oh dear...just like you probably blame Hitler for killing 50...

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    oh dear...just like you probably blame Hitler for killing 50 million people in WW2

    I didn't blame Hitler as the only cause. You are putting words in my mouth.

    Here is what happens.
    In order for a person like Hitler to gain so much influence requires some critical factors to operate simultaneously.
    The political, financial, and cultural conditions in the country have to be conducive to a person exercising a huge amount of influence.
    A person has to be available with the attributes to take a position of influence. Included are
    • A background that shapes the person's relevant view on life. These include the state of the place were he/she lives, the type of education he/she receives, religious influences and so on.
    • The ability of that person to recognise and exploit factors that make people scared, angry, jealous, frustrated etc.
    • A charisma to carry it off.
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    In the case of Hitler the hardship of the reparations from WW1 demanded of Germany played a big part in enabling him to have so much influence.

    Hilter had the charisma and ability to exploit people's fears, frustrations etc. For example Jews in Germany were doing relatively well in an economically depressed country, and he exploited this to turn people against them and as a deflection from real problems.

    Was Hitler a victim of circumstances and in a sense his own worst enemy? I think that there is a case for this. He was no doubt a great influencer and had a huge ability to rally crowds to his cause. Unfortunately he also had a fatal flaw that interfered with rational thought.
    Examples are:
    • The extent tha he vilified Jews was not necessary. He would have been better off with them contributing as allies.
    • He made peace with Russia and then opened up two fronts by invading Russia - the invation of Russia ignored the lesson of history provided by Napolian.
    • He thought that he was above everybody, and sometimes ignored his own generals who had more experience in warfare than he did.
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    You can build a piture for Bush, Blair etc if you wish.
 
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