In modern times, no dictator can take total power by force alone. In order to gain support, they must offer something beneficial to the people. Unfortunately what is thought to be beneficial can be extremely harmful and cruel. Three specific dictators during the World War II period were Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin.
             Joseph Stalin was the successor of Lenin after his death. He had only one goal and that was to finish what Lenin had started. Basically that was to build a classless society in which the means of production were in the hands of the people. After Stalin established power, he developed new goals to make the Soviet Union a leader in industry. He wanted to get rid of Russia's backwardness. For this reason Stalin proposed several "five year plans." These plans were aimed at improving industry and economic growth. He developed a command economy, which meant government made all economic decisions. Under Stalin, the government controlled all businesses. Stalin also took agriculture under control of the government. He forced people to give up their privately owned land and live on government-owned farms or on large farms that were owned and operated by groups, also known as collectives. The state set all prices and controlled access to farm supplies. (Comptons Encyclopedia, 1990, Joseph Stalin S570)
             On July 29, 1921, Adolf Hitler was introduced as Fuehrer of the Nazi Party. Fuehrer basically meant leader. By November 1923, the Nazis held approximately 55,000 followers and were the biggest and most powerful in Germany. The Nazi Party demanded action of Hitler. Hitler knew that he would lose his support if he didn't do something fast. So he and his party developed a plan to kidnap the leaders of the Bavarian government and force to accept Hitler as their leader. On November 9th, 1923 Hitler and his Nazi's went to Munich and tried to take it over. At this point they were not powerful enough to ...