Totalitarianism and WWII
The term totalitarianism, which was coined at the inception of the Fascist rule in Italy, is a somewhat ambiguous, or perhaps even relative term that has been used to describe a number of systems of government throughout history. Essentially, just as Mussolini informally stated during his uprising, totalitarianism is “everything inside the state and nothing outside it. ... Some disparities could be made in regard to a specific definition, but one element of totalitarianism that is unilaterally agreed upon is the existence of an insidious terror and coercion. With these basic characteristics in mind, three specific regimes that could be labeled as totalitarianism are the Lenin/Stalin rule in Russia, the Mussolini rule in Italy, and the Hitler Rule in Germany.