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GCSE History · key term
The promotion of a leader as an exceptional, almost infallible figure deserving personal devotion.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Paper 1
The deliberate promotion of a leader as exceptionally wise, heroic and indispensable, encouraging personal loyalty to that leader.
Revise: Stalin the DictatorEducation also helped shape Stalin’s cult of personality. Rewritten textbooks praised him as Lenin’s loyal assistant. This connected Stalin to the respected revolutionary leader and encouraged pupils to regard his authority as legitimate.
Paper 3
The organised glorification of a leader through idealised images, praise and stories, presenting that person as exceptionally wise, powerful and beyond criticism.
Revise: Cult of StalinThe Cult of Stalin was the organised glorification of Stalin as an exceptionally wise, caring and powerful leader. It was a cult of personality: attention centred on the supposedly extraordinary qualities of one individual. Propaganda presented Stalin as infallible, meaning that he could never make mistakes.
The use of propaganda to present a leader as an exceptional, almost infallible figure deserving personal devotion.
Paper 1
The organised presentation of a leader as exceptional and worthy of personal devotion.
Revise: Control and Conformity: Terror, Propaganda and OppositionPropaganda encouraged a cult of personality: Hitler was presented as the exceptional leader around whom the nation should unite. Rallies, films, portraits and broadcasts repeatedly placed him at the centre of Germany’s apparent success.
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