Is it possible for an individual to change the course of history? Or is history shaped by impersonal forces beyond the grasp of even totalitarian rulers?
This question is as important today as it was in the past century, when “charismatic” rulers made an enormous impact, often with catastrophic consequences. Their names are etched in our minds: Lenin, Stalin, Hitler. The second half of the century saw certain individuals make a far more constructive impact, such as Mikhail Gorbachev, who initiated the reforms that brought about the end of Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Today, names like Trump, Putin and Xi command constant attention. The latter two possess what appears to be uncontested power and decision-making authority in nuclear-armed states. As for former President Donald Trump, during his chaotic term in the White House both his critics and admirers viewed him as capable of making history through the force of his personality.
In this episode of History As It Happens, historian Ian Kershaw talks about how political leaders – both dictators and democrats – obtained and exercised power in 20th century Europe in an effort to answer the question about the role of individual leadership in determining historical change. As Mr. Kershaw writes in his new book, “Personality and Power: Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe,” “the character traits of 20th century authoritarian leaders and the structures that underpinned their rule… perhaps at times be glimpsed in the rule of their 21st-century counterparts.”
But Mr. Kershaw, who also has authored a two-volume biography of Adolf Hitler, is not interested in “Great Man Theory,” which is difficult to define and therefore unhelpful as an analytical tool. Rather than trying to define “greatness,” Mr. Kershaw discusses the influence of past leaders as well as the conditions that made their rule possible.
“It is self-evidently important to look at the role of individuals in history. We only have to contemplate for a second or two what history might have been like without Lenin, for example. Without Hitler, without Churchill. If you just do a little thought experiment of what might have happened without them, then you immediately think it would have been very different,” Mr. Kershaw says in the podcast.
Listen to Mr. Kershaw discuss the legacies of Hitler, Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and more in this episode of History As It Happens.
