What would you say if told you that a visionary leader was responsible for the deaths of almost 6 million innocent people? For many for you this statement might create doubt, the need for clarification, and maybe even make you angry. However, would it make a difference if I told you that this visionary leader was also unethical? Known as the personification of evil, Adolf Hitler used his visionary leadership and unethical practices to become a powerful world leader. In this essay I will show you how Hitler used his vision to become the leader of Germany; as well as, how he implemented a vision for German expansion. Then, I will explain how Hitler’s unethical leadership transformed Germany into a fierce and powerful war machine acting upon his vision of expansion. And finally, I will explain to you what I discovered about myself during this essay and how Hitler’s vision and unethical conduct opened my eyes to areas within my leadership that I need to address.
As much as I didn’t want to acknowledge, Adolf Hitler was a visionary leader. A visionary leader is a person who has a powerful and benign effect on the fate of a people or state and is ruled in their actions by the inspiration that guide that people (Andreev, N.D.). During Hitler’s reign he created an inclusive environment by developing a vision that motivated the entire country. When Germany was defeated in 1919 ending World War I, the Treaty of Versailles was imposed forfeiting Germany of more than 27,000 square miles and reducing their overall populous by 10 percent (USHMM, 2013). These sanctions were extremely harsh and left Germany in social and economic distress. The majority of the people in Germany; as well as, Hitler thought that the current Wiemer p...
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...ommon vision. Next, I displayed that Hitler was unethical leader who breed a culture that operated on ethical relativism. And lastly, I let you know how my research on Hitler identified some weak areas within my own leadership that I need to correct. In closing, I will leave you with this. Hitler motivated a country to believe that the white skinned, blue eyed, German was the “Perfect” race in the world, yet Hitler was 5’9, brown skinned, dark haired man from Austria (Toland J, pg 3). This very statement alone illustrates the power of vision and how it motivated and created an ethical relativism within Germany, resulting in unethical acts. Hitler’s vision had one critical flaw though; it did not have ethics as a foundation. When ethics aren’t foundation of a leader’s vision, just like with Hitler, a vision is faulty and will fail, just like he did.
Hitler blamed the Jews for the evils of the world. He believed a democracy would lead to communism. Therefore, in Hitler’s eyes, a dictatorship was the only way to save Germany from the threats of communism and Jewish treason. The Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was the instrument for the Nazis to convince the German people to put Hitler into power. Point one of the document states, “We demand the union of all Germans in a great Germany on the basis of the principle of self-determination of all peoples.” 1 This point explicates the Nazi proposition that Germany will only contain German citizens and also, that these citizens would display his or her self-determination towards Germany to the fullest.
The setting was perfect as the people of Germany were primed and ready for any leader that would tickle their ears with what they were wanting to hear. World War I was over (#4) and the people of Germany were in an economic depression that crippled the country. The German mark had lost so much value that it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. A good portion of the youth in Germany were raised in fatherless homes. In an article written by Dr. Alice Hamilton, she says this about Hitler's youth: "They were children during the years of the war when the food blockade kept them half starved, when fathers were away at the front and mothers distracted with the effort to keep their families fed. They came to manhood in a country which seemed to have no use for them. Even compulsory military training was no more and there was nothing to take its place" (Perry et. al 358). Hitler, being the sleazy opportunist that he was, capitalized on this state of affairs. In ways that were not politically correct, he was able to influence this segment of the population and hold them in allegiance to his agenda. "Hitler made each insignificant, poverty stricken, jobless youth of the slums feel himself as of the great of the earth, since the youth was a German, a Nordic, far superior to the successful Jew who was driven out of office and counting house to make place for the youth and his like" (Perry et. al 359). The following is an example of how Hitler coerced and manipulated people and how we as managers and leaders can learn from his mistakes. This essay will also address how we can effectively influence people and earn their loyalty. In order to effectively influence peopl...
During the Holocaust, around six million Jews were murdered due to Hitler’s plan to rid Germany of “heterogeneous people” in Germany, as stated in the novel, Life and Death in the Third Reich by Peter Fritzsche. Shortly following a period of suffering, Hitler began leading Germany in 1930 to start the period of his rule, the Third Reich. Over time, his power and support from the country increased until he had full control over his people. Starting from saying “Heil Hitler!” the people of the German empire were cleverly forced into following Hitler through terror and threat. He had a group of leaders, the SS, who were Nazis that willingly took any task given, including the mass murder of millions of Jews due to his belief that they were enemies to Germany. German citizens were talked into participating or believing in the most extreme of things, like violent pogroms, deportations, attacks, and executions. Through the novel’s perspicacity of the Third Reich, readers can see how Hitler’s reign was a controversial time period summed up by courage, extremity, and most important of all, loyalty.
From the time Hitler and the Nazi’s took control of Germany in 1933 until the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, the aim of the regime under the calculating guidance of Hitler himself sought no less than global conquest. This ambitious objective can be further dissected into short term and long term goals that provide insight into Hitler’s character, thoughts and actions.
Hitler had a lot to do with Germany and he was remembered but not because of anything positive, but because he was one of the worst coldhearted dictators Germany or the world could’ve experienced. My view and Topic is worth consideration by the reader because it will inform them more about Hitler’s actions in 1933 and so on.
Adolf Hitler’s political goals and social philosophies can be seen vividly through a brief excerpt of his autobiography/exposition entitled “Mein Kampf” or “My Struggles.” Hitler’s thoughts seemed to arise from a mind that blamed the German
After Germany lost World War I, it was in a national state of humiliation. Their economy was in the drain, and they had their hands full paying for the reparations from the war. Then a man named Adolf Hitler rose to the position of Chancellor and realized his potential to inspire people to follow. Hitler promised the people of Germany a new age; an age of prosperity with the country back as a superpower in Europe. Hitler had a vision, and this vision was that not only the country be dominant in a political sense, but that his ‘perfect race’, the ‘Aryans,’ would be dominant in a cultural sense. His steps to achieving his goal came in the form of the Holocaust. The most well known victims of the Holocaust were of course, the Jews. However, approximately 11 million people were killed in the holocaust, and of those, there were only 6 million Jews killed. The other 5 million people were the Gypsies, Pols, Political Dissidents, Handicapped, Jehovah’s witnesses, Homosexuals and even those of African-German descent. Those who were believed to be enemies of the state were sent to camps where they were worked or starved to death.
The debate as to whether Hitler was a ‘weak dictator’ or ‘Master of the Third Reich’ is one that has been contested by historians of Nazi Germany for many years and lies at the centre of the Intentionalist – Structuralist debate. On the one hand, historians such as Bullock, Bracher, Jackel and Hildebrand regard Hitler’s personality, ideology and will as the central locomotive in the Third Reich. Others, such as Broszat, Mason and Mommsen argue that the regime evolved out from pressures and circumstances rather than from Hitler’s intentions. They emphasise the institutional anarchy of the regime as being the result of Hitler’s ‘weak’ leadership. The most convincing standpoint is the synthesis of the two schools, which acknowledges both Hitler’s centrality in explaining the essence of Nazi rule but also external forces that influenced Hitler’s decision making. In this sense, Hitler was not a weak dictator as he possessed supreme authority but as Kershaw maintains, neither was he ‘Master of the Third Reich’ because he did not exercise unrestricted power.
From 1933-1945 Adolf Hitler rose to the peak of his political power, by creating a stronghold over the German people. The use of oratory skills, in conjunction with his knowledge and use of propaganda and his suppression of details of the Holocaust, created a vibe of “electric excitement” for Germany. (Fritzsche, 1998) His targeting of the German minority and his radical push for anti-Semitism allowed Hitler to corrupt a weak and innocent nation. Manipulative leadership was a dominant force in the birth of his extremist beliefs and propagation, though this was assisted by the responsiveness of the negligent-minded German population to his plans. With Germany having an increasing need for a strong-willed political leader and with Hitler’s determined attitude and a seeming passion to the nation made him the best candidate for this role. This would mean that Hitler’s skills and manipulation strategies were not entirely responsible for his rise to power; the contributing factor of the plasticity of the German population is evident as well.
Adolf Hitler’s rise to power as the chancellor of Germany is one of history’s great political success stories. He was known to be an uneducated common soldier in World War I, who had been a failure in all in his undertakings. He eventually rose to power in 1933, in a country that was devastated both socially and politically. Within five years, he had given his nation stability and hope. They started to hail him as the leader and savior because he eradicated unemployment, stabilized the currency, provided social legislation, and reformed the military. He also built magnificent freeways and promised automobiles to every laboring man. If Hitler had died before World War II, he may well have been remembered as the greatest and one of the most outstanding leaders in German history. However, later on his political career, he ordered and also committed atrocities like the order for the extermination Jews and the elimination of every potential enemy in the occupied Eastern territories. He was fully aware of mass executions of Jewish civilians in these territories that make him one of the most monstrous leaders in world history. A look at his benevolent work at the beginning of his political career and his malevolence at the peak and towards the end of his life lead us to view him in two perspectives; thus he seemed to be once a mentally ill person and a brilliant political leader. I refuse to see him from just one perspective since he was human and he had evil in him. In the book, Psychopathic God by Robert Waite, a leading German Biographer, A. J. P. Taylor has come to the conclusion that Hitler was “a neurotic character who was imprisoned by an overpowering neurotic psychosis” (Waite xvi).
Many white collar workers of Germany were fearful the blue collar parties of the left would destroy their government as they knew it (book 161). For this reason, many German’s turned to Hitler for political Stability (cite 161). After being put down so many times by the rest of the world, Hitler offered a refreshing pro German view citizens were looking for. In fact, it was Hitler’s plan that the Treaty of Versailles count be contested by taking up arms (book 163). To many Germans this seemed like a great idea, as they were still loathing from the strict punishment from the
Adolf Hitlers’ Mein Kampf published July 18, 1925 outlined Hitler’s plan to reform Germany based on one true race. During this time period; shortly after World War One, Germany was on the bridge of economic, political, and social shambles. In 1919 the signing of the Treaty of Versailles threw Germany even closer to self destruction. The Treaty proposed new sanctions and relinquished territories from Germany, while in essence burdening the cost of the war on Germany. During this time of hardship the German people looked for a hero and a savior, who appeared in the image of Adolf Hitler bringing with him new ideas and a plan to return Germany to its hight in power. Based on the passage “A New form of Anti-Semitism” Hitler used the platform of anti-semitism to tighten his grip on an already weakened Germany referencing all that was wrong with the Jewish race and demeaning their purpose for existing. This one novella resulted in the rise of a new political party who tightened its grip on Germany and led to horrors in another World War that had never been seen before.
Most people in the world only think of one thing when the name Adolf Hitler is said. They think of the horrific thing he did to the non-Aryan population. Although these actions are terrible and unforgiveable, Hitler was not always that sort of person. He started his life in a much different way and was actually an extremely intelligent individual. He was innovative and brilliant, and had originally moved to Vienna to become an artist, but his intentions shifted into something much more sinister over time. Through an exploration of his life, it is easy to see that there is much more to Hitler then just the Holocaust.
Centuries later and the name Adolf Hitler still rings volumes till this present day: discussed in history books, talked about amongst intellects and commoners alike, and despised by many for years to come. Upon hearing his name many may think of all the negative things Hitler has done, but few fail to analyze just how one man created such controversy amongst a nation without being stopped. The question then lies how does a man reign over country and devastate it for years to come? Adolf Hitler, a man who excelled in persuasion and charisma was able to reign over Germany for years. Born in Austria April 20th 1889, Hitler grew up with many hardships in his life.
In the year of 1933 Adolf Hitler seized the position of chancellor of Germany and this power that he received in January 30th is what shaped one of the most bloodlust dictatorships that this world has ever known. Hitler’s desire for power and victory made him one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen but it also made him one of the most cruel and heartless people known to mankind. But how did he do this, how did he become one of the greatest and cruellest dictators? Throughout this essay we will explore the long, short and immediate causes for Hitler’s sudden success.