Varegg wrote:
Just for the record I never said Nazi Germany was something to strive after, not even it's economical "boom" during the 30's ...
If you so called studied the shite out of them you would know Hitler himself never was much of a genius in anything but being an superb agitator, the economic policy of the Third Reich was doomed to fail sooner or later ... if it wasn't for WW2 it would have failed anyway and that is the conclusion of several historians ... that is well documented in the book Hitler by Ian Kershaw (the foremost expert on Adolf Hitler)
So the Nazis with huge amounts of luck was truly best at chaos ... it was extremely poor decision making from Von Papen and Hindenburg that lead to Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, at that very time NSDAP was loosing votes by the millions and would have crumbled into mere pebbles ...
Basing economic success on such a short period of time is hardly an argument at all ...
I disagree and have read much of Kershaws work but feel you are misinterpreting him, while he is an appreciated authority on the subject he did not write the bible so to speak. I found that Kershaw moved away from the easy solutions to the difficult questions that were suggested by other historians and that you refer to.
Hitlers genius was realized in the form of his Charisma. People famously left his rallies feeling that Hitler knew what was in their hearts. The Nazi party were elected on a completely unprecedented scale. The Nazis were the 1st people to take advantage of door to door campaigning, they offered to collect people from their home or place of work and drive them to the poling station before returning them (and no they didnt beat them up if they refused). The nazis were the first party to campaign from the air both by dropping huge numbers of leaflets and by flying in low over rallies to make an impressive 1st impression. Many of the techniques the Nazis pioneered are now standard practice in government elections.
Von Papen and Hindenburg did not have a choice on whether to allow Hitler to become Chancellor, it was inevitable purely due to the support the NSDAP had. They were not losing votes by the millions, all parties were losing votes as the turn outs became lower and lower as Papen and Hindenburg desperately struggled to form a credible government that
did not include the NSDAP.
Luck had little to do with it. Hitler positioned the NSDAP to take advantage of anything that came his way, as the saying goes "you make your own luck" and this is an area he excelled in.
Your final assessment of the Nazis as being capable only of Chaos falls far from the mark I am afraid. Once established the Nazi systems closest power structure is one of a feudal system with Barons vying for the Fuhrers influence. As gruesome as it was the final solution was highly organized. Infact it is mostly the cold hearted efficiency that people find so abhorrent.
Hitlers biggest mistake was thinking he was a military genius. He wasnt. At all. No power has successfully invaded Russia or America yet Hitler declared war on both..
Edit:
Number of seats in the Reichstag for the NSDAP
1924, Dec 14 (1)
1928 12
1930 107
1932, July 230
1932, Nov 196
1933 288
Last edited by Cheeky_Ninja06 (2011-06-21 08:36:28)