Methods used to establish authoritarian states
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Flip to reveal answersWhat two broad categories of method did authoritarian leaders combine to take power?
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Question
What two broad categories of method did authoritarian leaders combine to take power?
Answer
Persuasion (charisma, ideology, propaganda) and coercion (force, paramilitaries, intimidation) — usually together.
Question
Define 'paramilitary' with two examples.
Answer
An armed group organised like an army but outside the state, used for violence and intimidation. Examples: the SA (Nazi Germany) and the Blackshirts (Mussolini's Italy).
Question
Define 'coup'.
Answer
A sudden, often armed, seizure of state power by a small group, bypassing elections.
Question
How did Hitler come to power (route and date)?
Answer
Broadly LEGAL route — appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg in January 1933, after years of propaganda and SA intimidation.
Question
How did Lenin come to power (route and date)?
Answer
REVOLUTIONARY route — the Bolshevik armed seizure of power in Petrograd, October/November 1917, aided by slogans like 'Peace, Bread, Land'.
Question
How did Mao come to power (route and date)?
Answer
REVOLUTIONARY route — peasant-based guerrilla war and the Long March (1934–35), then victory in the Chinese Civil War, founding the PRC in 1949.
Question
What was Mussolini's March on Rome (1922) and why does it matter?
Answer
A show of force by thousands of Blackshirts; the King invited Mussolini to govern rather than fight — semi-legal in look, but the THREAT of force was the real lever.
Question
Why is ideology a 'method' of taking power?
Answer
A mobilising idea (fascism/Nazism, communism) unites followers around a cause and names an enemy/scapegoat, channelling fear and anger into support.
Question
Contrast the legal and revolutionary routes to power.
Answer
Legal/constitutional (Hitler, appointed 1933) vs revolutionary/violent seizure (Lenin 1917; Mao 1949). Same destination, opposite methods.
Question
What is the regional rule for choosing examples in this Paper 2 topic?
Answer
Use two authoritarian states from DIFFERENT IB regions (Europe; Africa & the Middle East; the Americas; Asia & Oceania), e.g. Hitler (Europe) + Mao (Asia).
Question
How should you structure a Paper 2 'compare and contrast methods' essay?
Answer
By THEME/method, running both states through each (leadership, force, propaganda, route), with similarities, differences and a judged verdict — not country-by-country.
Question
What is propaganda as a method of taking power?
Answer
Information designed to shape opinion — rallies, posters, simple repeated slogans, scapegoating — making the leader seem the only solution.
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Full study notes for Methods used to establish authoritarian states
Topic 15.1 hub
Emergence of authoritarian states
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