Hitler

Adolf Hitler (Born 1889, April 20th) is widely considered to be the most evil man to have ever lived. Sorry, Aleister Crowley. The problem with truly that is that very people know who Hitler really was due to his often reclusive and timid nature. Despite his charismatic and blusterous speeches that mobilized Germany to national unity, his private life remains largely in question, leading many people to question whether or not Hitler was gay, religious, had only one testicle, was part of the occult, or even Jewish. Among his staff, Hitler was known for being relatively quiet, with bursts of rage in between his moments of calm. From what I've read, Hitler did not smile often, and was usually in a state of depression.

Hitler, in modern-day conversation and diatribe, is often referenced in a form of an absurd argument called Reductio ad Hitlerum. On the subject, Wikipedia reads "According to Strauss, the Reductio ad Hitlerum is an informal fallacy that consists of trying to refute an opponent's view by comparing it to a view that would be held by Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party." For example, Hitler became a vegetarian around 1941 and would not consume meat. Does this make vegetarianism akin to Nazism? Of course not. One thing that Hitler most certainly did during his lifetime was continuously breathe in and out, and everyone does that, unless there is some kind of Amazing Fish-Man that I don't know about.

But let's back up a bit. What the hell am I writing about Hitler? Well, I was sick and basically asleep for the last 48 hours, so I had a lot of time to have a lot of interesting thoughts and dreams. At no point did I go "Hey, you know who's really cool? Hitler, man." but I've always been a huge history nerd. The number of history books I've read is ridiculous, but it was also the catalyst for me to become interested in military strategy. I would read about people winning these military victories despite incredible odds, and I was intrigued. Eventually that lead to me playing strategy games, and when RTS games began to come out, I was instantly hooked.




Of course, when one starts learning about history, one of the first things you learn in America is: "Hitler was bad, and heroic Americans won the war." and later we learn that the Russians may have also had a hand in winning the war.

But why was there a war in the first place? Most historians typically go back to unresolved issues and vendettas left over from World War I, but if that is the case, how did Japan and Italy (who fought for the Allies in WWI) become allied with Germany?

The reason largely was rooted in what is now known as The First Red Scare in 1919. Having overthrown the Democratic government under Alexander Kerensky, the Communist Party abolished other major political parties, and their leaders were arrested. This move was seen as a dangerous and extremist move by the newly-created Soviet Union, which was not just seen as threat to Europe, but to the entire world, who feared that Soviet spies would start revolutions in Democratic nations all over the world and that ultimately, Russia would attempt to take over the world.

Although the "War on Terrorism" is purported to be a new kind of conflict, terrorist acts, such as bombings and assassinations, have been carried by "anarchists" for hundreds of years, and in 1919, a group of anarchists sent, by mail, a number of bombs to prominent figures around the country in hopes of assassinating them, claiming "We will destroy to rid the world of your tyrannical institutions" and this advent, coupled with labor strikes around the country perpetuated the notion that a Communist revolution could occur at any time.

Throughout most of the 1920s and the early 1930s, The Soviet Union was considered the greatest threat to world peace, and "The Axis", a group of emerging powers like Germany, Italy, and Japan formed an alliance to deter the threat of Soviet aggression. At the end of World War I, Germany was prohibited from building a standing army of over 100,000 soldiers and was completely forbidden to build a competent navy or air force by the Treaty of Versailles. However, in 1932 Germany was allowed to go ahead build a huge military force anyhow.

Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933, and had already expressed his intentions to build up Germany as a major military power, and called the Treaty of Versailles 'the greatest villainy of the century', and the German government cited the treaty's provision that called for "The Members of the League [of Nations] recognise that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations." while France had effectively built up the world's largest standing army.

France and Britain allowed the Germans to continue building up their military forces as what I believe was a fear of Soviet expansionism. Although Germany and France were bitter enemies, even in peace, Hitler maintained a good relationship with Britain's Prime Minister, and hoped to build a Anglo-German alliance against the Soviets, but such an alliance never materialized. The world's opinion quickly began to turn against the Axis Powers during the 1930s as each Germany, Italy and Japan began engaging in aggressive military conflicts and annexations with their neighbors, while the Soviet Union remained largely docile. The Soviet invasions of Finland and the Baltic states did not begin until after the start of World War 2, when France and Britain had already declared war on Germany.


Nazism and Fascism



On this old American dime, we see the Latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum", meaning roughly "Out of many, one" and a bundle of sticks tied around an axe. This was called a "fasces", which was the Roman symbol for unity. The idea was that one stick could be broken easily, but when tied together around a powerful center, it could not be broken. The word "Fascism" comes from this symbol, but this terminology has decidedly taken a very negative connotation, and is often used to describe a nationalistic dictatorship. A large part of Hitler's power came from the fact that Germany was unified against what they saw as threats from Communism and the French. The Nazi Party drew the narrative that the Weimar Republic government as weak and indecisive, and Hitler referred to them as "cowards" and "treasonous" for giving into the demands of the French government.

When we say "Nazi" today, we usually think of racists, but the original Nazi party was called the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei in German. Although the party was called "socialist", it was anything but socialist, and Hitler made the Communist party his primary enemy, declaring that the German Communists would overthrow the government. When the Germany parliamentary building, the Reichstag, was set on fire by arsonists, Hitler and the Nazi Party adamantly blamed the Communist Party, and requested emergency powers from then-German-President Paul Von Hindenburg to circumvent the constitution of Germany and arrest the Communists. Hitler used this power to effectively behead the leadership of all opposing political parties, and the Nazi Party became the dominant political party practically overnight.

The Nazi party was founded by Anton Drexler and Karl Harrer as an alternative socialist party to the German Communists, although Drexler was right-wing extremist. Regardless, the party achieved some marginal success by publishing newsletters denouncing Capitalism and propagating Antisemitism. Both concepts were just fads of the 1920s though, and although the party continued to publish Antisemitic messages, their message became increasingly nationalistic and militaristic, as opposed to being strictly a worker's socialist movement.

Edit: I need to mention, for the sake of my own sanity, that after Hitler's rise to power, the Nazi Party nationalized many large industries, so I guess he's a commie after all, and if this section offended you in any way, please don't hesitate to suck a dick.


Eugenics and Racism




Although Francis Galton is often credited with being the originator of modern eugenics, it wasn't until Charles Davenport introduced putting the hypothesis into practice in the United States that it became something that was recognized as a legitimate practice. Around 50-60,000 American citizens were forcefully sterilized starting in the early 1900s to prevent them from ever having children.

On the definition of "eugenics", Francis Galton wrote:



Galton, however, did not specify any sort of "method" for the "breeding" of superior humans, and did specify a particular race as being the ideal human being, but gauged it primarily on strength and intelligence. Davenport later lobbied to have the idea put into law in the U.S., and this became the blueprint for the much more extreme and brutal eugenics movement in Nazi Germany.

Antisemitism is not a new idea. In 1478, the Catholic Church massacred Muslims and Jewish people living in Spain to secure Catholic power in Spain. In the Middle Ages, Jews were blamed for the Black Death. In the 1900s-1920s, Antisemitism became a widely-accepted view for millions of people around the world, who saw the Jewish people as being anything from a nuisance to a threat. Hitler adopted the view that the Jewish people were not only 'inferior stock', but actually contributed to the defeat of Germany in World War I. Hitler adopted the Nazi Party's philosophy that blue-eyed, blonde-haired Nordic peoples were the ideal stock, and that Jews, Slavs, Arabs, Romani, Blacks, and so on, were all inferior to Nordic people. The Nazis had a term for these people: "Untermensch" or "sub-humans", and declared that for Nordic People to prosper in the world, the Untermensch could not be bred with, and had to be forcefully exterminated.

Hitler later wrote about his views on Nordic People and Untermensch in his book, Mein Kampf.


Mein Kampf

Before his rise to power in 1933, Adolf Hitler attempted to seize power from the Weimar Republic's government in 1923. He was arrested and charged with treason. While in prison, Hitler wrote his most infamous and hate-filled book, the notorious Mein Kampf, which outlined Hitler's plan for Germany's future. The book was also partial autobiographical, which gives historians a rare insight into Hitler's early life, but also a darker look into what Hitler planned to do with his attempted overthrow of the German government. The book declared that Germany would build a new empire in Europe that would destroy all of Germany's enemies. Hitler believed that the first World War was lost primarily due to the perpetrating of 'traitors', who he identified as Communists, Jews, Slavs, and "Cowards".


Was Hitler a Secret Jew?

Probably. The gene pool of nearly any given human being probably has a little bit of almost everything, but according to the Huffington Post, Hitler's relatives gave saliva samples to doctors who determined that Hitler may have had Jewish ancestry. Why a doctor would take the time to test such a thing what relevance it could possibly have are not immediately known outside of exposing what could be a hilarious bit of historical irony. I was reading a Nazi-forum (which I am considering trolling) which denies pretty much everything, saying that all of history is a Jewish Conspiracy, so who knows? Maybe the Huffington Post is a Jewish plot.

Was Hitler Gay?

Probably not, but little is known about the personal life of Adolf Hitler. It is known that he had a deep-seeded hatred for homosexuals, and sent them to concentration camps as some kind of internalized homophobia. However, there is no proof to confirm this. There is proof that Hitler had many female partners throughout his life. And then there's this:

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Was Hitler Religious or Atheist?

This question needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because it is often a backhanded way for Christians and Atheists to insult each by associating the other with Hitler. However, Hitler was not religious or non-religious in a fundamental sense of these words. Atheists who use Hitler as an argument against Christianity always go directly to this quote:

However, most German voters were Catholic, and this may very well have been Hitler's way of kissing-ass to gain votes. Later, while in power, Hitler did not publicly denounce Christianity, but made plans to "to stamp out Christianity root and branch", and also said of the large Catholic contingent within Germany:

"I'll make these damned parsons feel the power of the state in a way they would have never believed possible. For the moment, I am just keeping my eye upon them: if I ever have the slightest suspicion that they are getting dangerous, I will shoot the lot of them. This filthy reptile raises its head whenever there is a sign of weakness in the State, and therefore it must be stamped on. We have no sort of use for a fairy story invented by the Jews."

We have no way of knowing for certain whether or not Hitler believed in a non-Christian notion of God, but regardless, the acts of Hitler seem to motivated by a drive for political power and racial superiority, neither of which are inherent traits of the Religious or Atheists.


How Did Hitler React When Black People Won Medals in The Olympics?

He was probably pissed off.


Was Hitler The Most Evil Man To Ever Live?

Prior to World War 2, Germany had annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia, Japan Invaded Manchuria, and Italy invaded Albania and Ethiopia. The world's opinion of the Axis changed from seeing as a necessary measure to stop Soviet expansion to being an aggressive alliance built to increase the power share of its members. Alarmed by Hitler's exploits in Europe, the United States began to manufacture a massive propaganda campaign against Hitler to bring Americans out of an isolationist attitude and prepare them to make war, not love.



There's also a Donald Duck cartoon (which you may be able to find if it's not banned in your country) which depicts what America "could" be like if Hitler were to win the war, and goes to ridiculous lengths to stress how bad Nazis taking over America would be to the point of being annoying, because Donald Duck has to keep yelling "Heil Hitler!" in order to prevent himself from being bayoneted, and his job is to make artillery shells faster than he can possibly work. When he becomes frustrated with how fast he has to make the artillery shells, he has to say like a dozen "Heil Hitlers" to prevent himself from being executed.

America, Britain and Russia, even to this day, are very anti-nazi, although in the US, the Nazi party is legally allowed to exist, even though virtually every person in the country thinks they are worthless.

So is history being written by the victors, or was Hitler really that bad? Well, we can start off by saying that, even in Hitler's day, racism and eugenics were accepted, but war and genocide were not. The unnecessary taking of another human life is never acceptable, and to imprison and degrade people because their beliefs, religions, sexualities, ethnicities, nationalities, and any other artificial encompassing difference we can dream up should never become an acceptable practice.

So maybe history is being written by the victors, but I like this version of history. I like living in a world where human life is valuable, and even where my Presidents are held in contempt for their actions. There have been major killing machines organized by political parties in our near-present, and these should not be dismissed as something that can never happen again. We thought it could not happen in this day and age, but it happened under Pol Pot, it happened in Vietnam, it happened in Afghanistan, it happened in Rwanda, it happened in Sudan, it happened in the Congo, and it happened in Yugoslavia.

Deaths by war/dictator:
World War 2: 60,000,000
Mao Tse-Tung: 40,000,000
Josef Stalin: 30,000,000
Hideki Tojo: 20,000,000
Adolf Hitler: 15,000,000
World War I: 15,000,000
Congolese Civil Wars: 5,500,000
Korean War: 4,000,000
Vietnam War: 3,500,000
Nigerian Civil War: 2,500,000
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: 2,000,000
Pol Pot: 2,000,000
Iran-Iraq War: 2,000,000
Sudanese Civil War: 2,000,000
Rwandan Civil War: 1,000,000
George W. Bush: As many as 1,000,000
Saddam Hussein: 600,000
Bosnian Civil War: 320,000
Kosovo War: 3,368

What Do I Think About Hitler?

I think he's a dick. Also, all the numbers above are probably bullshit and part of a Jewish Conspiracy, but when you have a huge fucking war and millions of people die and you have no way of knowing exactly how many died, the estimates can be way off. Some people believe World War 2 may have caused up to 70 million deaths. The North Korean government claims that only 400,000 people died in the Korean War.

So before you get all huffy thinking I'm comparing Saddam Hussein and George Bush to Hitler, I'm not. Killing on a massive scale is very wrong, though. Before the modern age, genocide was something that actually was a natural part of war, and the Mongol conquests may have killed as many as 30,000,000 people. Tamerlane may have killed 20,000,000. Those numbers are staggering, especially considering how much higher the world's population has become in the modern age, so the percentage of killing was much higher, although Pol Pot may have killed up to one-quarter of Cambodia's population.

So, in conclusion, Hitler is a piece of shit, but you probably already knew that if you are a rational human being. Nazi Germany did invent computers though, and I like those so... NO, NO. Fuck the Nazis. America invented the personal computer.
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