Fascism: Adolf Hitler and National Socialism

1. How did the Versailles treaty and the fallout from World War I lead to a dictatorship in Germany?

Germany agreed to an armistice in World War I with the understanding that the terms of a treaty would be derived from Wilson’s fourteen points.  But Germany wasn’t even allowed representation at Versailles and the final agreement was far more punitive than the Germans expected.  While the Americans wished to allow the German people to save face, they could afford to feel more magnanimous – they weren’t fighting the Germans in the trenches for three long deadly years like the French.  The British and the French were determined to crush Germany, not just for the sake of world peace, but in retaliation for the loss of lives and devastation to their countries.  Wilson was opposed to this harsh treatment, but in order to persuade France to back down from its territorial claims on Germany’s Rhineland, he was forced to agree to assign war guilt to Germany.  The German military was reduced to 100,000 and the Germans were forced to give up their air force.  Burdened with a $33 billion debt in war damages, the Germans’ smoldering resentment just needed a spark to ignite their anger and feelings of betrayal by America and the rest of Europe.  This gave rise to the Nazi party that vehemently opposed the democratic Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles.  After Wilson, the Republican administration in the U.S. demanded repayment of war loans from the Allies.  In order to pay, the Allies in turn leaned on the Germans.  Payment of reparations, inflation, then the Great Depression, wiped out the savings of middle class Germans and destabilized the democratic government.  Hitler exploited the situation by appealing to German pride, promoted nationalism and anti-Semitism, and vowed to erase the humiliation of Versailles by creating a stronger, more militaristic Germany. 

2. Why was the Nazi government successful in reducing unemployment in Germany? What were the political and social costs of this economic success?

When Hitler came into power, he tackled unemployment by implementing government public work projects, similar to those set up by New Dealers.  One of the most prominent projects was extensive work on the German autobahn. The Nazi government poured money into auto manufacturing and construction projects.  Labor unions were nationalized and strikes were banned.  In order to artificially lower unemployment figures, jobs were take away from Jews and women and given to unemployed German men.  Hitler then made plans to rearm Germany.  The ugly side of fascism began to appear.  Business was increasingly tied to fascism and disagreement with the Nazis led to a loss of livelihood, at the very least.  The Nazis rise to power had a dark undertone of violence and menace, and the larger the party grew the more dangerous it was to oppose Hitler and his followers.  Democracy, newer to Germans than the Allies, and more fragile, was crushed.  The Nazis bullied the German population to the point where fear for their lives took precedence over their morals and laws.

3. Do you think the citizens of a fascist government gain more than they lose? Why or why not? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

If the citizens of a fascist government thought they would gain economic and political stability by giving up their personal liberties, they were naïve at best.  The promise of a new world and a new order is false lie of all dictators.  When people divest themselves of autonomy and lose control over their own government, there is no braking mechanism that prevents abuse of power.  Under the fascists, Germans may have seen an improved economy, but it was a propped up economy due to the government engaging in an illegal war-build up.  In order to move the country in the direction of war, no deviation by business or by labor was allowed.  Both business and labor lost their rights of self-determination.  If one can find any advantages to a fascist government, it may be that a dictatorship can force efficiency, up to a point.  Mussolini claimed that he made the Italian trains run on time.  In post World War I Germany, the Germans, faced with the immediacy of massive unemployment and economic chaos welcomed any port in the storm.  When people are hungry and frightened, they become short-sighted and willing to overlook small infringements on their liberties.  But if examined closely, are there any advantages to a system of government that slaughters innocent men, women and children by the hundreds of thousands, declares war on its neighbors, steals their lands and makes slaves of their populace?  No moral person could find a human advantage to fascism, unless, of course, one was a fascist themselves and believed they were deserving of this power.  To quote Lord Acton, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  Should one claim absolute power over others, their corrupt nature should automatically reveal itself.  However, in the case of Nazi Germany, Hitler’s followers blinded themselves to his true nature and led the Germans to participate in atrocities that make Americans shudder to this day.

4. What do you think would happen in America if we faced inflation and huge amounts of unemployment like they did in Germany? What would you want to see happen in that case?

America faced similar difficulties with inflation and unemployment in the Great Depression.  There are notable differences between America and post World War I Germany.  The most obvious difference is that America won the war and Germany didn’t.  The United States began its existence as a group of scrappy little colonies and since that time had increased its reputation as a global military power.  America had never been occupied, never lost a major war and never forced to pay reparations.  At the end of the war, America’s pride was intact.  But German pride was crushed and the psychological impact must have been horrendous.  The only parallel in America would be the South after the Civil War.  America, as the first modern democracy, had almost a century and a half of self-governance by World War I.  By contrast, Germany’s first democracy was established after World War I.  They simply did not have the experience of democracy that seems to lend itself to the rejection of tyranny.  If America were to face massive inflation and unemployment at the level that Germany faced in the 1930s, I believe that that the majority of Americans who believe in our Constitution and rule of law would not allow dictatorship in the guise of “solution” to sway us away from our freedoms.  Dictatorships have a nasty habit of offering “final solutions” for those who disagree with their policies:  left (Stalin) and right (Hitler).  I believe that our laws have evolved to the degree where the lack of civil rights for minorities that existed during the 1930s in the U.S. would not be tolerated today and any programs to bring back the economy would be applied fairly and equitably (or at least as is humanly possible, given the temptations that mankind is prey to).