Hitler's Road to Defeat
Adolf Hitler's statement "there shall never again be a November 1918" clarifies his fierce rage by the abortive November 1918 revolution in Germany and as well as the humiliating defeat in WWI. His career focus was to rescue a humiliated German nation from democratic ideology, the shackles of the Treaty of Versailles and "eliminate 'internationalism', by which he meant the Jews within the German Empire" (Haffner: 10), to create a Greater-German nationalism under despotic rule.
The Weimar constitution, "modeled on that of the parliamentary German Empire," (Haffner: 53) embodied the beaurocratic system of which Hitler was so adamantly opposed. Hitler blamed the Weimar Republic and it's far-leftist philosophy for the socio-economic crisis that hit Germany in the early 1900's. Desperate situations require a strong sense of leadership to overcome extenuating circumstances. The Weimar Republic was neither prepared nor capable of ending Germany's depression. Hitler credited this incompetence to Democracy and capitalized on the failure. During the depression, Germany experienced mass unemployment, social dissolution, fear and indignation. Hitler played on national resentments, feeling of revolt and the desire for strong leadership in order to occupy the "vacuum which the disappearance of the monarchy had left behind, and which the Weimar Republic was unable to fill since it was neither accepted by the revolutionaries of November 1918 nor their opponents." (Haffner: 15) This began the abolition of what Hitler believed to be the first mistake of early twentieth century Germany, Democracy.
Amid this political and economic turmoi...
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...erminated.
In the end "Hitler achieved the opposite of what he aimed at." (Haffner: 101) His relentless persecution and tyrannical actions in the pursuit of a nation, which only existed in the delusional framework of his mind, turned upon him and unraveled before his eyes. He transformed a once powerful nation into a mere skeleton of its former self, at the tragic cost of human life. "Germans were his chosen people because his inborn power instinct pointed to them like a compass needle as to the greatest potential power in Europe in his day-which in fact they were, and it was only as an instrument of power that he was ever genuinely interested in them." (Haffner: 164) Hitler's need for power served only to satisfy his cryptic indulgences. It was power for the sake of power, to which there is no purpose, and therefore no acceptable outcome.
The German Weimar Republic was an attempt to make Germany a more democratic state. While this was a very good idea in theory, the Weimar Republic was ineffective due to the instability that came with it. Several factors contributed to the instability of Germany’s Weimar Republic, such as the new political ideals brought forward and the government’s hunger for war.
The first major reason that the Weimar republic failed was that it was extremely inefficient and did not have clear goals set within the government. All the different ideas coming from the parties in the republic, created a situation where the people of Germany were getting very unclear, vague messages. This problem can be seen in the struggle between the German Democratic Party and the Communist Party. Troeltsch, a theologian and leader of the German Democratic Party said, “The development will not stop at democracy, and a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ will assume the form of terrorist domination by a minority” (Doc 1). This statement is only somewhat reliable because Troeltsch was a politician, and he would benefit from over exaggerating what would happen if the opposing party were to gain control.
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.
We learn about the Holocaust to learn what is right and wrong and to remember the people who died. The main reason we learn about the Holocaust is so it does not happen again.
Adolf Hitler’s military tactics, poor leadership skills, and actions caused him to lose World War II. Hitler’s objective was to gain world power. He was willing to risk everything for Germany to become the most powerful country. According to Richard Overy, a British historian, “If the German people are not prepared to engage in its own survival, so be it: then it must disappear!” (538). Hitler was also willing to sacrifice Germany to attain world control and victory during World War II. The idea of losing WWII never came across Hitler’s mind because he was confident that Germany would become victorious during the war.
Adolf Hitler came to power over Germany in January of 1933. He hated Jews and blamed them for everything bad that had ever happened to Germany. Hitler’s goal in life was to eliminate the Jewish population. With his rise to power in Germany, he would put into action his plan of elimination. This is not only why German Jews were the main target of the Holocaust, but why they were a large part of the years before, during, and after the Holocaust. Hitler’s “final solution” almost eliminated the Jewish population in Europe during World War II. At the end of the war and along with his suicide, the Jewish population would survive the horror known as the Holocaust and the Jews would eventually find their way back to their homeland of Israel as well as find new communities to call home.
Hitler got everything he wanted for so long, without even having to resort to force. Lukacs describes Hitler as ''being an amateur at generalship, but he posessed the great professional talent applicable to all human affairs: an understanding of human nature and the understanding of the weaknesses of his opponents. That was enough to carry him very far''(3). Lukacs wants to make that a point in all of his readers' minds; that Hitler could manipulate people so he could get what he wanted without resorting to violence. Of course, the threat of violence was always present but Hitler was smart enough that he could scare his enemies enough that they would not want to engage in combat.
Richard Bessel’s article stresses the political structure of Weimar Germany as the cause of its failure. Its structure was flawed in numerous ways, all of which contributed to its inevitable failure. First of all, the problems within Germany due to the First World War were massive. This caused economic, political and social problems which first had to be dealt with by the new Weimar government. The loss of the war had left Germany with huge reparations to pay, and massive destruction to repair. In order to gain the capital needed to finance efforts to rebuild, and repay the Allies, the economy had to be brought back to its prewar levels. This was not an easy task.
June 28, 1919 marks the day that World War I came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Less notably, it also marks the day that Adolf Hitler fully committed himself to strengthening Germany after it was brutally weakened by the causes within the Treaty of Versailles. Like a Phoenix rising out of its ashes, he wished to see Germany rise out of the metaphorical shackles that were locked by the victorious powers in World War I. During the interwar period, and leading up to the outbreak of WWII, Hitler presented himself as the strong, self-confident politician that Germany needed to lead the country back to its prior greatness. With a huge following both nationally and internationally, many bought into the image that Hitler presented. However, many still wondered who the real Adolf Hitler was. They wondered if they were dealing with the Hitler of Mein Kampf, lulling his opponents to sleep with fair words in order to gain time to arm his people? Or is it the Hitler who was has discovered the burden of responsible office, and wanted to extricate himself, like many an earlier tyrant, from the commitments of his irresponsible days? Thus the riddle that had to be solved (Ascher 2012, 5-6). However what part of the riddle is known to be solved are the negative parts but there is more to this man than the unfortunate events that occurred under his control of Germany such as awareness to health problems in Germany and finding ways to prevent and cure diseases.
The Weakness of the Weimar Republic and Hitler's Rise to Power The question directly relates to the idea that the political power of a country can be taken over by ambitious people in different ways. From our knowledge we know there is three ways this can be done…by take over by force, also known as a 'coup d'etat', in a more democratic and just way or by a political deal. In the 1920's and the 1930's Hitler led a right wing political party and was seen by many as a dictator. He wanted to overthrow and control the German government and he tried all three of these ways in an attempt to do so, some methods were more successful than others.
Adolf Hitler came to power on February 28, 1933 (Rossel). He rose to power using inflammatory speeches and inspiring hope for the defeated Germans. He constructed a system to empower the German people and allow them to thrive in the period after the Great Depression (Noakes). Using keen acumen and decisive moves, he was able to turn Germany into a war machine bent on the creation of an Aryan utopian society, at the cost of all inferior races, especially the Jews ("The Period between 1933 and 1939"). At this time Germany was a defeated country. They had recently had numerous humiliating defeats in WWI, and the Germans no longer had the pride they once had celebrated (Laurita). Augmented by the fact that the Great Depression had ravaged the country and left many in a state of penury and impoverished, the Germans were desperate. As well, Germany was currently a country without any source of stability without a generally supported constitution. When Hitler promised a utopian society filled with hope and where the Germans would be exalted as the superior race, the Germans listened and obeyed his every word (Noakes). Hitler fed on the desperation and hopelessness of these German people to make a society driven by fear; this state of pity allowed Hitler to convince the Germans that he could provide a better future.
After World War I, the social climate in Germany was depressing. The German people were humiliated by their country's defeat and by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The financial depression that resulted left millions of individuals out of work. The German government was weak, and the people sought new leadership. These conditions provided an opportune setting for a new leader, Adolf Hitler, and his party, the National Socialist German Workers Party. Hitler, reckless and powerful, was able to fan the flames of an ancient hatred into a wild and out of control holocaust (Altman 12).
Hitler saw that most of Germany didn’t fit this picture at all, so he decided to solve it in one of the most awful ways possible. The mass murder, or Holocaust of over six million Jews, and long with the innocent Blacks, Gays, Gypsies, and both physically and mentally Handicapped. He mostly targeted the Jewish because in World War II, the Jewish was the main reason why Germany lost in World War II. This mass murder lasted over years and years of murder, forced lab...
Germany was in need of a democratic government in order to meet the harsh provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Established by members from the Social Democrat Party in 1919, the Weimar Republic became the central power in Germany for the following years. The republic was found in the city of Weimar and was a replacement, so to say, for the imperial government that had previously stood as the central authority. Even though the Weimar Republic managed to lead Germany for 15 years, it experienced devastating drawbacks such as hyperinflation, lack of support from the public, and the constant efforts from different groups to overthrow the government; because of these factors, different political groups sought a resolution, such as overthrowing the government and pushing for a strong leader. Severe economic problems arose in Germany essentially due to the punitive provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
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.