Much of Hitler’s success can be attributed to sheer luck. Of course, his opportunism was a necessity in combination with this good fortune, but the numerous opportunities he was presented with were simply very lucky.
In 1876, “The first of many strokes of good fortune for Adolf Hitler took place thirteen years before he was born...his father changed his name from Alois Schicklgruber to Alois Hitler.”(3) ‘Hiel Schicklgruber’ certainly does not have the same effect as ‘Heil Hitler’, and so question arises about the future of Adolf and the state of Germany had ‘The Fuhrer’ been born Adolf Schicklgruber instead. And the luck continues.
His failed attempt at a putsch in 1923 may have been luck as well. The results of Hitler’s putsch trial were just another example of Hitler’s place above the law—how lucky to have right-wing Neithardt as the judge. And while Hitler was in prison, the NSDAP was without their drummer. The party essentially fell apart, illustrating Hitler’s importance to the NSDAP’s prosperity and the volkisch movement as a whole. Because of this, Hitler was able to maintain and even gain the support of a good number of followers during his time in prison. Following his release in 1924 and the later reorganization of the Nazi Party, his luck struck once again when Germany was thrown into economic crisis after the U.S. stock market crash of 1929.
“In Germany, therefore, the economic crisis ushered in from the beginning a fundamental crisis of state.”(318)
With a collapsed economy, the political state of Germany was in crisis. This crisis of state was exactly what Hitler needed, or rather what he wanted, in order to come into power. The bitterness and loss of confidence that swept a majority of German citizens in 1930 lead them to accept Hitler’s ideologue, blaming the Jews and the Red government for the recent economic disparity. The crisis forced people to look for a savior, and Hitler was ready and willing. How lucky.
While Hitler does become lucky because of the collapse in the German economy, he does become more proactive in politics. When he got out of prison, Hitler had a plan. Even though people still consider Hitler as a drummer boy, he is slowly becoming more of a leader. Hitler is starting to have a plan. Hitler’s “immediate aim was to have the ban on NSDAP lifted” (262). Furthermore, Hitler was willing to act humbly when meeting with the Minister President and agreed to respect the authority of the state and to defend against Communism. He started to make shrewd decisions like dissociating himself from Ludendorff. Hitler was able to remove the ban on the NSDAP and the newspaper for the NSDAP. This shows that once Hitler got out of prison, he is slowly falling into the roll of a leader.
ReplyDeleteI always assumed that Hitler's rise to power was merely the stroke of good luck, but this week's reading shows how Hitler's success lay more so within his cunning wit and strategy as opposed to pure luck. Most of Kershaw's arguments are as objective as you can get, discussing all known sides of the issue at hand. And this was also the case as he wrote about Hitler's solidification as the sole leader for the NSDAP. We find that Hitler knew what needed to be done, which co-leaders needed to be removed, which allies to make, etc. I was simply amazed by how Hitler was able to tie every person in his close circle around his finger.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I dislike all that Hitler stood for and all that he has done, I must undoubtedly give him much respect. There was a reason so many people put their trust in him. Especially with Germany being one of the leading nations previous to WWI, there's no logical reason why such a group of people group would fall into loyalty other than the fact that Hitler knew what he had to do. There's a reason why so many people came to see him as the only true leader for the Nazi party even if they didn't fully agree with his ideas. Now that is the sign of a true leader.