Leadership -Hitler

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currently in place. Hitler readily lent the support of his Nazi party to Schleicher’s cause in the Reichstag (the German parliament). General Schleicher eventually got rid of Bruening by undermining the support he previously enjoyed from Germany’s president, Paul von Hindenburg. With Bruening’s resignation in May 1932, democracy collapsed in Germany. Although Schleicher himself assumed chancellorship of Germany, he would eventually be sidelined by complex political intrigues, bringing Hitler and his National Socialist or Nazi Party formally to power in January of 1933.

Compounding the political environment was the highly fractious nature of the political parties if Germany. Coalition governments were the norm in the run-up to the Nazi takeover. Successive weak central authorities in Berlin failed to rein in the ‘Brown Shirts’, the name given to marauding young Nazi cadres who terrorized their political opponents. In the absence of any lasting and united political power, Hitler managed to play parties against each other to his advantage.

In addition to the political environment that catapulted Hitler to power, several economic environments also aided his rise as a leader. The 1929 stock market crash in America triggered a massive economic downturn across the western world. It hit the fragile post First World War German economy particularly hard since much of German industry relied on American loans that now dried up. As a result, unemployment figures among the German public shot up tremendously, reaching 15.3% by 1930. Such levels of unemployment naturally led to political wrangling in the Reichstag, with rival parties blaming each other for failing the German economy. Adolf Hitler, always the opportunist genius, declared in his 1933 election rallies that he and the Nazi party if elected to power, “would abolish unemployment”. The tactic worked wonders for Hitler’s party, and there was, in fact, a close correlation with the unemployment rate in Germany with the seats Nazis won in German elections, as shown in the following schematic:

As can be seen above, when unemployment peaked in 1932 during the fag end of the Schleicher regime, the National Socialists also managed to garner large shares of vote, culminating in the 1933 victory.

Here again, Hitler demonstrated the ability to capitalize on the public grievances for his ambitions to grab power and leadership over Germany. Unemployment was a touchy subject understandably, with the German public fed up with their political leaders being unable to provide any respite. The National Socialists could provide a secure alternative, as Hitler promised, and thus did exceedingly well in the 1933 general elections to the Reichstag. To seal his image, unemployment did fall post his assumption of power in Germany, since a pre-war industrial push by Hitler’s government and enlargement of the military provided jobs to millions. So Hitler in a sense attained power through legitimate means on the back of the economic misery of Germany, which he turned into an advantage – a clear demonstration of his innate knack for opportunism.

Hitler’s rise is also attributed greatly to the willing support of powerful German bankers and industrialists who were tired of the economic doldrums. Their collective sense of frustration with the Weimar dispensation (as the German Republic was known) created an impatient need for change in German economic circles. They felt that Hitler was ideal for reviving the country’s flagging economy, and so supported his cause with their financial backing. This was crucial for bankrolling Hitler’s phenomenal rise.

Another important social factor behind Hitler’s rise was the parallel rise (and fear) of communism. Hitler’s aversion towards communism was second perhaps only to his vicious anti-Semitism. Since communists were also trying to gain ground in the economic bloodbath post the depression, Hitler played up the risk of a communist takeover to consolidate his position as a solid, dependable counterforce to communism. Matters came to a head especially when on February 27 1933, a die-hard Dutch communist named Marinus Van Der Lubbe set fire to the Reichstag building in Germany in his naïve single-handed attempt to take down right-wing socialism. Various communist leaders in Germany were immediately suspected to have plotted this arson attack on Germany’s parliamentary assembly building though no evidence to that effect was ever produced. Hitler’s interior minister Hermann Goering labeled the act as “the first act in a planned communist uprising.” Nazi propaganda soon made this the dominant opinion among the German public. Hitler used this collective anger at communists to finesse the German President Paul von Hindenburg, and had him declare a state of emergency in the country, allowing Hitler – then the Chancellor of Germany - to bypass parliament and issue decrees. Using the resultant special powers, Hitler solidified his role as an absolute ruler by rooting out all political and ideological opponents.

Part II – Leadership during Conflict

German invasion of Poland on 1st September 1939 is considered by most historians to be the starting point of the Second World War. Hitler’s leadership of what was by then a totalitarian Nazi regime in Germany attained a different character – primarily one of a military supreme commander.

The German armed forces attained notoriety in Europe for being brutally efficient and practically undefeatable. Hitler and his generals had a ridiculous sense of self-confidence that they would not lose. In fact the ferocity and speed with which European nations fell before the advancing German military somewhat underscored that confidence as entirely believable. The reasons behind this are many, but a key reason is the prevailing notion of racial superiority that Hitler and his Nazi entourage wholeheartedly believed in. The myth of the Aryan race as the master race of the world that is destined to be victorious over lesser peoples was so vehemently propagated among the German forces, that self confidence was a natural consequence. Hitler’s personal courage (which he no doubt had lots of) stemmed from his conviction of the racial superiority. The same notion was widely held among the German public as well, albeit post thorough brainwashing by the Nazis. His confidence therefore attained resonance among the ordinary people, making him as strong a character as he was. The prevailing uppity racist sentiments in society bolstered Hitler’s leadership.

In the same vein, an environment of anti-Semitism helped Hitler gain popularity among the masses. Of course the same anti-Semitism in society was largely the doing of Hitler’s own Nazi party cadres. However baseless and morally

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