2005-03-24 17:10:43.72931+00 by Dan Lyke 1 comments
This sounds fascinating: a look at Goetz Aly's new book Hitler's People's State: Robbery, Racial War and National Socialism, about the economics that needed to be supported by war, and how that created a political climate that maintained support for Hitler.
[ related topics: Politics Books History Dictators Economics ]
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#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-24 17:40:14.258631+00 by: petronius
Hitler's attacks to the East were explicitly foretold in his writings, and the subjegation of the Slavs and the economic exploitation of their territories a basic and open part of their philosophy, and always had been. So the need to keep the pork rolling in to keep the volk happy loses a bit of its momentum as a reason for Hitler's military adventures. He was going to do all this stuff eventually, although doing it so quickly was a mistake. Of course, for a gambler like him there was a need to keep on striking before the rest of the world got its gumption up to finish the Nazis off.
But then, all these things can hang together. The Nazi regime was run by a bunch of jumped-up petit bourguoise social climbers, who were driven heavily by their resentments of the grandees who got them into WW1 and the Depression. Sharing a bit of the wealth with the common man was not only a political stroke but also a part of the Nazis odd sense of sentimentality. There's also the fact that the leadership embezzeled millions in cash and treasure from the state.