Final answer:
During World War I, there were no precise examples of totalitarian governments, as the concept evolved significantly afterward. However, in the following interwar period, Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union and Benito Mussolini's Italy became true examples of totalitarian regimes, characterized by extreme control and suppression of individual freedoms.
Step-by-step explanation:
Examples of Totalitarian Governments During WW1
While the term totalitarianism is more commonly associated with governments that emerged in the interwar period and World War II, it is crucial to note that during World War I, a precise example of totalitarianism is not prominent as the concept evolved significantly in the 1920s and 1930s. Instead, the seeds of future totalitarian regimes were sown.
In Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 led to the establishment of a communist government that would later become totalitarian under Joseph Stalin's rule, but during World War I itself, it was in the midst of transitioning power structures. However, the closest examples to totalitarian regimes in the World War I era would include despotic monarchies that exercised extreme control over their subjects, but they differ from the totalitarian ideologies and practices that fully manifested later with leaders like Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler. It is these interwar and World War II leaders and their regimes that are true representations of totalitarianism.
The rise of totalitarian dictatorships was particularly notable in the decades following World War I, where leaders like Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and Benito Mussolini in Italy rose to power. These leaders controlled every aspect of not just the government but also citizens' personal lives, and their governments bear the classic characteristics of totalitarian systems including the use of violence, propaganda, and the suppression of individual freedoms to reinforce absolute authority.
Although the scope of the question is limited to World War I, it's essential to understand that the term 'totalitarian government' is more accurately applied to the regimes that came to power in the interwar period, reflecting ideologies such as fascism in Italy and Germany, and Stalin's version of communism in the Soviet Union. These regimes were characterized by extreme levels of control over both public and private life, enforced by systematic violence and propaganda, to eliminate any dissent and opposition.