Within 1 month, Hitler consolidated dictatorial powers, effectively extinguishing the democratic foundations of the newly formed German republic. Furthermore, just a year later, in 1934, he merged the positions of President and Chancellor, creating a new title for himself known as the “Fuhrer”, a German word for “the leader”.
The ascent of Hitler and the erosion of democracy in Germany was a perplexing development for a nation that had, until then, experienced a relatively stable period of 14 years under a democratic system. What were the factors that contributed to this sudden transformation?
German woes
Historians have debated over this question for decades, but certain key factors are unavoidable. The first was economic struggle. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 had devastated the German economy, which had just started to boom following the years of chaos after World War One. As a result, the early 1930s had been a time of immense hardship for Germany’s large population, which had known little else since 1918.
Before World War One, under the autocratic Imperial rule of Kaiser Wilhelm, Germany had been on the path towards becoming a true world power, and had lead the way militarily as well as in the sciences and industry. Now it was a shadow of its former self, humiliated disarmed and crippled by the harsh terms that had followed their defeat in the Great War.
The consequences of its defeat had left the country economically devastated and burdened with the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. These conditions, coupled with political instability, social unrest, and economic hardships, created a fertile ground for extremist ideologies to take hold.
Politics of anger
Consequently, a significant number of Germans came to associate authoritarian governance with prosperity, while perceiving democracy as synonymous with hardship. Following the humbling Treaty of Versailles, the abdication of the Kaiser further feed public discontent, leading to the middle-class politicians who had signed the treaty bearing the brunt of the German people’s anger.
Hitler exploited these circumstances, capitalising on widespread disillusionment and resentment among the population. Through propaganda, charismatic rhetoric, and manipulation of political institutions, he managed to consolidate power and dismantle democratic safeguards. The Nazi Party, under Hitler’s leadership, targeted specific groups, scapegoating them for Germany’s problems, particularly Jews, political dissidents, and minority communities.
His popularity grew rapidly after the Wall Street Crash, and his Nazi Party had gone from nowhere to the biggest German party in the Reichstag elections of 1932.
Hitler in conversation with Ernst Hanfstaengl and Hermann Göring, 21 June 1932. Image credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Defeat of democracy
As a result, President Hindenburg, a popular but now aged hero of World War One, had little choice but to appoint Hitler Chancellor in January 1933, after all his other attempts to form a government had collapsed.
Hindenburg despised Hitler, who had never gained a rank higher than Corporal during the war, and apparently refused to look at him as he signed him in as Chancellor.
When Hitler then appeared on the Reichstag balcony, he was greeted with a storm of Nazi salutes and cheering, in a ceremony carefully organised by his propaganda specialist Joseph Goebbels.
Nothing like this had ever been seen in German politics before, even under the Kaiser, and many liberal Germans were already greatly concerned. Shortly afterwards, General Ludendorff, another World War One veteran who had once been in league with Hitler, sent a telegram to his old comrade Hindenburg.
It read “By appointing Hitler Chancellor of the Reich you have handed over our sacred German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I prophesy to you this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will inflict immeasurable woe on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action.”
Hitler’s ascension to power in Germany in 1933 marked a critical turning point for Europe. The collapse of democracy alongside the combination of economic hardships, political instability, Hitler’s charisma and manipulative propaganda, allowed him to seize power and reshape the course of German and world history.
]]>From the ashes of World War One
In the aftermath of World War One, the defeated Germans were subjected to a series of humiliating terms in the Treaty of Versailles, including the loss of much of their territory. One of the new states created by the treaty was Czechoslovakia, which contained an area inhabited by large numbers of ethnic Germans which Hitler termed the Sudetenland.
Hitler rose to power on a wave of ill-feeling generated by the treaty, which had always been considered too harsh in Britain. As a result, British governments largely turned a blind eye to Hitler’s promises to undo much of the treaty after he was elected in 1933.
By 1938, the Nazi leader had already re-militarised the Rhineland, which was meant to be a buffer zone between historic enemies Germany and France, and incorporated Austria into his new German Reich.
Hitler eyes the Sudetenland
After years of appeasement, Hitler’s aggressive stance towards his neighbours was finally beginning to cause concern in Britain and France. However, Hitler was not finished. He had his eyes set on the Sudetenland, which was rich in the natural resources necessary for war and was conveniently populated by ethnic Germans – many of whom genuinely wanted to return to German rule.
Hitler’s first move was to order the Sudeten Nazi Party to demand full autonomy for ethnic Germans from Czech leader Benes, knowing that these demands would be refused. He then circulated tales of Czech atrocities towards Sudeten Germans and emphasised their desire to once again be under German rule, in an effort to legitimise his annexation of the territory.
If his intentions weren’t already clear enough, 750,000 German troops were sent to the Czech border, officially in order to carry out manoeuvres. Unsurprisingly, these developments greatly alarmed the British, who were desperate to avoid another war.
Hitler’s Wehrmacht on the march.
Appeasement continues
With Hitler now openly demanding the Sudetenland, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew out to meet him and Sudeten Nazi leader Henlein, on 12 and 15 September. Hitler’s response to Chamberlain was that the Sudetenland was refusing the Czech Germans the right to self-determination, and that British “threats” were not appreciated.
After meeting with his cabinet, Chamberlain met with the Nazi leader once more. He stated that Britain would not oppose a German takeover of the Sudetenland. Hitler, aware that he had the upper hand, shook his head and told Chamberlain that the Sudetenland was no longer enough.
He wanted the state of Czechoslovakia to be carved up and shared between various nations. Chamberlain knew that he could not possibly agree to these terms. War loomed on the horizon.
With hours to go before Nazi troops crossed the border into Czechoslovakia, Hitler and his Italian ally Mussolini offered Chamberlain what appeared to be a lifeline: a last-minute conference in Munich, where French Prime Minister Daladier would also be in attendance. The Czechs and Stalin’s USSR were not invited.
In the early hours of 30 September the Munich Pact was signed, and the Nazis gained ownership of the Sudetenland, which changed hands on 10 October 1938. Chamberlain was initially received as a heroic peacemaker upon returning to Britain, but the consequences of the Munich Pact would merely mean that the war, when it did begin, would start on Hitler’s terms.
Chamberlain receiving a warm reception upon returning home.
War on the horizon
The loss of the Sudetenland crippled Czechoslovakia as a fighting force, with most of their armaments, fortifications and raw materials signed off to Germany without them having any say in the matter.
Unable to resist without French and British support, by the end of 1938 the whole of the country was in Nazi hands. Even more importantly, the pointed exclusion of the USSR at the meeting convinced Stalin that an anti-Nazi alliance with the western powers was not possible.
Instead, a year later he signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Hitler, leaving the road open for Hitler to invade eastern Europe knowing that he could count on Stalin’s support. From the British point of view, the only good to come out of Munich was that Chamberlain realised that he could not appease Hitler any longer. If Hitler invaded Poland, Britain and France would have to go to war.
]]>Ultimately the cause of World War Two was Hitler’s rise and his determination to build a dominating Third Reich But that isn’t the only cause of the war. Here we go into the 5 major causes of World War Two:
1. The Treaty of Versailles and the German desire for revenge
German combatants had felt betrayed by the signing of the armistice at Compiègne on 11 November 1918 amidst domestic political unrest that was driven by a civilian context of war fatigue and hunger.
Some of the high-profile agitators at this time were left-wing Jews, which fuelled the conspiracy theory of a Jewish Bolshevik disloyalty that later gained so much traction as Hitler laid the psychological groundwork in preparing Germany for another war.
German delegates in Versailles: Professor Walther Schücking, Reichspostminister Johannes Giesberts, Justice Minister Otto Landsberg, Foreign Minister Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Prussian State President Robert Leinert, and financial advisor Carl Melchior
Image Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R01213 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
The devastating experience of the First World War left the victorious nations and their people desperate to avoid a repeat. At the insistence of the French, the terms of the Versailles Treaty were punitive in the extreme and left Germany destitute and its people feeling victimised.
Nationalistic Germans were therefore increasingly open to ideas posited by anyone who offered the chance of rectifying the Versailles humiliation.
2. Economic downturns
Economic downturn can always be relied upon to create conditions of civil, political and international unrest. Hyper-inflation hit Germany hard in 1923-4 and facilitated the early development of Hitler’s career.
Although recovery was experienced, the fragility of the Weimar Republic was exposed by the global crash that hit in 1929. The ensuing Great Depression in turn helped to create conditions, such as widespread unemployment, that facilitated the National Socialist Party’s fatal rise to prominence.
A long queue in front of a bakery, Berlin 1923
Image Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1971-109-42 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
3. Nazi ideology and Lebensraum
Hitler exploited the Treaty of Versailles and the dents in German pride that it and defeat in war had created by instilling a renewed sense of (extreme) national pride.
This was predicated in part by ‘us and them’ rhetoric that identified the German nation with Aryan supremacy over all other races, amongst whom particular disdain was reserved for the Slavic, Romany and Jewish ‘Untermenschen’. This would have dire consequences throughout the years of Nazi hegemony, as they sought a ‘final solution’ to the ‘Jewish question’.
As early as 1925, through the publication of Mein Kampf, Hitler had outlined an intention to unite Germans across Europe in a reconstituted territory that included Austria, before securing vast tracts of land beyond this new Reich that would ensure self-sufficiency.
In May 1939 he explicitly referred to the oncoming war as being bound up with the pursuit of the ‘Lebensraum’ to the east, with this referring to the whole of Central Europe and Russia up to the Volga.
4. The rise of extremism and the forging of alliances
Europe emerged from World War One a very changed place, with swathes of political ground being taken up by players on the extreme right and left. Stalin was identified by Hitler as a key future adversary and he was wary of Germany being caught territorially between the Soviet Union in the east and a Bolshevik Spain, together with a leftist French government, in the west.
Thus, he chose to intervene in the Spanish Civil War in order to bolster the right-wing presence in Europe, whilst trialling the effectiveness of his new air force and the Blitzkrieg tactics it could help deliver.
During this time the friendship between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy was strengthened, with Mussolini also keen to protect the European right while gaining the first place from which to benefit from German expansionism.
Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in November 1936. The Japanese increasingly distrusted the West following the Wall Street Crash and held designs on subjugating China and Manchuria in a manner that echoed Nazi objectives in the east of Europe.
The signing of the Tripartite Pact by Germany, Japan, and Italy on 27 September 1940 in Berlin. Seated from left to right are the Japanese ambassador to Germany Saburō Kurusu, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Galeazzo Ciano, and Adolf Hitler
Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Superficially, the most unlikely of diplomatic agreements was established in August 1939, when the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact was signed. In this act the two powers effectively carved up the perceived ‘buffer zone’ that existed between them in Eastern Europe and paved the way for the German invasion of Poland.
5. The failure of appeasement
American isolationism was a direct response to the European events of 1914-18 that the US had ultimately become embroiled in. This left Britain and France, already terrified by the prospect of another war, without a key ally in world diplomacy during the tense interwar period.
This is most commonly highlighted in relation to the toothless League of Nations, another product of Versailles, which patently failed in its mandate to prevent a second global conflict.
Through the mid-1930s the Nazis re-armed Germany in spite of the Treaty of Versailles and without sanction or protest from Britain or France. The Luftwaffe was founded, Naval forces were expanded and conscription was introduced
With continuing disregard for the Treaty, German troops reoccupied the Rhineland in March 1936. Simultaneously, these developments added to Hitler’s legend within Germany and provided much-needed employment, whilst encouraging the Führer to push foreign appeasement to the limit.
Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister from 1937-40, is the man most closely associated with the appeasement of Nazi Germany. The retributive conditions placed on Germany at Versailles meant that many other potential challengers to Hitler chose to concede the German right to claim the Sudetenland and complete the Anschluss of Austria rather than confront him and risk antagonising war.
This attitude resulted in the signing of the Munich Agreement without question of Hitler’s demands, much to his surprise, which Chamberlain infamously celebrated on his return to Britain.
An overwhelming preference for peace amongst British and French citizens had continued to prevail in the years prior to 1939. This is highlighted by the brandishing of Churchill, and others who warned of Hitler’s threat, as a warmonger.
There was a sea-change in public opinion following Hitler’s appropriation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, which contemptuously disregarded the Munich treaty. Chamberlain then guaranteed Polish sovereignty, a line in the sand that was forced by the prospect of German domination in Europe.
Although many still chose to believe the now-inevitable prospect of war was unthinkable, German actions on 1 September 1939 signalled the start of a new major conflict in Europe only 21 years since finale of the ‘War to End All Wars’.
]]>It informed listeners that Londoners felt ‘the urge to raise their courage by resorting to drink’. ‘Never,’ an announcer said, ‘were so many drunken people seen in London as now.’
If that wasn’t bad enough, a reporter noted that horses were being slaughtered to ‘replenish England’s rapidly dwindling meat stocks’. On another occasion, the evening news divulged a shortage of butter had forced King George to start spreading margarine on his toast.
Propaganda in Germany
For listeners across Germany, where tracing individual strands of disinformation was near impossible, the news seemed legitimate.
Peter Meyer, a former singer with the radio choir, recounted how he helped dupe German listeners when he imitated a Polish teenager after the invasion of Poland in 1939: ‘The recordings took place in Berlin, never in Poland,’ he said. ‘This was perpetrated in the Berlin radio studios without a single foreigner in sight.’ The fake story being ‘played out’ was that young foreigners were delighted the Germans had come and that they got along so very well with their new-found German friends. He said:
I also went to Babelsberg, which was like the American Hollywood for that time and there I participated in films and the newsreels called Die Wochenschau. Again, we made films of the same kind of propaganda as mentioned above; I played foreign or German youth members and had to learn a few words of foreign languages for my roles.
Entrance to Babelsberg Film Studio, located just outside Berlin in Germany.
Image Credit: Unify / CC
An English audience?
Echoing the disinformation on the domestic service, the Nazis were also beaming a flood of distorted and outright false information at the United Kingdom in the English language where commentator, William Joyce, with his distinctive nasal, upper-crust drawl – found fame as ‘Lord Haw-Haw’.
Egged on by Goebbels, Joyce revelled in his privileged position on the broadcasting battlefront. To his mind, no theme was hackneyed if treated with originality. From his studio in West Berlin, he tried confusing British public perceptions of Churchill and his ability to wage war by mixing official German government fodder with subtle distortions of English newspaper stories and BBC news. Although the topics varied, the goal of was the always same: Britain was losing the war.
When rationing began in Britain, Joyce asserted that Germans were so well fed ‘it was difficult’ to use up their food quota. Another episode painted a pathetic picture of evacuated English children ‘going about in freezing weather with insufficient shoes and clothes’.
He screamed of a declining Britain in the throes of death where businesses had ‘come to a standstill’ under Churchill, the ‘corrupt dictator’ of England. Joyce often took the trouble to cite, though not to name, ‘experts’ and ‘reliable sources’ who could confirm its reality.
The rumour mill
As his fame spread, nonsensical rumours about his every utterance abounded across Britain. Haw-Haw was supposed to have spoken about town hall clocks being half-an-hour slow and having detailed knowledge of local munitions factories, but of course, he never said anything of the kind, as the Daily Herald’s W. N. Ewer complained:
In Didcot, for example, it is put about that ‘last night the German wireless said that Didcot is going to be the first town bombed.’ I have had that story (always from somebody whose brother-in-law actually heard it, or something of the kind) from at least a dozen different places. Of course, when you get hold of the brother-in-law, he says no, he didn’t actually hear the German wireless himself: it was a man up at the golf club whose sister heard it.
Occasionally, Joyce dipped his toe into agitation against the French. He perpetuated the false claim that an epidemic typhoid fever had broken out in Paris, where ‘more than 100 people have already died’. Furthermore, he confided, the French press had ignored the epidemic ‘in order to avoid a panic’.
The Haw-Haw technique
Far from ignoring this obvious menace, the London press – overwhelmed by the sheer volume of outrageous material – hung on to his every dubious word, propelling his fame skyward. However, experts were divided on whether the best defence against Haw-Haw was ridicule or reply.
Scholar of Philosophy at Edinburgh University, W. A. Sinclair, concluded that the ‘Haw-Haw technique’ was divided into three categories— ‘unskilled lying, semi-skilled lying and highly skilled lying’.
He explained ‘unskilled lying consisted in making plain, simple statements which aren’t true at all,’ while ‘semi-skilled lying,’ was composed of conflicting statements, part true and part false. ‘Highly skilled lying,’ he said, was when Haw-Haw made statements which were true but used to convey a wrong impression.
William Joyce, also known as Lord Haw-Haw, shortly after his arrest by British forces in 1945. He was executed for treason the following year at Wandsworth Prison.
Image Credit: Imperial War Museum / Public domain
The worldwide stage
Despite their obvious flair for fake news, not all Nazi disinformation efforts succeed. By 1940, Berlin was operating an extensive schedule of shortwave broadcasts intended for listeners overseas by beaming across the Atlantic to Central and South America, southward over Africa, and to Asia, in daylight and darkness.
Whilst the South American service proved popular, there was little interest in Arabic programmes which indulged in outrageous fantasies. In one example, it was stated a destitute Egyptian woman ‘caught begging’ in Cairo was shot by a British sentry. In an overt attempt to influence opinion, wholesale atrocities were invented, with no basis in fact, while Nazi military successes were exaggerated.
Furthermore, a hail of radio agitation directed against the British occupation of India with the help of exiled Indian leftist leader Subhas Chandra Bose, a man dubbed by the British as ‘the Indian Quisling’ failed to ignite listeners.
Stark realities
By 1942, Nazi-generated disinformation campaigns had become too much for many in Britain and abroad to stomach. As Haw-Haw’s star began to fall and Allied bombing on Germany intensified, Nazi radio slowly began to bridge the void between reality and propaganda.
Reports detailing the humiliating German retreat in North Africa, the critical manpower shortage and the ferocity of resistance in Russia were heard for the first time. There was more candour about everyday worries such as the black market, strained relations between soldiers and civilians, air raids and food shortages.
Richard Baier, who, at 93 years old, gave a fascinating account on his important work as a newsreader on Reichssender Berlin, relayed how he read the news during heavy raids, when the earth shook so violently the control panel instruments were unreadable.
As the bombing laid waste to vast swathes of Germany, domestic and foreign transmissions spluttered as technicians did their best to repair the damage. By 1945, William Joyce kept slogging away but was preparing for the end. ‘What a night! Drunk. Drunk. Drunk!’ he recalled, before rattling off his final speech, aided by a bottle of schnapps.
True to form, even with Hitler’s death, the Nazi radio continued to lie. Instead of disclosing the Führer’s suicide, his anointed successor, Admiral Doenitz, told listeners their heroic leader had ‘fallen at his post … fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany’.
In the coming days, the once mighty German radio network stumbled through its death scene to musical accompaniment and finally died away piecemeal.
Radio Hitler: Nazi Airwaves in the Second World War is written by Nathan Morley, and published by Amberley Publishing, available from 15 June 2021.
In May 1943, the British and Americans successfully defeated the German forces in North Africa, then turning to the invasion of Italy in September 1943. Less than a year later, in June 1944, the Allied powers opened up a front in France. The Normandy landings – then known as Operation Overlord and now often referred to as D-Day – ushered in the eventual defeat of Hitler’s Nazi regime. With losses on both the Eastern Front and now the Western Front too, the Nazi war machine could not keep up with the approaching Allied forces.
It was one of the most pivotal military operations in history. Here’s a look at D-Day through a series of remarkable photographs.
Photograph of General Dwight D. Eisenhower giving the order of the day, 6 June 1944.
Image Credit: National Archives at College Park
During the planning of D-Day, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated General Dwight D. Eisenhower to be the commander of the entire invasion force.
US soldiers being carried towards Normandy, 06 June 1944
Image Credit: US Library of Congress
The landing operation began at about 6:30 AM, with Allied forces landing on Utah beach, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, Gold Beach, Juno Beach and Sword Beach in northern France.
Personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard-manned USS Samuel Chase disembarks troops of the U.S. Army’s First Division on the morning of 6 June 1944 (D-Day) at Omaha Beach.
Image Credit: Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHOM) Robert F. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Some 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships and 500 naval vessels began discharging 156,000 men onto the beaches of Normandy. It was not only American and British troops that took part in the amphibious assault, but also Canadian, French, Australian, Polish, New Zealand, Greek, Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian and Czechoslovakian men.
Photograph of paratroopers just before they took off for the initial assault of D-Day, 06 June 1944
Image Credit: National Archives at College Park
The invasion not only utilised the Allies’ superior naval capabilities but also their air fleets. Fighter planes played a crucial role in the campaign’s success, with around 13,000 craft taking part in the D-Day operation. Even prior to the transport ships arriving, 18,000 British and American troops had parachuted behind enemy lines.
Members of the French Resistance and the US 82nd Airborne division discuss the situation during the Battle of Normandy in 1944
Image Credit: US Army Signal Corps, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The French Resistance coordinated their actions with the Allied D-Day landings, sabotaging German lines of communication and transport networks.
Supplies for D-Day
Image Credit: National Archives at College Park
The German troops suffered from serious supply shortages and received few reinforcements. Hitler, meanwhile, did not realize the seriousness of the invasion, believing it to be an Allied attempt to distract the Germans from other military operations.
Photograph of a Nazi German flag being used as a table cloth by Allied troops
Image Credit: National Archives at College Park
In spite of all of this, the German troops managed to inflict heavy damage on the Allied forces. The number of casualties was high on both sides, with the landing on Omaha beach causing especially grave Allied losses.
Allied soldiers landing in Normandy, 06 June 1944
Image Credit: Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com
In total, over 10,000 Allied soldiers and roughly 4,000-9,000 German soldiers perished in the Battles of Normandy. It’s thought that some 150,000 Allied soldiers participated in Operation Overlord.
An American soldier of the 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Inf. Div., takes a ‘breather’ after storming ashore from a landing craft
Image Credit: National Archives at College Park
The Allies failed to achieve any of their key goals on the first day, though they did still make some territorial gains. Eventually, the operation gained a foothold, allowing the Allies to press inland and gradually expand over the coming months.
A large group of American assault troops in Omaha beach, 06 June 1944
Image Credit: National Archives at College Park
The defeat at Normandy was a significant blow to Hitler and his war plans. Troops had to be kept in France, not allowing him to redirect resources to the Eastern Front, where the Red Army started pushing the Germans back.
Soldiers raising a flag over a german pillbox, 07 June 1944
Image Credit: National Archives at College Park
By the end of August 1944, northern France was under Allied control. In less than a year, Nazi Germany surrendered. The D-Day landings were pivotal in turning the tide of World War Two and wrenching control from Hitler’s forces.
]]>However, it was the SA’s thuggish vigilantism, independence from the regular army (which caused hostility between the two), and anti-capitalist sentiments of its leader, Ernst Röhm, that ultimately caused its undoing.
Kurt Daluege, Heinrich Himmler and SA leader Ernst Röhm in Berlin
Image Credit: German Federal Archives, Bild 102-14886 / CC
Hitler launches the SA
Hitler formed the SA in Munich in 1921, drawing membership from violent anti-leftist and anti-democratic former soldiers (including the Freikorps) in order to lend muscle to the young Nazi Party, using them like a private army to intimidate opponents. According to the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, the SA was ‘a group composed in large part of ruffians and bullies’.
Many of the SA were former soldiers, upset with the way they had been treated after World War One. Germany’s defeat in the war had come as a surprise to the German people, which led to a theory that the brave German army had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the politicians.
Many Germans hated the government for signing the armistice in November 1918 – and saw the government as the ‘November Criminals’. Hitler used these terms in many speeches to further turn people against the Government.
Speaking politics in public was potentially a dangerous matter at the time. Recognisable by their brown uniforms, similar to those of Mussolini’s Blackshirts, the SA functioned as a ‘security’ force at Nazi rallies and meetings, using threats and outright violence to secure votes and overcome Hitler’s political enemies. They also marched in Nazi rallies and intimidated political opponents by breaking up their meetings.
When fights broke out, the Weimar police appeared powerless, with law and order usually restored by the SA. This enabled Hitler to claim that the Weimar regime lacked leadership and power, and that he was the person who could restore Germany to law and order.
The Beer Hall Putsch
Ernst Röhm became the leader of the SA after taking part in the Beer Hall Putsch (also known as the Munich Putsch) in 1923, a failed coup against the Weimar government in which Hitler lead 600 Brownshirts into a meeting between the Bavarian Prime Minister and 3,000 businessmen.
Röhm had fought in the First World War, reaching the rank of captain, and later joined the Bavarian division of the Freikorps, a virulent right wing nationalist group active during the early years of the Weimar Republic.
The Freikorps, which officially came to an end in 1920, were responsible for the murder of prominent leftists like Rosa Luxemburg. Former members made up a large part of the initial ranks of the SA.
The growth of the Brownshirts
After the Beer Hall Putch, the SA was reorganised, and took part in violent street clashes with communists, and began to intimidate voters into voting for the Nazi Party. Its ranks swelled into the thousands during the 1920s and into the 1930s.
Though Röhm left the Nazi Party, and Germany, during the later half of the 1920s, he returned to lead the Brownshirts in 1931 and watched its numbers swell to 2 million within only 2 years – twenty times as large as the number of troops and officers in the regular German Army.
The vast increase in membership was aided by unemployed men joining up due to the effects of the Great Depression. The Depression had caused American banks to call-in all of their foreign loans (which had helped fund German industry) at very short notice, leading to a significant rise in unemployment. This encouraged people to turn to extreme political parties such as the Nazi’s, who appeared to offer simple solutions to their problems.
The architects of the Night of the Long Knives: Hitler, Göring, Goebbels and Hess
Image Credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 196509 / Public Domain
The 1932 Presidential Election
Intimidated by their thuggish behaviour, President Hindenburg refused to allow the SA onto the streets during the election, where he stood against Hitler. Hitler needed the SA on the streets to create chaos (which he could then control, in the eyes of the German public), but equally wanted to portray himself as adhering to the law. He therefore accepted Hindenburg’s requets and kept the SA off the streets for the election.
Despite Hitler losing, Hindenburg’s re-election ultimately would fail to prevent the Nazi’s from assuming power. Two successive federal elections later that year left the Nazi’s as the largest party in the Reichstag and anti-republic parties in the majority. Hindenburg thus appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler became absolute dictator of Germany under the title Führer.
The Night of the Long Knives
Although some of the conflicts between the SS and SA were based on rivalries of leaders, the mass of members had key socio-economic differences too, with SS members generally from the middle class, while the SA had its base among the unemployed and working class.
The SA’s violence against Jews and communists was unbridled, yet some of Ernst Röhm’s interpretations of Nazi ideology were literally socialistic and in opposition to Hitler’s, including supporting striking workers and attacking strike-breakers. Röhm’s ambition was that the SA should achieve parity with the army and the Nazi Party, and serve as the vehicle for a Nazi revolution in state and society, and carry out its socialist agenda.
Hitler’s main consideration was to ensure the loyalty to his regime of the German establishment. He could not afford to annoy businessmen or the army, and in his bid to secure powerful support and rise to power, Hitler sided with big business instead of Röhm and his pro-working class supporters.
On June 30, 1934 the Night of the Long Knives erupted in a bloody purge among the SA ranks, in which Röhm and all senior Brownshirts, either deemed too socialist or not loyal enough for the new Nazi Party, were arrested by the SS and eventually executed.
SA leadership was granted to Viktor Lutze, who had informed Hitler of Röhm’s seditious activities. Lutze headed the SA until his death in 1943.
The Night of the Long Knives removed all opposition to Hitler within the Nazi Party and gave power to the SS, ending the revolutionary period of Nazism.
The shrinking role of the SA
After the purge, the SA diminished both in size and importance, though it was still used for violent actions against Jews, notably Kristallnacht on the 9 – 10 November, 1938. After the events of Kristallnacht, the SS took over the position of the Brownshirts, who were then relegated to the role of a training school for the German military.
Mistrust of the SA by the SS prevented the Brownshirts from ever regaining a prominent role in the Nazi Party. The organisation was officially disbanded in 1945 when Germany fell to the Allied Powers.
After World War Two ended, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg declared that the SA had not been a criminal organisation. stating that effectively, after the Night of the Long Knives ‘the SA was reduced to the status of unimportant Nazi hangers-on’.
]]>The fact that Hitler was Austrian, born in Braunau am Inn in April 1889, might seem odd given his association with German nationalism. This affinity was not, however, all that unusual among Austrians.
Influenced by the tutelage of his high school teacher, Leopold Poetsch, who had strong German nationalist sensibilities (and also taught Aldolf Eichmann), Hitler grew to despise the Austro-Hungarian Empire and express loyalty only to Germany.
In 1914, while living in Munich, Hitler managed to enlist in the Bavarian Army before renouncing his Austrian citizenship in 1925 and officially becoming a German citizen in the early 30s.
Despite the family moving from Braunau am Inn to Linz when Adolf was three years old, the border town and the house that he was born in (but only stayed in for a couple of weeks) have a lasting issue with their connection to Hitler.
2. He was a frustrated artist
It’s tempting to wonder how different the 20th century might have been had Hitler’s youthful aspirations to become an artist been realised.
He twice failed the entrance exam of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (in 1907 and in 1908) when it was noted that, though he had some talent for architectural draughtsmanship, his human figures lacked detail and character.
One of Hitler’s paintings. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Image Credit: Public Domain
Hitler’s interest in art did continue, however. So-called ‘degenerate’ modern, abstract and impressionist art was denounced as the product of Jewish and Bolshevik artists during the Third Reich.
The works, some by world famous artists like Klee and Picasso, were removed from German museums and placed in a condemnatory exhibition.
The Nazis also collected significant and invaluable pieces of art, often in the name of ‘kunstschutz’ – art protection.
This process was decreed by the Hague Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (1899 and 1907), but excess looting took place in occupied zones and the collections of targeted minorities were confiscated.
A Führermuseum was to be constructed in Linz, Austria, after the war but some of the artworks were taken into the private collections of Hitler, Göring and Goebbels. 1.4 million train carriages worth of art was taken, and up to 100,000 pieces are still unaccounted for.
3. He once lived in a homeless shelter
Hitler’s failure to make it as an artist had grave financial consequences.
Having had little success selling his paintings, postcards and advertisements, his financial resources were so seriously diminished that he lived in a homeless shelter in Vienna in December 1909.
He then lived in a public dormitory for men until 1913, when he received his father’s inheritance and moved to Munich.
4. He was wounded in the First World War
Whilst still an Austrian citizen, Adolf Hitler was accepted into the Bavarian army. He served in the infantry at the First Battle of Ypres, where the new infantry divisions suffered casualties as high as one third to a half.
After this battle he was made regimental message runner; it has been suggested that this was a relatively safe role, largely taking place away from the front. Despite this Hitler took a wound on his leg at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and was temporarily blinded by mustard gas in 1918. Whilst recovering from the latter injury Hitler heard the news of the German surrender and armistice.
Hitler (seated, far right) with other members of the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16, and their dog, Fuchsl.
Image Credit: Bundesarchiv/CC
Hitler received two medals for bravery during the Great war: the Iron Cross Second Class in 1914 and the Iron Cross First Class in 1918. It is alleged that this second award resulted from his prolonged time amongst higher ranks at the headquarters as a runner.
5. He served time for high treason
Two days after a failed coup by the Nazi party in 1923, remembered as the Beer Hall or Munich Putsch, Hitler was arrested for treason for his leading role.
Hitler was tried by judges sympathetic to his beliefs and given a five year sentence with no forced labour and the right to regular visitors.
He served less than a year of his sentence and used the time to begin writing Mein Kampf, his chronicle and doctrine, more than five million copies of which would sell by 1939.
Hitler’s trial was highly publicised, and he used it to propagate his ideas of right-wing nationalism, and to blame Germany’s post-war problems on Jews, Socialists and the French.
6. He never personally won an election
When Hitler ran for president in April 1932 he lost to Paul von Hindenburg.
However, in the federal election of June that year, the Nazi Party won 37 per cent of the vote, becoming the largest party in the Reichstag.
In the absence of a majority government, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor in January 1933. As Chancellor, Hitler suspended civil liberties in February after a fire in the Reichstag, of which a communist was accused.
Having gained a majority in the Reichstag in March, the Nazi party were able to pass the Enabling Act, handing dictatorial power to Hitler, who could now enact laws without the Reichstag or presidency.
The offices of President and Chancellor were eventually merged on Hindenburg’s death in 1934, and Hitler became Führer.
7. He was Time’s “Man of the Year” in 1938
The front cover of the Time issue that named Hitler ‘Man of the Year’
Image Credit: Time/CC
A mere year before he led Germany to war, Time magazine bestowed the title of “Man of the Year” on Hitler.
It’s important to note however, that the award isn’t always meant as an endorsement.
Indeed, Time claims that the title is more a measure of newsworthiness and impact, which explains why fellow recipients of the dubious accolade include Stalin, Khruschchev and Ayatollah Khomeini.
Hitler was then nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by an anti-fascist Swedish legislator, who never meant for it to be taken seriously. The nomination was withdrawn and Hitler banned Germans from accepting Nobel Prizes.
8. He never visited an extermination camp
The Holocaust is surely the most appalling legacy of his rule but it is extremely unlikely that Hitler ever actually visited any of his death camps.
Although his culpability as the architect of the “Final Solution” is beyond doubt, it seems he was happy to conduct the genocidal project at arm’s length.
9. He championed animal welfare causes
It is perhaps surprising given the horrific cruelty he inflicted on the people of the world that Hitler was a keen advocate of animal welfare.
There are ongoing debates surrounding whether or not Hitler, who was said to be oppose horse racing and hunting, was a vegetarian.
Animal Welfare appeared in various Nazi legislatures. One piece which appeared to limit vivisection – the practice of operating on live animals for the purpose of experimentation and scientific research – is argued to have been less far-reaching than it was suggested to be.
Either way, it is difficult to reconcile any apparent concern for animals from Hitler with the complete lack of compassion and humanity that he showed as a leader.
10. He suffered with a number of health issues
Adolf Hitler’s health is the subject of considerable speculation and the list of complaints he’s said to have lived with is extensive.
Some historians suggest that he had syphilis (he was diagnosed by his personal physicist Theodor Morell in a 1945 report to Himmler), Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The first two of these conditions were denounced by the Third Reich.
Syphilis was mentioned alongside prostitution as a ‘Cause of Collapse’ in Mein Kampf, and Huntington’s is a hereditary disease included on state lists for sterilisation.
The hand tremors often noted as signs of Huntington’s or Parkinson’s have also been attributed by some to Hitler’s alleged use of various drugs.
It’s also commonly alleged that he had Monorchism – the medical condition of having only one testicle, though the sources for this are questionable. The first was a second hand account of an injury at the Battle of the Somme, and the second, by a Soviet doctor involved in Hitler’s autopsy, was retracted.
11. He survived numerous assassination attempts
It is not clear how many times an attempt was made on Hitler’s life but it’s safe to say that he survived well over 20 assassination attempts.
Even before he became chancellor, Hitler was shot at on several occasions. He was shot at as early as 1921, in a Munich beer hall brawl with political rivals.
Later attempts included bomb plots by carpenter Georg Elser in 1939, who missed Hitler by only 13 minutes, and German army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in 1944.
12. His nephew, William Patrick Hitler, fought with the US Navy
In 1911, William Patrick Hitler was born to Alois Hitler Jr, Adolf’s brother, and his Irish wife, Bridget Dowling, in Liverpool.
Alois returned to the continent in 1914 to fight in the First World War. Benefiting from his uncle’s power having arrived in Germany by 1933, William held various jobs in the Third Reich, but supposedly engaged in blackmail to secure better posts.
Nazi Hans Frank alleged whilst awaiting execution that William had insinuated in a blackmail letter that Adolf’s paternal grandmother had been impregnated by a member of the Jewish household in which she had worked. Frank was tasked with investigating the Hitler family genealogy.
After fleeing Germany for fear of reprisals, William returned to Britain where he wrote several articles but was denied work and entry to the armed forces because of his name.
William visited the United States in 1939 at the invitation of publisher William Randolph Hearst. Stranded by the outbreak of war, William Hitler appealed to President Roosevelt and was cleared to join the US Navy in 1944.
He was awarded the Purple Heart after being injured in action against his uncle’s forces.
]]>This is a list of Hitler’s closest henchmen, who they were and a brief explanation of their roles.
10. Walther Funk
The Reich Minister of Economics, President of the Reichsbank and State Secretary at the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. A qualified economist, lawyer and philosopher; he was also editor of the financial newspaper the Berliner Börsenzeitung.
He was a member of the board of directors of the Bank for International Settlements, based in Switzerland and was appointed to the Central Planning Board in September 1943.
9. Joachim von Ribbentrop
Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, an authority on world affairs and confidant of the Fuhrer. Independent broker of the Pact of Steel between Germany and Italy, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the USSR, and Ambassador to the Court of St James’s for London and the UK in 1936.
8. Albert Speer
Hitler’s Chief Architect and Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich, and member of Hitler’s inner circle. He designed and constructed the Reich Chancellery and the Party rally stadium in Nuremberg. He is responsible for Berlin’s wide streets and reorganised transport system.
Speer at the Nuremberg trial
Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons; History Hit
7. Karl Donitz
Commander of the German Navy’s U-boats until 1943, then took over from Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy and was promoted to Grand-Admiral.
6. Erich Raeder
Great Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Kreigsmarine (German Naval Force) and Reichsmarine until 1943.
5. Wilhelm Keitel
Field Marshal of the German Army (Wehrmacht), Chief of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces (OKW) and Chief of Defence for Germany, Hitler’s Chief of Staff.
Keitel as field marshal in 1942
Image Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H30220 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
4. Martin Bormann
Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery (a role previously called Deputy Fuhrer until Hess defected and Bormann replaced him with the new title), Hitler’s Personal Private Secretary, controlling all information passed to and from Hitler and controller of all personal access to Hitler. He had final approval over all legislation and de facto control over all domestic matters.
3. Joseph Goebbels
Reichsminister for Propaganda for Nazi Germany, with control over all news media, arts and public information in Germany, who delivered emotionally charged speeches to mobilise and motivate the German people. He was named in Hitler’s final will, written in the Furherbunker, as his official successor.
2. Hermann Göring
Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), founder of the Gestapo in 1933, Minister of the Economic Four Year Plan, Reichsmarschall, senior to all other Wehrmacht commanders, and in 1941, designated by Hitler as his successor and second in command in all his offices. Previously an ace fighter pilot in World War I, decorated with a Blue Max, and commander of the fighter wing led by von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron.
1. Heinrich Himmler
Reichsführer of the entire SS, Military Commander of the Waffen-SS, Commander of the Gestapo, Minister of the Interior, Commander of the Home Army, and supreme leader of the administration of the entire Third Reich. Heinrich Himmler became Hitler’s second in command following the downfall of Göring.
]]>Whilst Chamberlain’s handling of late 1930s foreign relations is ultimately what he is most remembered for, he was a staunch advocate for progressive social and domestic policy at home, and worked tirelessly in office despite crises and betrayals.
Here are 10 facts about Neville Chamberlain.
1. Initially he showed little interest in politics
Chamberlain was born in 1869 in Birmingham, to a middle class family with connections in local politics. He attended Rugby School, and later Mason College (now known as the University of Birmingham), but showed little enthusiasm for his studies.
Neville became an apprentice accountant, but after less than a year, his father dispatched him to the Bahamas to establish and run a sisal plantation. The endeavour failed, and Chamberlain returned to England six years later, having lost £50,000.
2. His wife convinced him to run as an MP
In 1910, aged 40, Chamberlain met Anne Cole, with whom he quickly, and surprisingly, fell in love. The pair married the following year and Anne greatly encouraged his entry into local politics. The two shared a lot of views and political interests – particularly regarding housing – and Anne remained a constant source of support throughout his life.
Chamberlain initially became involved with local Birmingham politics, standing as a local councillor and eventually being elected Lord Mayor of Birmingham. In 1919, he stood as the Unionist candidate for Birmingham Ladywood, and was elected to Parliament with almost 70% of the vote.
3. He clashed frequently with David Lloyd George
Before being elected as an MP, Chamberlain had been appointed Director of National Service by the then Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, co-ordinating conscription and ensuring essential industries had sufficient workforces during the war. Less than a year later, Chamberlain resigned, saying he had received little to no support from the Prime Minister.
In 1920, Chamberlain was offered a position in the Ministry of Health – he declined it, citing the fact he did not want to serve under Lloyd George. Several colleagues warned him if he were to decline the role, he may well not be offered anything else for the duration of Lloyd George’s premiership.
Lloyd George unexpectedly resigned in 1922 following a breakdown in the Conservative-Unionist coalition, and Lloyd George’s longstanding ally, Bonar Law, was temporarily appointed Prime Minister. Taking advantage of this, Chamberlain served as Minister of Health and briefly, Chancellor of the Exchequer, before the Conservatives’ defeat to Ramsey McDonald’s Labour in 1923.
Neville Chamberlain doffing his hat to crowds in Munich in 1938.
Image Credit: Bundesarchiv Bild / CC
4. His star began to rise after the 1924 General Election
Chamberlain was reappointed as Minister of Health in 1924, and passed 21 key pieces of legislation before he left office 5 years later. In 1931, he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer: no small job given the extent of Britain’s war debt.
Major policies and achievements included the passing of ‘Imperial Preference’ import tariffs, increases in welfare spending and a somewhat controversial reduction in defence spending, which was later reversed from 1935 onwards, as the perceived threat of Hitler’s Germany rose.
Many historians and politicians later criticised Chamberlain for disarming in the first place, but in general, many assess his legacy as Chancellor relatively positively, arguing he oversaw a general rise in living standards and could not have anticipated the crisis that was to come.
5. He thought his premiership would be defined by domestic reform
Stanley Baldwin resigned as Prime Minister following the abdication crisis of 1936 and coronation of the new king, George VI: he advised the new king to send for Chamberlain in order to appoint him as the new Prime Minister.
In 1937, Chamberlain passed the Factories Act, and in 1938, the Holiday With Pay Act, Coal Act, and Housing Act, all of which aimed at improving working conditions and effectively saw more social security and legislation to create safer, better working and living conditions for many people. Other social reform and domestic policy that had been discussed was shelved following the outbreak of war in 1939.
6. The situation in Europe was out of his control
By 1937, European politics were becoming increasingly strained: Spain was already engulfed in a brutal civil war. Under Adolf Hitler, Germany was rearming – breaking the terms of the Treaty of Versailles – and Chamberlain did his best to reconcile with Germany rather than to openly condemn Hitler’s policy.
He also opened talks with Italy, who had become an international pariah following its invasion and conquest of Ethiopia, in an attempt to cement relations with Italy and woo them as a potential ally against Germany if necessary.
Ultimately, Chamberlain remembered the horrors of the First World War well, and was determined not to let Britain be dragged into another costly and damaging conflict. As a result, he famously attempted to pursue a policy of appeasement in Europe.
7. Many consider him to have made the most serious error of judgement in the 20th century
Famously, Chamberlain visited the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, at his retreat in Berchtesgarden, near Munich in 1938. The two spoke for about 3 hours: Hitler demanded the annexation of the Sudetenland, and Chamberlain believed he had no further designs on European expansion beyond this concession. Chamberlain agreed on the proviso that a plebicite (similar to a referendum) would be held, and if the population voted in favour of Hitler’s annexation, it would happen.
Chamberlain visited Hitler several more times in September 1938, and eventually the issue culminated in a summit attended by Britain, Germany, France and Italy, where the Sudetenland question was to be settled once and for all.
Chamberlain triumphantly clutching a document signed by Hitler promising peace on his return from Munich in September 1938.
Image Credit: Imperial War Museums / CC
On his return, on 30 September 1938, Chamberlain famously said:
“My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British prime minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.”
At the time, some suggested Chamberlain should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, whilst others lauded his skill as a statesman and ability to avoid war. It did not take long for Chamberlain’s reputation to be torn to shreds – war was soon to follow and many consider his concessions to Hitler in 1938 as misguided as they provided Germany enough time to consolidate her forces.
8. He took Britain to war in September 1939
Kristallnacht, in November 1938, firmly turned public opinion against Germany: any dialogue or friendliness with Germany would have been deemed unacceptable by the public following a violent pogrom against Germany’s Jewish population. Germany continued to rearm and expand, invading Bohemia and Moravia in early 1939.
Chamberlain began to increasingly focus on rearmament in Britain, building up the Territorial Army, introducing peacetime conscription, and creating a Ministry of Supply – these policies were both to placate the British and intimidate Germany.
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and Britain issued an ultimatum for them to withdraw or face war. They refused. On 3 September 1939, Chamberlain declared Britain was at war with Germany, called Parliament to sit on a Sunday and created a War Cabinet – all measures designed to facilitate a speedy crushing of Germany.
Despite everything, Chamberlain’s popularity remained high – in April 1940, it was still at 60%.
9. He quickly came under attack from his own government
Debates over Norway brought matters to a head for Chamberlain’s government. Germany had invaded, and the few Allied forces that were deployed there were no match for the German army – they were ordered to withdraw.
The whole operation, known as the ‘Norway Debate’, received immense criticism. Debates in Parliament worsened the situation, as many felt Chamberlain was asking for party political voting lines on the issue rather than pulling together for unity in a time of national crisis.
After discussions with Attlee’s Labour party about Labour effectively joining Chamberlain’s government in order to create a coherent, unified government, it became clear that Labour would not serve under Chamberlain, but saw Winston Churchill as a valid alternative.
On 10 May 1940, Chamberlain formally resigned, asking the king to send for Churchill as his replacement. Churchill and Baldwin both wrote to express their gratitude to Chamberlain for his decision.
10. He died shortly afterwards
Initially Chamberlain continued to serve as an MP and was appointed Lord President of the Council: Churchill decided not to dramatically shake up the Cabinet given the situation. Colleagues remember him continuing to work diligently and hard, showing no bitterness However, Chamberlain had no chance to repair or fully understand his legacy: he resigned in September 1940 once it became clear he was seriously ill, with limited time remaining, and he died two months later, in November 1940, from bowel cancer.
Just before his death, Chamberlain wrote he did “not fear the historian’s verdict”, believing that his actions at Munich were the best possible course of action to give Britain a fighting chance at winning the coming war. This seems somewhat fortunate, given many historians would condemn his decision to appease Hitler – and fascism across Europe – for as long as he did.
]]>How did this line of thought develop, and how did the Nazis use it to spread their genocidal policies?
Darwin, Spender and Malthus
Charles Darwin’s 1859 book, On the Origin of Species revolutionised accepted thought about biology. According to his theory of evolution, only the plants and animals best adapted to their environment survive to reproduce and transfer their genes to the next generation.
This was a scientific theory focused on explaining observations about biological diversity and why different species of plants and animals look different. Darwin borrowed popular concepts from Herbert Spencer and Thomas Malthus to help convey his ideas to the public.
Despite being a highly universal theory, it is widely accepted now that the Darwinian view of the world does not transfer effectively to every element of life.
Historically, some have transplanted Darwin’s ideas uneasily and imperfectly onto social analysis. The product was ‘Social Darwinism’. The idea is that the evolutionary processes in natural history have parallels in social history, that their same rules apply. Therefore humanity should embrace the natural course of history.
Herbert Spencer.
Rather than Darwin, Social Darwinism is derived most directly from the writings of Herbert Spencer, who believed that human societies developed like natural organisms.
He conceived the idea of the struggle for survival, and suggested that this drove an inevitable progress in society. It broadly meant evolving from the barbarian stage of society to the industrial stage. It was Spencer who coined the term ‘survival of the fittest.’
He opposed any laws that helped workers, the poor, and those he deemed genetically weak. Of the infirm and incapacitated, Spencer once stated, ‘It is better that they should die.’
Although Spencer was responsible for much of the foundational discourse of Social Darwinism, Darwin did say that human progress was driven by evolutionary processes – that human intelligence was refined by competition. Finally, the actual term ‘Social Darwinism’ was originally coined by Thomas Malthus, who is better remembered for his iron rule of nature and the concept of ‘struggle for existence’.
To those who followed Spencer and Malthus, Darwin’s theory appeared to confirm what they already believed to be true about human society with science.
Portrait of Thomas Robert Malthus (Image Credit: John Linnell / Wellcome Collection / CC).
Eugenics
As Social Darwinism gained popularity, British scholar Sir Francis Galton launched a new ‘science’ he deemed eugenics, aimed at improving the human race by ridding society of its ‘undesirables’. Galton argued that social institutions such as welfare and mental asylums allowed ‘inferior humans’ to survive and reproduce at higher levels than their wealthier ‘superior’ counterparts.
Eugenics became a popular social movement in America, peaking in the 1920s and 1930s. It focused on eliminating undesirable traits from the population by preventing “unfit” individuals from having children. Many states passed laws that resulted in the forced sterilization of thousands, including immigrants, people of color, unmarried mothers and the mentally ill.
Social Darwinism and Eugenics in Nazi Germany
The most infamous instance of Social Darwinism in action is in the genocidal policies of the Nazi German Government in the 1930s and 40s.
It was openly embraced as promoting the notion that the strongest should naturally prevail, and was a key feature of Nazi propaganda films, some which illustrated it with scenes of beetles fighting each other.
After the Munich Putsch in 1923 and his subsequent brief imprisonment, in Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote:
Whoever would live, let him fight, and he who does not want to do battle in this world of eternal struggle, does not deserve life.
Hitler often refused to intervene in the promotion of officers and staff, preferring to have them fight amongst themselves to force the “stronger” person to prevail.
Such ideas also led to program’s such as the ‘Aktion T4’. Framed as a euthanasia program, this new bureaucracy was headed by physicians active in the study of eugenics, who saw Nazism as “applied biology”, and who had a mandate to kill anyone deemed to have a ‘life unworthy of living’. It led to the involuntary euthanasia – killing – of hundreds of thousands of mentally ill, elderly and disabled people.
Initiated in 1939 by Hitler, the killing centres to which the handicapped were transported were precursors to the concentration and extermination camps, using similar killing methods. The program was officially discontinued in August 1941 (which coincided with the escalation of the Holocaust), but killings continued covertly until the Nazi defeat in 1945.
NSDAP Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler in October 1938. Head of the T4 programme (Image Credit: Bundesarchiv / CC).
Hitler believed the German master race had been weakened by the influence of non-Aryans in Germany, and that the Aryan race needed to maintain it’s pure gene pool in order to survive. This view fed into a worldview shaped also by a fear of communism and a relentless demand for Lebensraum. Germany needed to destroy the Soviet Union to gain land, eliminate Jewish-inspired communism, and would do so following the natural order.
Subsequently, Social-Darwinist language suffused Nazi rhetoric. As German forces were rampaging through Russia in 1941, Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch emphasised:
The troops must understand that this struggle is being fought race against race, and that they must proceed with the necessary harshness.
The Nazis targeted certain groups or races that they considered biologically inferior for extermination. In May 1941, the tank general Erich Hoepner explained the war’s meaning to his troops:
The war against Russia is an essential chapter in the German people’s battle for survival. It is the old struggle between the Germanic peoples and the Slavs, the defence of European culture against muscovite-Asiatic invasion, the defence against Jewish communism.
It was this language that was integral to promulgating Nazism, and especially to gaining the assistance of tens of thousands of regular Germans in persecuting the Holocaust. It gave a scientific veneer to a rabid psychotic belief.
Historical opinion is mixed as to how formative social Darwinist principles were to Nazi ideology. It is a common argument of creationists such as Jonathan Safarti, where it is often deployed to undermine the theory of evolution. The argument goes that Nazi Germany represented the logical progression of a godless world. In response, the anti-Defamation League has said:
Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivialises the complex factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry.
However, Nazism and Social Darwinism were certainly intertwined in possibly the most famous example of perverted scientific theory in action.
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