Historians use the word totalitarian to group Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s USSR — and then argue about what it hides. Sort fifteen pieces of evidence into the regime they belong to, or into all three, and build the comparison yourself. The column on the right fills in as you go and tells you where the term works.
Step 1 — pick a piece of evidence
Fifteen features of interwar dictatorship. Some belong to one regime only; some are common to all three. Read carefully — the distinguishing detail is usually a date, a property relation or a body count.
All fifteen sorted. Scroll the panel on the right for the verdict.