Ask me about Adolf Hitler.

[xx44]

Do you believe the holocaust happened the way most of historians recorded it, ie. 6mil jews killed?

[ThaSaltCracka]

One the surface Hitler seems like an evil, cold hearted man. Did he have any "human" interests other than art? Did he have a sense of humor?

[TheDudeAbides]

AC - I'll be as rational as possible here. I'm Jewish, so obviously I wouldn't use the word respect to describe my feelings for Hitler. But I certainly can't deny the man's military genius and overwhelming charisma. I'm not one of those people that says "he wasn't even human", because obviously he was. We'll leave the emotional argument aside. But some of your comments here, while not disrespectful, do seem to marginalize what he did.

[Anacardo]

Adolf Hitler was not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not a military genius.

[seke2]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you believe the holocaust happened the way most of historians recorded it, ie. 6mil jews killed?

[/ QUOTE ]
And following on this point, what is your opinion on Holocaust deniers?

[TheDudeAbides]

[ QUOTE ]
Adolf Hitler was not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not a military genius.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well he wasn't an idiot. Military genius may be hyperbole, but he was able to almost accomplish his goal of European domination. Whether it was him or his advisors (I don't know enough about it), it was extremely methodical to say the least.

[LetItBe]

[ QUOTE ]
Adolf Hitler was not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not a military genius.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you have one "not" too many. Unless you want to say he was a military genius.

[secretprankster]

Yeah Anacardo, lol @ that.

[A_C_Slater]

[ QUOTE ]
Why did Hitler choose to open a second front ultimately leading to the downfall of the Third Reich?

What did Hitler think of Americans?

What did Hitler think of Mussolini?

Did Hitler like beer?

[/ QUOTE ]


Hitler had managed to defeat France in a little over a month. He knew there was no way to invade England since they held complete mastery over the English Channel. Goring somehow messed up the Luftwaffe and the Germans were losing the aerial battle so there was no way to bomb the English into submission and then invade. So the western front became a sort of stalemate. Hitler did not really have to worry about a Western land invasion for quite some time since the United States was not in the war yet and the British were still recovering from Dunkirk.

In Hitler's Mein Kampf many chapters are devoted to the topic of acquiring living in space in the East and the Evils of Bolsheivism. To not attack Russia when have been for him to turn his back on his entire idelogy that allowed him to assume power in the first place.

He also had to realize that Stalin knew that he knew that he couldn't ignore his Anti-Communism policies forever. So Hitler felt he had to attack Russia before Stalin gave the order to attack him. The best defense is a premptive offense.

Since he had such a great success in France he felt the Russian's would capitulate in a few months at most. Hitler knew that Stalin had liquidated most of his competent generals upon coming to power as he feared a coup from them. He did not attack too late in the year like Napoleon and felt he would defeat the Russians before winter set in.

His intial success makes it seem he wasn't far off. Most of the generals thought the Russian campaign was won after the first six weeks.

Most of his image of Americans came from books he read as a child about cowboys and indians. He often referred to them as 'cowboys' and felt that their army couldn't possibly be very organized or disciplined because of it.

Hitler actually really respected and like Mussolini and he stole lots of his ideas. He was his only modern fascist model. The Hitler salute is modified from the Italian salute which had the arm held lower. Near the end of the war he raged against Mussoline and his 'lack of will' in enduring what needed to be endured.

Hitler occasionaly drank beer and his mood would change quite significantly after one. He never drank much more than one.

[Anacardo]

Hitler was completely incompetent as a commander-in-chief.

He personally ordered the stall at Dunkirk that allowed the British Expeditionary Force to escape.

He wanted to invade Russia.

He obsessed over contrived map figures to the exclusion of actual conditions on the ground.

etc etc etc