Describe the rise of authoritarian governments (Soviet Union, Italy, Germany, Spain), and analyze the policies and main ideas of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Francisco Franco.

(See explanation for further details)

Explanation:

The regimes of Iosiv Stalin (USSR), Benito Mussolini (Italy) and Adolf Hitler (Germany) were totalitarian, not authoritarian, since those regimes pretended to subordinate everything to the power of state. Only the regime of Francisco Franco could be considered as authoritarian.

Such regimes rose due to the political instability, economic crisis and social tension that suffered several European country after World War II.

The regime of Stalin was the most extreme form of totalitarism, which consisted in the elimination of private owning over means of production and private property in every way, central planning in economics, use of violence and suppresion to control society and eliminate any opposition or group or nation, state atheism and jingoism.

On the other hand, the regime of Hitler was more moderate by allowing the existence of private property and private owning of means of production, but exist a strong State interventionism, and justification of genocide by considering certain people as inferior regarding to Germans. The regimens of Mussolini and Franco were even more moderate by allowing a limited freedom to Roman Catholicism.