Did Hitler or Stalin or Mussolini kill the most people?

Answer 1

Hitler was directly responsible for the death of about 11-12 million people.

Mussolini was directly responsible for the death of only a few hundred thousand.

Stalin was directly responsible for somewhere between 15-20 million.

However, where the question is unclear if the fact that Hitler started the war, therefore you could hold him indirectly accountable for most all of the deaths in the European Theatre of Operations. World War 2 deaths in the Pacific campaigns may be laid at the feet of the Japanese Empire, since it needed no prodding from Hitler to do the killing it did. Japan took control of Manchuria and invaded China in 1937, two years before Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Japan did not even join the Axis powers until September 1940.

Directly, Stalin was responsible for the most deaths. However, Hitler's actions caused many in World War 2, and Mussolini was his ally. Stalin was a defensive nation. By that I mean they were attacked.

Therefore, you could make the argument had Hitler not attacked the USSR none or very few of the deaths would have occurred.

However, the other side of that argument is that the Soviet Union's was not a defensive war at all at least until Hitler double-crossed Stalin and invaded Russia. In fact, Stalin had already started his own invasions of friendly countries months before Hitler attacked it. Follow this sequence:

In August, 1939, Stalin enters into a Non-Agression Pact with Hitler.

On September 1, 1939, with no provocation, Hitler invades Poland.

On September 17, 1939 (16 days later) with no provocation, Stalin invades Poland. Part of the N-A Pact that was kept secret was that Stalin had agreed with Hitler to conquer Poland together and divide it between them.

On November 30, 1939, two months later, with no provocation, Stalin invades Finland beginning the Russian-Finland War.

On June 18, 1940, with no provocation, Stalin invades Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

On June 22, 1941, one full year later, with no provocation, Hitler attacks the Soviet Union.

A defensive war on Stalin's part? No.

Is Hitler responsible for deaths caused by Russian soldiers in Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithania and Estonia one year before Hitler attacks Russia? No.

These acts of war were against countries that were then at peace with the Soviet Union just as much as Poland was at peace with Germany when Germany invaded it. They were offensive and aggressive actions taken against peaceful nations. Any deaths caused by them rests squarely on the shoulders of Joseph Stalin.