Fan Casting Red and Black Totalitarianism in Sort by Tropes

In the 1800s and 1900s up to the end of World War II, modern totalitarianism began emerging in forms we'd recognize. While scholars and politicians alike have argued about earlier applications of the concept going back to antiquity such as with the Dynasties from Shang to Qing to the Despotic Utopianism of Paraguay's Dr. Francia or the brutally corrupt caciquism of Argentina's "Restorer of Laws" Rosas in the 19th century, this gets more widespread recognition in the leadup to World War I with the emergence of nationalist, expansionist, and fiercely anti-democratic conspiracies in Central and Eastern Europe, such as the CUP in the Ottoman Empire, the "War Socialists" of Erich Ludendorff, Marxist-Leninism in Soviet Russia, the black-clad Fascisti of Italy, and finally a certain political movement starting in Germany that utilized fear, intimidation, hate and division to take power, oppress entire, and ultimately lead Europe into the bloodiest war of the 20th century. The National Bolsheviks came after and were bit players, but unsurprisingly did nothing to lessen the association that would quickly form.