An excellent article on the rise of the Nazis in Germany. It reminded me of Professor Frank McDonough’s works, typically “Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party”. He has an interesting analysis of Chamberlain, his appeasement, and the British Road to War, published in 1998.
Robert, this post reminded me a lot of your book Victory to Defeat. They are different subjects, yes, but both deliver the same essential warning: complacency is dangerous. Whether it’s military institutions after WWI or democracies turning a blind eye to rising authoritarianism, the pattern is the same. Thanks for continuing to highlight these hard but necessary lessons.
I am the Editor of a newsletter for Australian Vietnam Veterans, it is emailed out to about 300 veterans 3 times a year and I am seeking permission to reproduce your article America and the Rise of Nazism in 1930’s Germany in our April 25 newsletter. We are a volunteer, non profit group working to assist veterans from all conflicts and their families. I can be contacted at janpeter3@bigpond.com.
Janifer, of course! Please send it out with my blessing, and tell them they have a special place in my heart. My family were close friends with 'Tiny' O'Shea, who fought at Long Tan.
Thank you. Agree with your points about inevitability. War, however, was inevitable the moment the UK and France allowed Hitler to march into the Rhineland in 1936. My book with Richard Dannatt (Victory to Defeat) posits this argument.
Written with all the passion and disgust appropriate against Nazism.
Did Britain declare war on Germany due to its responsibility to protect? No. Did the USA? No, and America's millions were content to leave it in Europe, and may never have joined the war there had it not been for Hitler's bizarre 11 December 1941 declaration of war.
Have there been other genocides in the world that we also have not gone to war against? Yes, all (but one) of them, including the current ones of the Uighurs in China, children in Ukraine, of Gazans, of Kurds in Turkey Syria Iraq and Iran, of Muslims and Christians in India, by The Taliban in Afghanistan, of Tigrayans in Ethiopia, and present-day genocide emergencies in DRC, CAR, Cameroon ...
What also struck me about this essay was its marxian determinism: war was inevitable. "prescient ... prophetic, full of warning for what would happen to Europe, and the world ... what was happening, at great speed, to Germany ... group of prophets who began urgently to warn the world of impending doom ... on its current course war was inevitable ... war is both inevitable ... The inevitable consequence ... war to be inevitable ... on a path that would let it to inevitable conflict ... Hitler will almost certainly drag it into war ... This, in its logical sequence, can finally lead only to war ... the ultimate result of the Nazi project ... his ultimate purpose ... the ultimate end of Hitler’s plan ... the ultimate political ambition of Nazi philosophy ... ".
In the sense that all of Nazism's sympathies and tendencies were nurtured and matured in the previous century and that the period between WW1 and WW2 was a twenty years' crisis, then in hindsight we can be forgiven for assuming that it was inevitable. And yet if it was inevitable, why did the World War start on 3 September 1939? Because of human agency. Because humans made choices. As with WW1, Britain could have stayed out of WW2.
Of course, if you are to insist on historical determinism, and if you were to accept as most do that the Holocaust was only in the making before WW2 but not actual until the war had been going for a while, then you can add all the other many genocide warnings in our world today https://www.genocidewatch.com/countries-at-risk
An excellent article on the rise of the Nazis in Germany. It reminded me of Professor Frank McDonough’s works, typically “Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party”. He has an interesting analysis of Chamberlain, his appeasement, and the British Road to War, published in 1998.
I’ve always enjoyed Frank’s books
Robert, this post reminded me a lot of your book Victory to Defeat. They are different subjects, yes, but both deliver the same essential warning: complacency is dangerous. Whether it’s military institutions after WWI or democracies turning a blind eye to rising authoritarianism, the pattern is the same. Thanks for continuing to highlight these hard but necessary lessons.
Thanks David. The warnings were certainly there, but egregiously ignored….
Hello Robert,
I am the Editor of a newsletter for Australian Vietnam Veterans, it is emailed out to about 300 veterans 3 times a year and I am seeking permission to reproduce your article America and the Rise of Nazism in 1930’s Germany in our April 25 newsletter. We are a volunteer, non profit group working to assist veterans from all conflicts and their families. I can be contacted at janpeter3@bigpond.com.
Thank you for considering this request.
Kind Regards
J Eales
Janifer, of course! Please send it out with my blessing, and tell them they have a special place in my heart. My family were close friends with 'Tiny' O'Shea, who fought at Long Tan.
Thank you. Agree with your points about inevitability. War, however, was inevitable the moment the UK and France allowed Hitler to march into the Rhineland in 1936. My book with Richard Dannatt (Victory to Defeat) posits this argument.
Written with all the passion and disgust appropriate against Nazism.
Did Britain declare war on Germany due to its responsibility to protect? No. Did the USA? No, and America's millions were content to leave it in Europe, and may never have joined the war there had it not been for Hitler's bizarre 11 December 1941 declaration of war.
Have there been other genocides in the world that we also have not gone to war against? Yes, all (but one) of them, including the current ones of the Uighurs in China, children in Ukraine, of Gazans, of Kurds in Turkey Syria Iraq and Iran, of Muslims and Christians in India, by The Taliban in Afghanistan, of Tigrayans in Ethiopia, and present-day genocide emergencies in DRC, CAR, Cameroon ...
What also struck me about this essay was its marxian determinism: war was inevitable. "prescient ... prophetic, full of warning for what would happen to Europe, and the world ... what was happening, at great speed, to Germany ... group of prophets who began urgently to warn the world of impending doom ... on its current course war was inevitable ... war is both inevitable ... The inevitable consequence ... war to be inevitable ... on a path that would let it to inevitable conflict ... Hitler will almost certainly drag it into war ... This, in its logical sequence, can finally lead only to war ... the ultimate result of the Nazi project ... his ultimate purpose ... the ultimate end of Hitler’s plan ... the ultimate political ambition of Nazi philosophy ... ".
In the sense that all of Nazism's sympathies and tendencies were nurtured and matured in the previous century and that the period between WW1 and WW2 was a twenty years' crisis, then in hindsight we can be forgiven for assuming that it was inevitable. And yet if it was inevitable, why did the World War start on 3 September 1939? Because of human agency. Because humans made choices. As with WW1, Britain could have stayed out of WW2.
Of course, if you are to insist on historical determinism, and if you were to accept as most do that the Holocaust was only in the making before WW2 but not actual until the war had been going for a while, then you can add all the other many genocide warnings in our world today https://www.genocidewatch.com/countries-at-risk
We've got alot of killing to do.