Question: How do I examine the methods used in the emergence of authoritarian states?
This essay question applies to both HL and SL history students. The question would appear in Paper 2 under the topic “Authoritarian states (20th century).”
The first thing to do when writing any history essay is to understand the demands of the question. In this question, the command term is ‘examine’, which means to uncover the assumptions and interrelationships of the topic given. Therefore for this question, you do not need to provide one factor as the definitive method for the emergence of the authoritarian state, but can suggest several played a role together.
The second thing to do is to write down the 5Ts needed for the introduction of the essay: topic, terms, timeline, themes, thesis.
Topic:
- Authoritarian states, nazi germany / Hitler (we will use this case study for this essay)
Terms:
- Emergence (meaning rise of the authoritarian state)
- Methods (note that this question does not want conditions eg socioeconomic conditions, but specific methods used to become an authoritarian state)
- Authoritarian state (define what authoritarian means)
Timeline:
- Events leading up to 1933, when Nazi Germany was established
Themes:
- Your teacher should have taught you several factors for the rise of Nazi Germany, here are examples:
- Force and coercion
- Propaganda and cult of personality
- Charisma
- Manipulation
- Ideological appeal
Thesis:
- Since the command term allows me to suggest several factors played a role in the emergence of the authoritarian state, I posit that
- Ideological appeal was initially used most to help the Nazis gain votes and become a majority in the Reichstag (the German parliament)
- Manipulation was then used to get Hitler appointed as Chancellor
- Force was then used most to get the Enabling Act passed to establish Germany under single party rule -> establish authoritarian state
- Note that for this question you cannot stop at Hitler being appointed as Chancellor because that does not quantify Germany becoming an authoritarian state yet, only until the Nazi party itself gained complete control could it be considered an authoritarian state.
Author: belll
