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There have been many examples of leaders in history that have gained power, and used it poorly. This usually leads to increased responsibility for the person, especially in the sense of the decisions that they make. Two examples of leaders who used their power for bad intentions are Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler.
Napoleon Bonaparte, the first consul of the post-revolution French Republic, led his country well for the first few years. He attempted to unite the country through domestic reforms and political compromises, and at first was extremely successful. However like many other rulers throughout this time period, the huge amount of power associated with being the sole leader of a large country (in this case France, the most powerful of the time) started to affect Napoleon. After starting out with positives, his actions soon became based on his hunger for power. This is directly correlated with his responsibility, because I argue that as one’s actions turn towards evil, their accountability for the actions also increases. For example, Napoleon began to wage war with countries such as Austria, Prussia, and Russia; all of which announced themselves as allies of France during his reign. The deaths of millions of men fell on the shoulders of Napoleon in this situation, since he was willing to sacrifice their lives for his own increase in power. In Napoleon’s case, his responsibility for the loss of life was not fully realized until late in his reign, and was shown most obviously in the biggest military blunder in history. When Napoleon turned on Russia and declared war in summer of 1812, Napoleon was planning on taking as much land as possible before the punishing winter set in. He was largely successful in this as he reached Moscow, roughly 500 miles from the western border of modern-day Russia, in two and a half months. However the major flaw in Napoleon’s attack was that he did not know when to quit. His plan was originally to attack for only three months, and then pull back before the winter hit. Napoleon and his Grand Army of 500,000 men stayed well into December. After a disastrous retreat in devastatingly cold conditions, only 20,000 men returned. That was four percent of his original army, plus the estimated 350,000 deaths that the Russians suffered. Nearly one million lives were lost over five months, just because of one man’s desire to gain power. This alone is a reason to believe that power and responsibility are directly proportional to one another; the more power you have, the more responsibility ensues.
The second example of a leader whose power skyrocketed in a short period of time is Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany. Unlike Napoleon, Hitler started his reign poorly and ended it even worse. By the time he took power, Germany was already in a bad state. With a poor economy, no army, and destroyed countryside, the German people looked for someone to rely on. This person happened to be Adolf Hitler. In order to unite the angered people in his country, Hitler believed that he had to find a scapegoat for the devastation suffered from the First World War. This scapegoat happened to be a group of 9.5 million people throughout Europe; the Jewish. Over the 12 years that Hitler was in power, 7 million Jews were killed. However this was not even a dent in the total death toll he caused. In total, at least 40 million people died during World War II; and event that Hitler sparked by invading Poland. In a similar fashion as Napoleon, Hitler’s major downfall was his attempt to invade Russia. When he was stalled before he could reach Moscow, the German Army was forced back further and further until the entirety of the German Empire was under Allied control. Even though neither Hitler nor Napoleon were in power very long, both leaders were given an enormous amount of responsibility in a short period of time. This, paired with a need for more and more power, led to the deaths of over 50 million people and complete failure in their plans.
In History: Hitler and Napoleon