Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

School: Arts and Humanities

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

• Unit Title

  Hitler and Stalin: Studies in Power, Ideology and Propaganda

• Unit Code

  POL3124

• Year

  2017

• Enrolment Period

  1

• Version

  2

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  Online

• Unit Coordinator

  Dr Genevieve Ruth HOHNEN

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Description

This unit explores the leadership of Hitler and Stalin in the 1930s and 40s as a means to examine the interaction between ideology, totalitarianism and propaganda in the exercise of power. The unit begins with an examination of the backgrounds of both Hitler and Stalin and their psychological predisposition to a totalitarian concept of leadership. It then explores the social, economic and political issues in their rise to power. Finally, the unit examines the application of Nazism and Marxism/Leninism to the radical reconstructions of society pursued by both Hitler and Stalin together with an analysis of the social impacts of reconstruction.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded POL3116

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Apply an understanding of the theories of Marxism/Nazism to Germany and Russia respectively in the period 1920-1945.
2. Apply an understanding of totalitarian ideologies to the modern world.
3. Examine theories of personality and leadership and apply these respectively to Hitler and Stalin.
4. Understand the comparisons and contrasts between Hitler and Stalins policies.
5. Understand the concept of totalitarianism.
6. Understand the roles of key political institutions in the exercise of power in the regimes of Hitler and Stalin.

Unit Content

1. Genocide in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.
2. Hitler and Stalin compared.
3. Ideological perspectives: Marxist/Leninism; Fascism/Nazism.
4. Propaganda and national renewal.
5. The Fuhrer State: Race and national renewal under Nazis.
6. The mobilisation of Terror: Stalins purges.
7. The mobilisation of Terror: the Gestapo, Jews and ordinary Germans.
8. The psychology of power: the backgrounds of both Hitler and Stalin.
9. The revolution from above: collectivisation and industrialisation under Stalin.
10. The road to power: German society 1900-1930.
11. The road to power: Russian society 1900-1925.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lecture, Tutorials, Video Documentary, Readings.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

Core Reading(s)

• Overy, R. (2004). The dictators : Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. London: Allen Lane.

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