Prior to World War II, both Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler rose to power in their respective countries and brought about great change during their ensuing reigns. While both men are notoriously known as two of the most evil men in history, it is obvious that they accomplished great things for their countries. Following Lenin and Trotsky's revolution and reign in Russia, Stalin began his massive political, social, and economic changes in 1928 with the First Five Year Plan, which was designed to cause rapid industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture. After the Bolsheviks or proletariat won the Marxist theory of class war, they did not know where to go with the country. The winning of this class war was Mark's utopian fantasy, so while Lenin and Trotsky tried to figure out what to do after winning the social war, Stalin was eventually allowed to rise to power. While Stalin somewhat continued Lenin's work and built upon the foundation that Lenin built, Hitler took a broken and divided Germany and quickly built it into a global power. Through his mass manipulation of the German population, economic growth, and territorial gains, Hitler raised Germany from the ashes. Both men molded their countries into international powers prior and during World War II through sometimes-questionable means; however, Hitler was better for his country than Stalin was for his due to the economic, social, and political changes that he caused in Germany. Although, Germany eventually lost World War II, Hitler did much more with much less in Germany when compared to Stalin. .
First, in Stalin's Russia, his Five Year Plans controlled the national economy. Once assuming control, Stalin planned for five years into the future using these legislative acts. He aimed to make Russia militarily and industrially self sufficient, build a foundation for a worker's society, and expel the stereotype of Russia as being "backward ".