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Was Hitler a weak dictator? - Coggle Diagram
Was Hitler a weak dictator?
Structuralist/functionalist
Who?
Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Jurgen Kocka, Hans-Jurgen Puhle, Hans Mommsen, Martin Broszat, Wolfgang Schieder, William Shirer, AJP Taylor, Fritz Fischer, David Irving, Rohan Butler, Lewis Namier
What influenced these historians?
ideas dominated from 1960s to 1980s, influenced by leftist ideas
What?
Hitler was a weak dictator
weak governance of Germany: Authoritarian anarchy, permanent improvisation, institutional Darwinism and administrative chaos
eccentric working habits as described by Speer, Minister of Munitions and Armaments
lax working habits, nonstandard working hours
resulted in the conduct of state business being slow, casual, and inefficient
example ministry of Interior argued that Hitler wanted all Jewish emigration to be halted so that they could be kept as hostages, while Hess, Deputy Fuhrer, insisted that Hitler wanted all Jews to emigrate from Germany as soon as possible
overall hindered governance of Germancy
inaccessibility exacerbated by the fact that ministers might not have the chance to speak with Hitler for months on end
lack of communication with his own cabinet, after feb 1983, cabinet meetings ceased, no proper government machine
officials on the ground and Hitler's subordinates had to interpret his vague and elastic orders for themselves, resulted in larger margin for error
argued that this system was merely the consequence of the way Hitler had led and controlled the Nazi party since 1925, he relied on his charisma instead of rational organisation
events leading up to the holocaust --> improvised planning, no actual structure
many constraints on Hitler's power: personal inadequacies + limitations of Nazi party and state
Broszat's concept of polycracy
chaos of competing agencies/confused lines of authority
Hitler set up an ever-increasing number of rival committees, groups, and offices
e.g. economics ministry had much of its work taken over by the Four Year Plan Organisation
Foreign Office taken over by Rosenberg's Foreign Affairs Office, and then by Ribbentrop's Bureau
pressures on Hitler
economic
economic tensions prevented him from pressing on with the rearmament programme as quickly as he wanted to
avoided creating an effective war economy (did not want to impose hardships on the working class)
had to work under practical restraints just like any other politicican (proves that hitler was not omnipotent)
argued that the economic situation germany faced was so grave that it could only be solved in the context of a brief but victorious war (no evidence points to this being the main cause for the war)
internal
struturalists belived that hitler was forced to appease the party to stop them from taking the law into their own hands --> commiting atrocities, international boycott of germany
concession to party pressure
international
lost allies in Europe and USSR, backed into a corner by 2 sides in the war
hitler's aims were the destruction of bolshevik russia and the creation of the lebensraum in the former soviet territories
Intentionalist/programmist
Who?
Karl Bracher, Eberhard JAckel, Andreas Hillgruber, Klaus Hildebrand, Hugh Trevor-Rope, Norman Rich, Carl Friedrich, Hannah Arendt, Bracher, Dawidowicz
What influenced these historians?
ideas dominated from 1945 to 1960s
interpretations were influenced by Cold War pressures, western historians were inclined to make the assumption that there were many similarities between Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia
What
Hitler was the complete
master
of Nazi Germany
1934: both Chancellor and Head of State
the Enabling Act
This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule.
monocratic nature of Nazi rule
Having and exercising complete political power and control: absolute, absolutistic
Nazi party consistently followed through with Hitler's orders and align themselves with his tactics
Hitler had a programme and the necessary means to implement it
1925-1933
able to consolidate his position at the Bamberg meeting in Feb 1926
1930-1932, he resisted being manipulated into being Von Papen and Bruning's "puppet"/being used as lobby fodder
able to restrain SA from starting an armed uprising in 1932,
argued that the administrative confusion/lack of communication on Hitler's part was a deliberate policy for him to retain his position as Fuhrer so that he could carry out his preconceived aims
argued that the chaos of competing agencies was a calculated attempt for Hitler to divide and rule (Otto Deitrich: Hitler's former press chief)
systematically disorganised the upper echelons of the Reich leadership in order to develop and further the authority of his own will until it became a despotic tyranny
argued that Hitler's approach to foreign policy remained consistent despite some flexibility in details
viewed him as a skilled tactician waiting until the time was right
Definitions of weakness
Hitler's reluctance to make decisions
The extent to which his decisions were either ignored or altered by his subordinates
degree to which his policy was influenced by factors like:
international situation
pressures from the Nazi Party
threat of social unrest from th workers
inadequacies of the German economy
definition of dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique.