hyperinflation caused by the 1935 Silver Yuan Crisis that resulted in prices rising 30% per month and
399 trillion yuan in circulation by 1948. This facilitated the emergence of the CCP as they targeted
impoverished peasants through their land reforms in Jiangxi Soviet and Yan’an Soviet that
redistributed land and reduced rent by 25-40%, exploiting the widespread poverty in the GMD’s
regime for party gains. However, a key difference in the impact of economic crises was the scale of
impact. In China, 88% of the population was peasant-based and poor economic conditions were
long-term, existing long before hyperinflation. Hyperinflation mainly impacted the upper-middle
class, who were the GMD’s main support nase and provided 90% of funding from business elites in
Shanghai, thus politically and financially weakening the GMD. Whereas the scale of impact was
much greater in Germany with 46% of the population working class hit by the Great Depression. Thus
the impact of economic crises were more different than similar due to majority Chinese population
already for years struggling from poverty long before hyperinflation and for them hyperinflation did
not have as manor impact ,however for German population which has enjoyed the greatness of the
Germany for many years it was more of a disillusionment and anger thus by targeting the resulted
major distention NSDAP rose to power
CONDITIONS OF IMPACT OF WAR
The impact of war on the rise to power of the NSDAP and CCP exposed the weakness of incumbent
governments in the face of foreign powers which was then exploited by the parties. In Germany, the
impact of World War One was the humiliating Treaty of Versailles and $132 million in reparations
furthermore German diplomats were excluded from negotiations,Germans weren’t given the right of
self-determination but other nationalities were given,Germany was forced to accept Article 231” The
war guilt” clause all of which served as direct humiliation to German population.The conditions of
public dissent at the Weimar Government fostered the rise of the NSDAP as they used nationalistic
ideology to capitalise on public anger through their promise to abolish the Treaty of Versailles in their
25 Point Plan and anti-Weimar propaganda that blamed them for backstabbing Germany as
‘November Criminals’. Their success is evidenced by statistics showing nationalistic
Grossdeutschland ideology attracted 32% of NSDAP members in 1932 elections. Thus the impact of
, war made their nationalistic ideology more appealing towards the angered German population,
allowing them to enjoy electoral success. Similarly in China, The Second Sino-Japanese War
(1937-1945) severely weakened the control of the Guomindang (GMD) in China, despite its military
victories. The GMD's failure to prevent civilian atrocities, such as the Nanjing Massacre, and its
implementation of a 'Scorched Earth' policy, which resulted in additional civilian deaths, undermined
its legitimacy in the eyes of the population. GMD troops' brutal behavior towards the local population,
including looting and rape, further eroded support for the party. In contrast, the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) strategically benefited from the war by expanding into areas that the GMD could not
defend, ultimately gaining control over territories inhabited by millions of people.Unlike the GMD's
actions, which resulted in civilian suffering, the CCP implemented land and education reforms in the
territories they controlled, winning them popular support. CCP troops adhered to the 'Eight Rules of
Conduct,' which emphasized politeness, honesty, and respect for civilians, in stark contrast to the
behavior of GMD troops.The land reform carried out by the CCP further strengthened its position, as
it empowered peasants and allowed them to seek revenge against landlords and exploiters. This
increased popular support for the CCP among the rural population, who benefited from the
redistribution of land. Thus CCP's emphasis on maintaining discipline and providing for the
population increased its popularity during the civil war from 1,200,000 in 1945 to 3,000,000 in
1949.However, despite both authoritarian states taking advantage of the aftermath of war to utilize
nationalistic ideology and overthrow the incumbent government, the impact of war was largely more
different than similar in both states. In China, the 1946-49 civil war was a direct mechanism for the
CCP’s rise to power as it allowed them to physically takeover territory and capture Beijing in the
Pingjin campaign, driving the GMD to flee to Taiwan. Thus it was the direct avenue for the rise of the
CCP, whereas in Germany, the parliamentary democracy meant that war only served as a means of
propaganda to be exploited by the NSDAP rather than a pathway to overthrow Weimar government.
Overall, the impact of war was to a larger extent more different than similar in facilitating the rise to
power of CCP and NSDAP.
CONDITIONS OF POLITICALLY WEAK GOVERNMENTS
The political weakness of previous governments in causing the emergence of authoritarian states was
largely more different than similar in both states.In Germany Weimar government had many weakness
which were bounded to the weaknesses of its constitution and democracy.The Weimar Constitution
utilised proportional representation meaning each party was able to win one seat per 60,000 votes.This
drastically increased the number of parties that gained representation, a situation of no one political
party gaining the majority of seats in the Reichstag, and meant that parties had to resort to coalitions
with other political parties in order to rule the government.As a result, progress was difficult,
particularly during the situations of hyperinflation caused by the Ruhr Crisis of 1923.The coalitions
were ineffective and could not impose proper policies.The political instability further escalated in
1930 with the onslaught of the Great Depression: by 1930, there had been 20 coalitions and Papen’s,
Muller’s, Bruning’s, Schleicher’s governments collapsed in rapid succession. The failure of Weimar to
establish a strong government resulted in the Nazi capitalising on this by presenting themselves as an
authoritarian, strong party with military strength to bring order, using the SA paramilitary as evidence
of their ability to enforce order. Hitler also played an important role in portraying a strong,
authoritarian alternative leadership to the weakness of Weimar and was a significant pull factor in
enfranchising disillusioned Germans.This proportional representation also legitimized extremist
parties like Nazis and aided their rise to power immediately through legal means. In China, the
political system faced endemic corruption with Jiang Jieshi awarding promotions based on loyalty of
