Adolf Hitler As A Strategic Leader

By,
Sameer Patel Piyush Maheshwari Maulik Shah Hardik Chokshi

Introduction
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria. Adi, as he was known in his youth, spent his childhood in Austria. His father, Alois, retired from civil service in 1895, when Hitler was only six, which created a tense, strict atmosphere at home.

Introduction
When Hitler was 13, his father passed away and his mother, Klara, had to care for Hitler and his siblings by herself. Times were tough for the Hitler household. In 1905, at age 16, Adolf quit school and never returned.

How he joined Army

To avoid military service in the Austrian army, Hitler moved to Munich, Germany in May 1913 but as soon as World War I broke out, Hitler asked for and received special permission to serve in the BavarianGerman army.

Historical Importance of Hitler

Adolf Hitler was responsible for starting World War II and is considered for killing more than 11 million people during the Holocaust.

Hitlers Political Decision Making Process

Hitlers career was characterized by the awesome power he achieved over the German people and how he was able to use it to attain his political goals. His power over the people was partly due to his extraordinary talent as an speaker.

Hitler was a showman with a great sense for the dramatic. Not only did he schedule his speeches late in the evening when his audience would be tired and their resistance lowered through natural causes, but would always send an assistant ahead of time to make a short speech and warm up the audience.

Personal Qualities

Hitler was a brilliant speaker, and his eyes had a peculiar power over people. He was a good organizer and politician. He was a driven, unstable man, who believed that he had been called by God to become dictator of Germany and rule the world. This kept him going when other people might have given up. His self-belief persuaded people to believe in him.

Technocrat

Hitler was one of the first politicians to utilize the modern technology of his time such as floodlights, public address systems, radio broadcasts, and air transportation to keep the public constantly aware of his political views.

Message

The crucial moment was at hand for Germany to face her destiny, that her problems were unique, and they required new and demanding solutions, and above all it was he and he alone who could provide Germany with the leadership she needed to achieve her destiny.

lebensraum

Hitler was convinced that with the controlled will of the people and the green light from Britain, nothing could prevent his dream of lebensraum from becoming a reality.

Hitlers Grand Strategy?

Hitler distrusted his successors, as he distrusted his predecessors, who had been too soft. Only he, he believed, the hardest man in centuries, had the qualities for such a Cyclopean task: the vision, the will-power, the combination of military and political, political and worldhistorical insight. Therefore the whole programme of conquest, from beginning to end, must be carried through by him, personally. Nor could it be left to his subordinates, his generals.

Hitlers strategy wasnt ad hoc; it simply implies that each step was taken one at a time to test the waters before proceeding to the next.

Blitzkrieg tactics

Hitler directed the Blitzkrieg tactics that dominated the first phase of World War II. These bold tactics included sudden shock attacks against airfields, communications centers and military installations.

Hitlers Leadership Principle

Hitler distrusted his generals and relied too much on his own instinct. According to his so-called Leadership Principle, ultimate authority rested with him and extended downward.

Hitler combined his insistence on personal control with a leadership style that often consisted of equal parts stubbornness and indecisiveness (Megargee).

Hitlers belief that Germany's victories were his alone left no room for his generals advice. His leadership style coupled with his hesitation to make critical decisions proved to be unworkable in the end and led inevitably to Germany's eventual defeat.

Hitler As A Military Leader

Hitler had the uncanny ability to commit precise details to memory, particularly historical information, technical facts, economic statistics, and past personal experiences.

Hitlers amazing memory also served him well in his ability to comprehend technical matters and problems with armaments. His knowledge of guns, tanks, ships and their capabilities as weapons of war benefited Germanys war fighting machine.

More on Futuristic Approach

Hitler had a firm grasp on the capabilities of the gasoline engine and was always interested in other technical areas, specifically in the production of synthetic materials. He could instantly recall the effect of the enemys latest weapon systems and figures pertaining to German and enemy war production.

Hitler credited his military leadership to the experience he gained as a common soldier in the First World War where he received the coveted Iron Cross Second Class and also the Iron Cross First Class which was one of Germanys highest decorations during that period.

Hitler believed, based on his personal experience, that he could view the battle from a soldiers perspective and understood how the common soldier felt when fighting on the front lines.

Field Marshal Erich von Manstein credits Hitler with a number of characteristics essential to military leadership such as a strong will, nerves of steel, and undeniable intelligence.

Hitler also possessed the ability to adjust his conversation to the mentality of his audience. He could discuss highly technical matters with industrialists, engage in political conversations with diplomats, or simplify complex problems to a level easily understood by the common working class.

The worlds tolerance of Hitlers actions, therefore, reinforced his selfesteem as a military leader and allowed him to implement his opportunistic strategy one step at a time.

Leadership Attitudes and Style Adolf Hitler vs. Nelson Mandela

Hitler had task-related behaviors, which contributed to form his autocratic leadership because an autocratic leader tends to have actions that mainly focus on getting tasks done. Conversely, Mandela was seen as a relationshiporiented leader whose behaviors were based on the relationship with people. More specifically, Mandela had a democratic leadership because he tended to give final authority on the group, which was totally opposite to the autocratic leadership of Hitler, who wanted to retain most of the authority and

Leadership Attitudes and Style Adolf Hitler vs. Winston Churchill

Hitler used his own methods to attract crowd towards him such as he never blinked when he used to give speech to built an effective rapport with the audience. Talking about Churchill, he failed in doing such. He used to adopt others strategies to give public speeches which he failed on and used to bore the audience. Thus, no one was overawed by Churchill's physical presence in the way they were by Hitlers. Hitler was actually kinder to his immediate staff. In terms of man management Hitler was more considerate boss.

"The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category." - Adolph Hitler "Our strategy is to destroy the enemy from within, to conquer him through himself." - Adolf Hitler

"How fortunate for leaders that men do not think." - Adolf Hitler "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." - Adolf Hitler

Thank You..!!