Adolf Hitler may be history’s most notorious tyrant. Surely no one’s name is more often evoked to epitomize evil and the deliberate infliction of suffering on vulnerable individuals and groups? Through exceptional will and luck Hitler struggled up through the ranks of political power until he became Germany’s master. He then sought to dominate Europe. Determined to unite all German-speaking peoples in one nation, he embarked on a series of aggressions that culminated in a war that engulfed and devastated most of Europe and North Africa, and left tens of millions of people dead, maimed, or homeless. Along with his political opponents, he condemned Jews and other ‘inferior peoples’ as Germany’s enemies, and eventually had around six million of them arrested and systematically slaughtered. Adolf Hitler and the Art of Tyranny answers with depth and clarity three core questions. What made Hitler who he was; why did he do what he did; and what were the results? Many other questions radiate from these. For instance, how did Hitler get tyrannical power? Or why was the Third Reich destroyed after just a dozen years? Many more crucial questions and arrays of answers follow. Hitler, of course, did not act alone. He enthroned himself atop power pyramids that included the Nazi Party, government, military, secret police, industrial associations, religious institutions, and other social organizations. He commanded countless ‘willing executioners’ of his plans and orders. To a rational, knowledgeable person, Hitler’s mass appeal is puzzling. How could someone as histrionic, vulgar, shallow, bullying, and extreme as Hitler inspire such adoration and fanatical acts by millions of people?
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