Hitler and Peter the Great: RULE

So what I've realized is that a HUGE difference between Hitler and Peter the Great is that Machiavellian rule that Danielle and I have been discussing. Danielle's post "The War Lord! The Manipulator!" made me think about how Peter the Great didn't really have tactics in the same sense that Hitler did. While Hitler tricked the public into following his word through propaganda and manipulation, Peter the Great did not use such tactics. Instead, Peter the Great essentially just did what he said he was doing--it was much more black and white, Peter the Great just imposed his authority whereas Hitler tricked the public into supporting his authority. I think that a great demonstration of this difference in rule is through the use of religion. As Danielle discusses in her post "Hitler and Religion", Hitler uses Christianity as a tool to gain public support--he himself wasn't a super-religious man but he NEEDED the support of the Protestant churches in order to fulfill his goal of eliminating the Jews (or demonstrating his power), and he consequently molded to be whatever man was necessary in order to get what he wanted. To contrast, Peter the Great just did what he wanted. As I say in my post "Peter the Great and Religion", Peter made the Russian Church a more tolerant entity while tightening his own control over the Church in linking the Church with the state.

While both Hitler and Peter the Great were hoping to have military gains in order to demonstrate their international power, Hitler acted to get more groups (such as the Church) on his side, despite his personal attachment to or involvement with those groups--for him they were the means to an end. To contrast, Peter the Great completely followed his own beliefs--eliminating the aspects of the Church that he disagreed with and tightening his personal control over the Church--regardless of how the Church felt about this. In my opinion, this difference is the difference between wanting to gain something for the state (as Hitler did) and wanting to preserve your reputation in history (as Peter the Great did).