FREE ESSAY ON THE ESSENCE OF POWER (GANDHI V HITLER)

THE ESSENCE OF POWER (GANDHI V HITLER)

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 leader. 
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.