 [quote=mytmouse57;129681] Quote:
Originally Posted by intangible child  -It has long intrigued me why the German people supported Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. After all, every schoolchild in America is taught that Hitler and his Nazi cohorts were the very epitome of evil. How could ordinary German citizens support people who were so obviously monstrous in nature?
/quote]
Short answer? Hitler made the trains run on time.
Past that -- not all Germans were fully aware of just how monsterous the regime was. All they knew was Germany was back on her feet. And early on in the war, at least, kicking some serious ass.
And by the time many did realize how horrible it was, and how badly things were going for Germany, it was too late. By then, it was a matter of getting your ass westward, so your chances were better to be able to surrender to the Americans, rather than be captured by and suffer the wrath of the Russians.
And there was dissent from other sectors. Some of Hitler's top commanders tried to have him killed. Erwin Rommel, probably Germany's best military commander at the time, was involved in the plot to kill Hitler and ended up dying as a result. | You are correct, Mouse. Sad as it is to say; but probably no other political leader in history was able to get his country back on their feet as quickly as Hitler postwar. I seriously doubt anyone will.
I do disagree with your assessment of Rommel, though. He was highly thought of, sure, but he was mostly a tactician- a commander whom had the uncanny ability to "feel" an opponent's weakness and then quickly punish it. Rommel was sought after by the miltary conspiritors of the bomb plot against Hitler simply because he was popular with the public. If I were to offer a choice; I would probably suggest that Erich von Manstein was the best of all the German commanders. After all, it was actually his plan that was adopted that flanked the Maginot Line and switched the thrust of the German attack(and the bulk of the armored forces) southwards through the impassable Ardennes Forest. Hitler claimed credit for this, but it was von Manstein whom actually came up with the idea. The original plan was von Sclieffen's idea to violate Belgian neutrality and attack the Maginot Line head-on. |