Page 95 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

914 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

the use of terror even within his own party—as hap- 1 September 1939, beginning World War II. Oppor-
pened in June 1934 when he purged his Sturm Abteil- tunistically, Hitler shared his Polish conquest with the
ung (StormTroopers) in the so-called Night of the Long Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (1879–1953), a diplo-
Knives—created a“Hitler myth”: Germany’s all-knowing matic marriage of convenience that lasted scarcely
Führer (leader) was forging unity at home and rebuild- twenty months.
ingprestigeabroad.PropagandaministerGoebbelspow- Initially Hitler’s armies ran rampant, defeating all
erfully reinforced Hitler’s image as an infallible Führer. opponents and forcing Britain’s expeditionary forces
Hitler instituted a profound social revolution in Ger- back into their home islands. By June 1941, along with
many, one that affected citizens’ daily lives and atti- his Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) partner, the Italian Pre-
tudes, but it was highly exclusionary. Only Germans mier Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), Hitler held sway
could participate because in Hitler’s mind-set Jews and from Norway to North Africa. However, at this time
other foreigners were inferior to Aryans. By stages he Hitler’s character flaws surfaced. His ultimate goal,
isolated Germany’s Jewish citizens, first with business Lebensraum (living space), required that he conquer the
boycotts and purges of the civil service in 1933, then vast eastern territories occupied by Slavic peoples in
with his Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which denied Jews order to achieve his fantasy of a greater German Reich
citizenship or the right to marry Aryans. Ominously, a (empire) that would last a thousand years. He was also
vast pogrom (massacre) on 9 November 1938,unleashed convinced that he alone could accomplish such a feat.
violence against Jews and led to their resettlement in Pessimistic about his own longevity, Hitler was deter-
ghettos. Finally, in January 1942 at the secret Wannsee mined to finalize his conquests within his lifetime.
Conference, members of Hitler’s inner circle, including In July 1940, after Germany’s victories in the West,
Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942), leader of the para- Hitler ordered the preparation of Operation Bar-
military Schutzstaffel (Protective Echelon), settled upon barossa, his plan for conquering the Soviet Union.
their “Final Solution,” the Nazis’ euphemism for the Accordingly, 3 million soldiers attacked eastward on 22
mass murder of all Jews. Hitler never issued written June 1941. At first his Wehrmacht (armed forces)
orders, but his subordinates knew his wishes and has- attained easy victories over the surprised Soviets. How-
tened to carry them out. ever, enough defenders survived over the vast expanses
From the outset Hitler knew that his policies would and deteriorating weather conditions to halt the
incite fear abroad. Anticipating this, he masqueraded as invaders before Moscow in December 1941. Soviet
a defender of peace. In retrospect his actions showed reserves launched fierce counterattacks that threw the
him to be a master of deceit who played on Europe’s astonished Germans back. Hitler’s hopes of rapid vic-
war weariness in order to win concessions. Between tory proved illusory. He had embroiled his country in a
1935 and 1939 he repeatedly caught other nations, lengthy war of attrition. Amazingly, Hitler compounded
especially Britain and France, off guard. Their leaders his error by declaring war on the United States four
hoped to appease him with timely compromises. Hitler days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, turning
scrapped the Versailles Treaty, openly rearming in 1935, the conflict into a world war.
remilitarizing the Rhineland a year later, annexing Aus- Total war revealed severe weaknesses in Hitler’s gov-
tria, then the Czech Sudetenland in 1938, and finally ernmental structure. Ever since his youth Hitler had
the rest of Czechoslovakia a few months later. Simulta- held social Darwinist notions of life as an eternal strug-
neously, he outspent France and Britain on rearma- gle.The title of his book, Mein Kampf, implied as much.
ments six times over, transforming Germany into a These notions manifested themselves in the way that
military superpower by the time he invaded Poland on Hitler created agencies with overlapping authority in