After the early stages of the year it seemed unlikely that anybody could stop the advance of the German Wehrmacht, guided by its modern, mechanised infantry and its superior Blitzkrieg¹ tactics. How then, did the sure seeming victory turn into the gradual defeat of Hitler’s Third Reich?

The epic Battle of Britain was to be the first setback for Hitler. Although he never desired to attack Britain - after the fall of France he falsely believed she would negotiate for peace - Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain was launched². The Luftwaffe enjoyed numerical superiority over the RAF, and at first it seemed as though the bombing of shipping, coastal ports, airfields and factories would force Britain to her knees. Indeed, the Germans did not know just how close they were to victory. The situation changed when Allied planes bombed Berlin: Hitler had previously boasted about the invulnerability of the Reich capital and ordered vengeance. The Luftwaffe now switched its targets to London and provincial cities in the Southeast. This was decisive: the RAF had time to reorganise and shift its personnel and this, added to the superiority of their fighters and the effective usage of radar technology to spot German bombing raids, enabled Britain to stay in the war. The survival of Britain was significant for various reasons: for one, it meant a serious testing of the German army, secondly, it brought the USA, seeing more and more a threat in German expansion, closer to Britain and thirdly, it would provide a possible spring-board for future invasions. Morris comments on the Battle of Britain as a, “first checking of Germanys military triumphant progress”, as well as an, “overstretching of her [Germanys] military resources that was to be her downfall³”.

It is difficult to determine to what extent the help from Britain’s invisible ally, the USA, decided the Battle of Britain. As a matter of fact, the United States had followed a policy of isolation after the First World War and the intent to maintain neutral in the case of another war was clearly reflected in the Neutrality Acts⁴. Yet, Britain was reluctant on American trade and its credit. The initial cash-and-carry⁵ system was short-lived as credits were soon used up. The pro-British policy, enhanced by the personal friendship between Churchill and Roosevelt, resulted first in the Destroyer Deal⁶ and later in the Lend-Lease⁷ arrangement. It is arguable whether or not the American aid decisively changed the Battle of Britain and hence the outcome of the war. Needless to say that the destroyers surely enabled a safer passage for the vital cargo supplied by the merchant ships⁸, of which again the trade, as well as the war materials helped feed the population and strengthened the army.

The more decisive change, however, arrived with the official entry of the USA into war. Following the surprise raid at Pearl Harbour⁹ and the American declaration of war on Japan - an Axis Ally - Hitler, hoping Japan would attack Russia and thus relieve the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, declared war on the United States¹⁰. The power balance now clearly shifted to the allied side and, on the long run, with the two world’s industrial powers and Britain, with all their resources and manpower on the opposing side, Germanys defeat was inevitable. Alan Bullock regarded Hitler’s declaration of war against the USA as, “the greatest single mistake of the career”.

The first major defeat came during the North Africa Campaign. Rommel, commander of the German Africa Corps, became notorious for his strategic planning. With his forces he came right up to El Alamein¹¹, where he was, however, driven back after failing twice to break the British line of defence. Chased by the Eighth Army and finally encircled after the landing of Anglo-American troops in Morocco, the Corps surrendered¹². The failing in North Africa meant the first real defeat for the Wehrmacht in the war and deprived Germany of valuable resources, such as oil. Furthermore, it now gave a springboard for an invasion of southern Europe.

Although the invasion of Italy was attempted¹³, German forces resisted a breakthrough further north. Political changes, the suspension of Mussolini that is, brought about the armistice with the Allies. This relieved them of all Italian forces, fighting on basically all Axis fronts, added to the fact that twenty-six German divisions were captured. The contribution of this remains disputed. Although the additional troops would have helped to hold the advancing Red Army, the eventual outcome was hardly affected. Summarising, the Battle of El Alamein and consequently the invasion of Italy were helpful, but by no means decisive.

Already at the dawn of his political career, Hitler clarified his intention to create Lebensraum¹⁴ in the East. This ideology and his hatred against communism made it obvious that some day he would attack Russia. When, however, Mussolini was coming close to a humiliating defeat in Greece, Hitler saw himself forced to help out. The commitment of twenty-eight divisions proved a costly side-show. Even more, Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia, was postponed by six weeks. Six weeks more time before winter would break out; six less weeks for Stalin to prepare for what was inevitable. It is arguable to what extent this handicap influenced the outcome of the war, but for sure, with more time and troops available, war efforts would have gone far more efficient on the Eastern Front.

Nevertheless, the invasion of Russia was launched¹⁵. Initial successes seemed to justify the optimistic views that the campaign would be over within eight weeks. It might appear simplistic to say that any two (or more) front war can, in the long term, only lead to defeat, or that any invasion of Russia is doomed to failure. Yet, the Great War had already shown the enormous strains of a two-front war. And considering that Russia is such a large, vast country, and with the support of the winter, which had already helped to defeat Napoleons army, the operation seemed a suicide mission.

Although the Germans were still advancing, it seemed as though the tide was gradually turning on the Eastern Front. Leningrad, defended by soldiers and civilians, did not fall, the infamous winter - in which the warm-equipped Wehrmacht now faced a second fierce enemy - arrived sooner than expected and, even more, the civilians were ordered to scorch the earth¹⁶ as the Germans penetrated deeper into the heart of Russia. And yet, the real setback came at the Battle of Stalingrad¹⁷. The Red Army encircled the entire German Sixth Army¹⁸ while it was attacking the city, and despite orders from Hitler not to retreat or surrender, the commander of the army, von Paulus, and the remaining eighty thousand men eventually capitulated. Nathaniel Harris writes, “If there was such a thing as a turning point in the course of the Second World War, it was Stalingrad. The USSR would survive, and in time the Allies would win¹⁹”. The Wehrmacht and with it its invincible reputation, had suffered a humiliating and costly (in terms of material and manpower) defeat. Added to that, the forces further south were forced to retreat in fear of being encircled. From then on, the German Army pursued a constant retreat.

Although the United States had already entered the war in 1941, it was not until 1944, until their real effectiveness came into action in Europe. On D-Day²⁰, an invasion force of Allied troops landed on the Normandy beachhead, an area where the Germans had little expected an attack. With the help of Mulberry Harbours²¹ and amphibious tanks, the Allies managed to establish a foothold in Fortress Europe. Now, there was a true two-front war, and the defeat of Germany was only a question of time.

There remains no doubt that Hitler’s decisions contributed largely to the eventual defeat of Germany. His orders to switch the main targets from airfields and factories to cities definitely gave Britain the necessary air to breathe and to survive during the Battle of Britain. Similarly, the invasion of Russia marked the gradual defeat. Although the Wehrmacht advanced, the invasion of Russia would ultimately change the outcome of the war. His rapid success had made him incautious and arrogant: he under-estimated both the British and Russian resistance.

Simpler than that, one could discuss that the inability to invade Britain, or at least eliminating her before risking and invasion of Russia, was the eventual deciding factor. In the hypothetical situation of Britain having been invaded, it is highly unlikely that the USA could have contributed so significantly to the outcome of the war, in the sense of sending supplies, providing war materials and later help launch D-Day from the southern British coast.

On the other hand again, one could argue that the Red Army could have won the war by itself, that is, without D-Day. The industrial plants of the Soviet Union were cleverly shifted to the untouched East and as the war proceeded, the output of war materials and men would sooner or later simply sweep over the Wehrmacht. This would, once again, pinpoint Hitler’s decision to invade Russia as primarily fatal. This prediction, however, would have been worthless with the fall of Stalingrad and Leningrad (consequently meaning the probable surrender of the Soviet Union), clearly showing the importance of both these battles to the outcome of the war. Yet, the Allied landings did relieve the Eastern Front, where two-thirds of the Wehrmacht had been fighting. Attacking Russia was, in hindsight, one of the decisive mistakes Hitler made. Not eliminating Britain before was the other.

Bibliography:

• Years of Change - European History 1890-1945, by Robert Wolfson
• European History 1848-1945, by TA Morris
• Spotlight on the Second World War, by Nathaniel Harris

Footnotes:

1 Air raids followed by ground attacks through infantry and fast tanks

2 July 1940

3 European History 1848-1945, by T A Morris

4 1935, 1936, 1937

5 instant pay

6 The Americans gave 50 destroyers in exchange for the use of British Naval Bases in the Pacific

7 American loans regardless of credits - this was, in fact, later on also extended also to Russia

8 the Germans were sinking merchant ships with their wolf packs of U-boats

9 December 7, 1941

10 December 11, 1941

11 70 miles to the west of Alexandria, Egypt

12 May 1943

13 July 10, 1943

14 living space

15 June 22, 1941; altogether 3,500,000 soldiers were used

16 Basically to render all resources unusable - the Wehrmacht had to be supplied over longer and more difficult routes

17 November 1942-February 1943

18 initially 300,000

19 Spotlight on the Second World War, by Nathaniel Harris

20 June 6, 1944

21 mobile docks

Tags: nazi germany

The question initially demands a definition of a “totalitarian” state. A nowadays generally accepted definition is described by George Orwell in his futuristic novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. It suggests a political system and society where there the individual basically does not exist; a single party controls every aspect of “life”. Every move, every step is watched with care; every opposition, possible resistance or incompatibility with the ideology of the party is tracked down by the police. Such fictional and absurd description sort of brought it to the point.

Orwell wrote this in the late 1940’s. Ten years later, historians in general saw the Nazi Regime as totalitarian. Nowadays this is not as widely accepted. The following paragraphs will show what relates to the Third Reich as totalitarian and what not.

Nazism emerged out of the post-World-War-One Weimar Republic. The NSDAP was initially a small party, largely located in the south of Germany. Yet within a few years time the party managed to establish itself and when Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, Germany was in fact a one-party state; which, in effect, controlled every aspect in the life of the Aryan. However was there really one party, or was it the role of Hitler himself that enabled such totalitarian conditions? Hitler announced himself “Führer” by combining the functions of chancellor and president after the death of Hindenburg in August 1934 combined the functions of Chancellor and President¹. Even more, he was also Commander-in-chief of all armed services. It is disputable if there was a one-party-state or more a sovereign one-man leadership. Nevertheless, all possibilities for liberal thinking vanished with the introduction of one government.

The Third Reich was most definitely a one-way government, yet how was it structured? How was it able to influence every aspect in the life of the German?

From a superficial point of view, the Nazi Regime appeared well organised and structured. However, Hitler himself rejected any document work and governmental issues. He was supposed to have believed that problems would be solved if no one interfered. This, for sure, could in effect not work out. In general, the Nazi Regime is now seen as confused. The question that naturally arises from this is how, then, was the Nazi Government able to stay in power? There are various reasons for this. For one, Hitler removed all internal (that is within the party) problems by deliberately encouraging interior competition. Secondly, opposition to the state was reduced by the mere fact that individual resistance groups were unable to unite against the common enemy (simply due to a lack of trust). Thirdly, and probably mainly, Hitler turned the Nazi Regime into a police state, often referred to as a “Terror State”.

The SS, short for “Schutz-Staffel”, developed into the mainstay of Nazi Government. Initially thought to be the elite bodyguard for Hitler, it developed from a minor section within the SA an identity and structure of its own under the new leadership of Himmler. Although the SS was, in a way, a party of its own, it was still under the supreme control of Hitler, inevitably linking it to the state. Himmler created the SD, the “Sicherheitsdienst”, as the Party’s own internal police force. Under Himmler’s control was also the “Gestapo”². The Gestapo was feared for its brutality, clearly demonstrated in the “Night of the Long Knives”³. The SS-Police-SD controlled by Himmler and answerable only by Hitler, emerged a powerful force within Nazi-Germany. It preserved Nazi Politics by brutal and repressive policies of law enforcement. Furthermore, the influence of the police, especially that of the SS, would extend. The “Waffen-SS” became the elite military fighting unit, the “Death Hand Units” ran the concentration camps⁴; as Nazi control increased due to conquest in the war, the power of the SS enhanced in a way that it became responsible for the “New Order”⁵. So, the entire police system functioned not only as internal security, but also evolved influence in economic and military matters. Inevitably, it was the key group in the Third Reich.

Naturally, a powerful police state will never be sufficient enough to guarantee nation-wide order. Before and after Hitler became Chancellor, the mighty propaganda machine played a vital role in the Nazi Party. Göbbels, Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, commented, “It is not enough for the people to be more or less reconciled to our regime, to be persuaded to adopt a neutral attitude towards us, rather we want to work on people until they have capitulated to us, until they grasp ideologically what is happening…” The two important forms of delivering the messages were the radio and the press. The radio was a fairly new invention and in 1932, less than a quarter of the German households owned a wireless. As a result, the government made provisions for the production of a cheap set, the “Volksempfänger”⁶. Seven years later, approximately three-quarters owned a radio, as well as every café, factory, offices and other public places had a loudspeaker installed. The press was more difficult to seize control of - after all, there existed 4,700 official newspapers in Germany. The Nazis publisher — “Eher Verlag” — bought many, the Propaganda Ministry held a daily press conference, and the “Editor’s Law” finally made control over the press perfect. The propaganda areas extended onto film, music, literature and art. Most of these were used to portray the German culture, for example only German musicians were allowed to be played - music composed by Jews was forbidden. The Nazi Propaganda Machine was rendered perfect by social rituals. These included the “Heil Hitler” greeting, the Nazi salute, the “Horst Wessel”⁷ song and the different kinds of uniforms all linked to the regime. This was even more exploited by the various ritual festivals. Estimating the impact of Nazi Propaganda on the population is virtually impossible. It would be unfair to misjudge the people at that time, which were indoctrinated by the constant repetition of Nazi ideology, from our liberal point of view. At that time, it was easier to believe what was presented rather than risk personal freedom, threatened constantly by the police.

The role of the army in a political system is vital, since lack of support from the military would lead to domestic as well as foreign problems. Hitler, while combining the functions of the Chancellor and President, also declared himself Commander-in-Chief of all armed services. And as a matter of fact, the soldiers of the German army were obliged to swear an oath, not to the country, but to Hitler. Naturally, for the German soldier, bound to discipline and order by a long tradition, any future resistance would be considered as high treason. The army undoubtedly was a mainstay of the Nazi regime, in the false belief that it would maintain all the power it once possessed. Officers attempted to kill Hitler in 1944 when the war was going bad. The attempt failed. Even though it was a very brave act, the indecisive actions of that day reflected the confused state the army was in.

Various social groups and organisations, logically all connected or linked with the Nazi state, influenced the aspect of every German, no matter what age or sex. All of these, cleverly thought to indoctrinate the people, spread Nazism and propaganda supporting Hitler or the Third Reich throughout Germany.

Firstly, the workers. Hitler introduced a law that banned all labour unions or strikes of workers. Instead, a Nazi DAF⁸ was set up, obviously controlled by Nazis. Wages, working hours, stable rents and recreational provisions were organised by the Nazi KDF⁹.

Women were, from a feminine point of view, discriminated, to some extent similar like the ‘inferior’ races. The Nazis, on the other hand, claimed they would just treat them differently. The role of women in the Third Reich was simple and easy, in a chilling way named the “K, K, K”, meaning “Kinder, Kirche, Küche”¹⁰. Basically, the Aryan female had to be fit and healthy, was to look good in a natural way, cook well and have as many children as possible. There was even a policy, allowing any women with a double-figured number of children to have tea with Hitler.

Other than that, Hitler urged the importance on Germany’s youth. Hitler expressed his views concerning this in 1933, “When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come to your side’, I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to us already … In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.” There were various youth organisations, which had a total number of members between ten and eighteen years of age of nearly ten million people in 1938! Amongst those were the “Hitlerjugend”¹¹ or “Deutsches Jungvolk”¹². Their main exercises consisted were of physical nature, to prepare them for war in every way and to indoctrinate them from an early stage onwards. Naturally, similar movements were made for girls. These were however brought up to be healthy and strong, in order to bear just as fit children.

Education, in general, was one of the major targets of the Nazis. One of the distinct branches within the Nazi Party was the Nazi Teacher’s League. The main subjects on education were physical education, history and biology. History was slightly altered to shine a good light on the ‘superior’ Aryan race and pushed strongly on the recent Nazi steps to power. Biology was more a less a ‘racial science’, it consisted mainly in describing distinguished features of ‘inferior’ races. Physical education, as already mentioned, was important to encourage competition, enforce discipline, and keep them healthy - in short, pre-war training. Special schools were provided for the (supposedly) most gifted and talented, these would be the future leaders of the Third Reich.

Germany was (and is) a mainly Christian country. A Majority of people are either Protestants or Catholics. It is therefore not difficult to determine the influence the church could have on the people, in particular the possible opposition it could provide to the Nazis. Hitler knew that he could not afford to attack the church during his voting campaigns, and hence compromised on a “Concordat” with the church, granting religious freedom. Hitler’s true feelings about the church were probably revealed during a private conversation in 1933: “One is either Christian or German. You can’t be both.” In reality, church officials who talked openly against Nazi politics were prosecuted, often sent to concentration camps, some of them even dying there. Even the religious schools were influenced. In effect, Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf”¹³ substituted the bible and the swastika replaced the cross.

Reviewing the structure of the party and the impact on society, it would not be untrue to define Nazi Germany as “totalitarian”. However, it can be criticised in two ways. First of all, although Germany was a one-party state, the Nazis did not have a unity or adequate organisation. Secondly, there was never a complete control over the economy, which would have been necessary to exercise full authority. Nevertheless, the Third Reich consisted of one party, maintained by a powerful police system and a public relation that controlled and influenced every aspect in the life of a German citizen.

¹ “Law concerning the Head of the State of the German Reich”

² Geheime Staatspolizei - Secret State Police

³ Night in which Hitler ordered the assassination of many, as he thought, that opposed him

⁴ Camps similar to prisons, not thought as extermination camps

⁵ The elimination of ‘inferior’ races on occupied territory

⁶ People’s Receiver

⁷ Named after a petty criminal who was made a martyr after dying in street riots

⁸ “Deutsche Arbeiter Front” - German Labour Front

⁹ “Kraft durch Freude” - Strength through Joy

¹⁰ children, church, kitchen

¹¹ Hitler Youth

¹² German Young People

¹³ My Struggle

Tags: nazi germany