Historiography On Hitler Being More Of A Master Planner Than An Opportunist

When Adolf Hitler turned 30, in 1919, his life was more than half over, yet he had made not the slightest mark on the world. As a young man, he had dreamed of being a painter or an architect, but he was rejected twice from Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts. He had never held a job; during his years in the Austrian capital before World War I, he survived by peddling his paintings and postcards, and was sometimes homeless. When war broke out in 1914, he entered the German Army as a private, and when the war ended four years later, he was still a private. He was never promoted, because he “lacked leadership qualities.” Yet within a few years, large crowds of Nazi supporters would be hailing this anonymous failure as their Führer.

At 43, Hitler became the chancellor of Germany, and by 52 he could claim to be the most powerful man in the history of Europe, with an empire that spanned the continent. (Kirsch, 2016). In the sheer unlikely speed of his rise; then the success of his unconventional methods, — Hitler was a phenomenon in world history. This German ruler professed having great plans for the third Reich , one of them being the four year plan from 1936 to 1940 in which Germany will regain its full strength and be reinstated as one of the world’s major powers. At the start of this plan everyone had mixed feelings as to the meaning of the achievement of the plot . The four year plan meant that a possible war could be expected by 1940 in view of the fact that Germany would already be prepared for it by then.

Nevertheless, not only did the plan fail in restoring Germany back to it pre-world war one glory, but there was an outbreak of war in 1939, a year earlier than predicted. In retrospect, Germany was in no shape to fight a war, nonetheless , it took the decisive step ( literally) leading to the start of the war . Now one may ask such as ; was this still part of the plan? Was there an error in the plan’s design or was it just a corollary of poor leadership?. The reason could have been likely the first to ones mentioned, but as it is often stated; faulty ship, faulty crew, faulty captain .Hence this this essay will focus on the captain of this German ship also known as Hitler and the characteristics of his persona that make him guilty or not of the crime earlier mentioned . Ever since Hitler came to power in 1933, writers have been trying to fathom him, and he has already been the subject of major biographies written by Alan Bullock, Joachim Fest, Ian Kershaw, Alan Bullock, Hitler, Hugh Trevor-Rope, Shirer, David Irving, and Erich Fromm.

These historians have dogged through piles and piles of information on Hitler and sources related to him in order to come up with a vivid image of what sort of a leader he was . A thorough examination of the sources written by these historians will conducted in order to shed a light on the opinions of these very talented annalists whilst very well aware of the fact that historians are revisionists in that personal and cultural conditioning is automatically reflected in their interpretations. These influences, coupled with conscious efforts to reexamine material, result in revised interpretations from era to era (C.A, 1987). This essay will group historians based on their career back group or writing era whilst giving a synopsis of their and an in depth explanation of their opinions “much of recent scholarship has tended to ‘normalize’ Hitler within the context of his era and society.