The Real Victims of Hitlers Regime - Case Study Example

Were the Germans really victims of Hitler’s regime in the period of 1933 to 1945? Plan of Investigation 30th April, 1945: Hitler’s suicide ensured that the fall of Berlin as well as the Nazi force was imminent. The 9th May, 1945 was declared by USSR as the Victory Day and it also officially proclaimed end of the Great War II. Aftermath the international history has been written is a different way but from the perspective of Germany it was highly tragic. It has been said that due to Hitler’s actions during the World War II, especially from1939-45, the whole nation suffered tremendous socio-economic crisis. A closer analysis of the whole scenario shows that the seed of Germany’s fall was germinating much before than that and it commenced since 1933. There a great debate between the historians across the world that if German suffering was solely caused due to Hitler’s actions or not. This paper focuses over the steps taken by Hitler that has led to initiation of World War II and how much those steps have amounted to the fall of Germany as well as victimization of its citizens. This paper will also focus to some extent over the debate whether Hitler was solely responsible for initiation of the World War II or the Western allies also played an important part to accelerate the causes behind the war. In this process several books will also be referred and evaluated to reach the conclusion. Evidence In his book, Withstanding Hitler in Germany, 1933-45, Michael Leonard Graham Balfour observes, “Getting rid of Hitler and his henchmen proved so difficult as to make many Germans regret that they had never been allowed to gain power.” (Balfour, 3) In order to illustrate his observation further, the author has referred to the famous statement of famous German economist in the era of Hitler. In 1937, after resigning from the German Ministry of Economics, he commented, “We have fallen into the hands of criminals.” (Balfour, 3) Failure of Germany in the First World War made the nation more aggressive. At the same time intellectual and political figures of the nation were continuously inciting people to take all necessary steps in order to ensure the country a higher position in the world. The German common people were convinced by the politicians that there were certain weaknesses on their part. Hence, the German people were ready to greet such a ruler ‘who promised to eliminate the weaknesses.’ Henceforth, the author adds in a sarcastic note, “He had the added attraction of seeming to be the man most likely to solve an economic crisis which was putting everybody’s livelihood and possessions at risk.”(Balfour, 3) Thus, it is quite understood the no matter how much the German people blamed Hitler due to their misery, but were also responsible in a great manner to keep the platform ready for emergence of Hitler. Due to the great devastation of the World War I poverty and unemployment increased rampantly throughout the world and the situation was worsened due to the inflation in 1923. In the year 1929 the Great American Depression brought economic slump across the globe but during this time Germany was trying to bring drastic development to its economic condition, which violated the condition under the Versailles treaty. “The Catholic politician Heinrich Bruning was appointed chancellor in March, 1930 on the implicit understanding that he would move towards ruling by emergency decree rather than by parliamentary majority – which was in effect a return to the pre-1914 system.” (Balfour, 7) It was during this time Hitler and his party made a shocking emergence into the political scenario of Germany and secured their place as the strongest political party after the Social Democrats. By 1932 condition became more favorable for emergence of Hitler and his party as most of the German citizens were feeling distressed about the Weimar Republic. Hitler made full use of the situation by persuading all those groups that were dissatisfied. Such was his convincing power that by July, 1932 he had more than 13.7 million people to support his party. Hitler, during the election received such wide support from the common people as well as from all parts of the German society that the contemporary German President von Hindenburg put forth the proposal to appoint Hitler the Chancellor of the nation. After elected as the Chancellor of Germany, Hitler, along with his several other reformatory projects, did put a great deal of emphasis over development of the German army. By two years of his selection as the Chancellor, by the spring of 1935, more than 280,000 people were recruited to the German Army. (Balfour, 34) Hitler administration did not only stop by recruiting such a large number of people but at the same time the whole system did spent a great deal of money to furnish the army with modern equipments. Along with the plan of making the nation’s army base strong, Hitler also planned to introduce several policies that would provide a boost to the German economy but there were no such plan that would provide economic support to Germany in times of national crisis. Balfour observes, “Hitler’s ideas about economics were based on common sense rather than theory. He came to power without any clear-cut plans for restoring confidence and employment. But his government gave the impression of resourceful and what was needed at that juncture was unorthodoxy, especially after a three-year dose of the unorthodox remedy of deflation.” (Balfour, 35) Policies propounded by the Hitler government proved to be very promising at the primary level but they were all meant for success in the short run. Evaluation of Sources The period of 1935-37 which is also known as the period of Routinization, Hitler was actually aiming for his ‘goals of race and space. (Bergen, 77) In the year 1935, sudden disclosure of German military policies to the world completely shocked the victorious Western allies of the First World War but these nations were not at the condition of checking that to which extent the Germans have violated the policies of the Versailles treaty. Such cold response from the Western allies provided the Third Reich with a new courage and Hitler started to plan about faster rate of advancement. In November, 1937, Hitler had a meeting with chiefs of the total German army, including navy and air force. It is during this time, Germany also received clear support from the Mussolini government. In his meeting with the army chiefs, Hitler clearly told them about his plan of waging war against the Western allies and in order to do such, he made several change in the existing system of governance. “By 1938 he had already prepared the ground by rearming, isolating target groups, and appointing loyal supporters in key positions.” (Bergen, 82) With the invasion of Austria, progress of the Nazi commenced. Though the Second World War started in 1939, according to the historical references, but actually in the practical it has been witnessed that by the end of 1938 the Nazi army compensated all those looses that they had to suffer during the World War I. “With the destruction of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Germany acquired land that it has never controlled before, but Hitler was not satisfied. His ambition went far beyond merely revising the terms of Versailles.” (Bergen, 86) Hitler’s ambitious nature led him to the invasion of Poland and there he stated horrible torture against the Jewish inhabitants. “Britain and France were committed to Poland’s independence and had pledge to come to her aid in the event of a German attack. The British and French governments issued an ultimatum to Germany….Hitler dismissed this threat believing that the French and German were unlikely to do anything to stop the German invasion.” (Horner and Havers, 9) Hitler’s dismissal of ultimatum from England and France is considered as one of the greatest mistake done by Hitler. German leaders also did the same mistake during the First World War, as they desperately refused to believe that strength of the allied force was stronger than theirs. Blinded due to early success of the Nazi army Hitler went to the extent of procuring the USSR. He also supported Japan’s attack over the USA and declared war against it. Due to such actions these three great nations waged war against the Nazi Germany together. Analysis It is widely considered that Hitler’s plan in defeating the allies had certain fundamental mistakes and historians suggest that Hitler’s hubris and over confidence over supremacy of his power was main reason for it. First, when the French and British alliance warned Hitler about his invasion of Poland, he simply rejected their ultimatum, second, his support of Japan and third, his ambition to achieve triumph over the USSR. At the primary stage Hitler was approaching with a great deal of control and he always aimed at avoiding any sort of conflict with Britain but finally, it was his lust for power and limitless hubris that did prevent him from looking at the consequences. The ‘staggering victory’ of the Third Reich over France clearly indicates “Hitler’s failure to adopt a war plan which aimed at defeating Britain, too, once France was overthrown.” (Manstein, Powell, Hart and Blumenson, 169) Moreover, despite the fact that Hitler entered into the alliance with Stalin in the year, 1939, he never actually asserted any belief over such alliance. ‘He at once mistrusted and underrated the Russians.’ (Manstein, Powell, Hart and Blumenson, 169) In addition to both these reasons, joining of USA, one of the financial superpowers, to the Western allies, completely changed the course of the World War II and fall of the Third Reich became inevitable. Hitler also committed certain faults in his policy making for Germany as the Chancellor. Most of his economic policies were aimed at providing short term relief to the nation. The huge money that was spent for modernization of such a large army as well as bear the heavy cost of warfare for such a long time caused tremendous financial crisis across the nation. It is due to Hitler’s strategic mistake soldiers of the united alliance entered Berlin and caused huge misery for the citizens. At the same time heavy financial crisis became havoc over the common people of Germany Conclusion Analysis of the whole scenario and policies adopted by Hitler in the pre Great War II period has definitely contributed to a great extent in the fall of the Third Reich. It is clearly understood that no matter hoe much Hitler has claimed that he was actually fighting for Germany and its people actually he was only concerned about enhancing his power and satisfying his ambition. Though he tried to act like a true leader of the people but finally he failed to do so and common people of the nation had to suffer the consequences of his actions. Works Cited 1. Balfour, Michael Leonard Graham, Withstanding Hitler in Germany, 1933-45, Routledge, 1988 2. Bergen, Doris L., War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 3. Horner, David Murray and Robin Havers, The Second World War: Europe 1939-1943, Osprey Publishing, 2002 4. Manstein, Erich, Powell, Anthony G., Hart, B. H. Liddell, Blumenson, Martin, Lost Victories: War Memoirs of Hitlers Most Brilliant General, Zenith Imprint, 2004 Read More