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Unit 8 SAQ 8.6 AMSCO AP European History - Withrow

Use the passage below to answer all parts of the question that follows.

Source 1

"Totalitarian movements use and abuse democratic freedoms in order to abolish them. This is not just devilish cleverness on the part of the leaders or childish stupidity on the part of the masses. ... Above the state and behind the facades of ostensible power, in a maze of multiplied offices, underlying all shifts of authority and in a chaos of inefficiency, lies the power nucleus of the country, the superefficient and super-competent services of the secret police. The emphasis on the police as the sole organ of power, and the corresponding neglect of the seemingly greater power arsenal of the army, which is characteristic of all totalitarian regimes, can still be partially explained by the totalitarian aspiration to world rule and its conscious abolition of the distinction between a foreign country and a home country, between foreign and domestic affairs."

Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism," 1951

Question 1

Short answer

Explain how ONE piece of evidence supports Arendt's argument regarding the rise of totalitarianism from 1917-1939.

Question 2

Short answer

Explain how ONE piece of evidence modifies or refutes Arendt's argument regarding the rise of totalitarianism from 1917-1939.

Question 3

Short answer

Explain ONE difference between absolute monarchies of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and totalitarian leaders of the 20th century as described in Arendt's argument.

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