Within the context of the years 1871 -1990, to what extent was Hitler the most authoritarian German leader?

Authors Avatar by harman91 (student)

Anisha Patel

Within the context of the years 1871 -1990, to what extent was Hitler the most authoritarian German leader?

During the years 1871-1990 Germany had been through two substantial wars leaving Germany in turmoil resulting in the German people losing faith in their democratic state resulting in a range of leaders governing Germany. In this time Germany had been governed by several leaders including Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the most renown of them all; Adolf Hitler. The citizens of Germany had been through democracy with Wilhelm as well as the Weimar republic which had evidently been a failure resulting in dictatorship under the leadership of Hitler. Kaiser was held responsible for the outbreak of World war One as well as Germany being humiliated in the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and leaving Germany’s reputation questionable as a great power. However Bismarck, also known as the ‘Iron Chancellor’ was successful in forming the unification of Germany out of a collection of independent and self governing German states under Germany.  Hitler was indisputably the most authoritarian of them all as he implemented policies such as his foreign policy and  his economic policy which reduced the number of people who were unemployed in Germany. This was done through controlling Germany via the use of terror, propaganda, education and youth as well as work and leisure which resulted in Hitler having an authoritarian leadership as he had the most support from the German people.

Join now!

Hitler was regarded as the most authoritarian German leader as he was the most influential, charismatic and persuasive leader. It was he who provided the party with its main ideas and who attracted the support of millions of German people.  was aware of the value of good propaganda and consequently appointed Josef Goebbels as the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Goebbels took propaganda to a new, perverse level. Through propaganda Hitler expressed his anti Semitism views and he emphasised his hatred for democracy. Hitler ensured more people learnt about his policies through posters, speeches, rallies as well as the media. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay