Now, let us try something else, more historical:
It may be said that there were two origins to the Second World War: the Versailles Treaty, and the Great Depression. The Versailles Treaty, by assigning blame for the First World War to Germany, and exacting reparations, fed into grievances about being subject to "victor's justice", which were exacerbated when the Depression caused widespread unemployment and economic turmoil. Also, the attempt to create a number of new states out of the Austro- Hungarian Empire left substantial German speaking populations subject to non- German governments, and motivated demands for the revision of borders.
However, underlying these historical causes was the particular nature of German nationalism, which had diverged from its more liberal 19th century origins to become a nationalism of "blood and soil", obsessed with racial theories that were in the process of being discredited in most civilized countries. From this growing racial perspective, Germany was destined to lead the Teutonic peoples of Northern Europe as the successors to the Mediterranean peoples, which had become decadent, and as a bulwark against the prolific Slavic peoples, who were underdeveloped. This revitalized Europe would then divide the rest of the world in an "equitable" system of Empire, recognizing the hegemony of Germany among the European powers.
To this was added an even more insidious element: racial anti- Semitism. Jews were non- Germans who had developed extraordinary influence in the media, academia, the professions, finance, and even politics. It was this last that became the particular bane of the chauvinists, who were looking for those who had sold Germany out, not accepting the legitimacy of defeat. Since the Socialists held power through much of the war, and Jews were over- represented in that party, it was not hard to "blame the Jews" for post-War woes.
It took two more elements to prepare the way for the Nazis. First, there was the ascension to power of Mussolini in Italy, with a party that appealed to the Right in its nationalism, and elements of the Left in its quasi- socialist origins. The theory of the Fascist state, harmonizing class interests around national solidarity, and extolling discipline and imperial expansion as bulwarks against decadence, were inspirational to the development of the National Socialist Workers' Party, as it was originally called. Second, it took the ascension of just the right fanatic, with oratorical power and political cunning, from the various fringe groups ranting in the various beer halls of Germany: Hitler. It is conceivable that without this one man, nothing like World War Two would have occurred.
Nevertheless, the immediate opportunity for the Nazis to take over the government of Germany was provided by the weakness of the Weimar Republic and the misery of the Great Depression. The weakness of the Republic meant that there was little resistance to anti- democratic parties, or to the tactics of the Nazis when they came to power; and the misery of the Depression, bringing to a boil the sorts of discontent I have been speaking of, made the Nazis the single largest party, with about a third of the seats, in the parliament. Hitler managed to secure the chancellorship, and used the Reichstagg fire as a pretext for the introduction of emergency measures permitting rule by decree, and the Nazis were off and running: a party dedicated to revising borders, avenging the Versailles Treaty, imposing a new racial order on Europe, and "dealing with" the Jews....
Again, I would draw your attention to the extreme compression and selection necessary to this narrative, and its unavoidably interpretive character..... |
