This work is the German translation and modification made by the very important German political scientist Carl Joachim Friedrich (1901-1984) of the now classic study on totalitarianism, which he wrote in 1956 in collaboration with Zbigniew Brzezinski and was titled "Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy." The new edition was made in 1957 and constitutes an original analysis of this entirely new historical type of authoritarian power, which emerged in the early 20th century and is known as totalitarian dictatorship. Friedrich analyzes the three totalitarian movements - communism, fascism, and national socialism - thoroughly examining their similarities and differences always in relation to historical events and based on the following six common essential characteristics of all totalitarian dictatorships: an ideology, a party, a terroristic secret police, a monopoly on information transmission, a monopoly on weapons, and a centrally directed economy.