Abstract
AbstractThe downfall of Adolf Hitler was a significant development in the history of the world. His armies conquered almost all of Europe in a dramatic span of time by the employment of Blitzkrieg tactics. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Hitler assisted General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Later, while still fighting on the Western front, Hitler ordered the Afrika Korps to assist Italians in Northern Africa and in the Balkans region and finally launched Operation Barbarossa by invading the Soviet Union. The Anti-Comintern Pact, Pact of Steel and Tripartite Pact brought the Third Reich, the Empire of Japan and the Kingdom of Italy onto one page. This paper attempts to probe the multiple fronts and the efficacy of Hitler’s allies including Japan, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Croatia and to try and find the causes behind the downfall of one of the strongest men the world has ever seen from a theoretical perspective. This research did not intend to glorify Hitler or Nazism, but focuses on how the maximization of power and the states’ actions with hegemonic aspirations triggered a balancing coalition and ultimately resulted in punishment from the system itself.
Highlights
Great powers compete in a great manner
Mearsheimer argued that “War is the most controversial strategy that great powers can employ to increase their share of world power.”69 A former bohemian corporal and later self-proclaimed Fuhrer, Hitler employed this strategy in the pursuit of maximization of power and becoming a regional hegemon
The research was conducted in the pursuit of two main questions
Summary
Great powers compete in a great manner. Quite often, this strategic competition for power and prestige is overshadowed by their intransigent worldview. The German Wehrmacht carried the Prussian military traditions and fielded superb military brains like Heinz Guderian (later served as General and author of Achtung Panzer (Attention Tank) originally published in 1937) and Erwin Rommel (recipient of highest gallantry award Pour le Merite in World War I, later served as Field Marshal and author of Infanterie greift an (Infantry Attacks).. The German Wehrmacht carried the Prussian military traditions and fielded superb military brains like Heinz Guderian (later served as General and author of Achtung Panzer (Attention Tank) originally published in 1937) and Erwin Rommel (recipient of highest gallantry award Pour le Merite in World War I, later served as Field Marshal and author of Infanterie greift an (Infantry Attacks).19 These men under the light of their World War I experiences envisaged and shaped the German way of war in their respective books. The Chancellor absorbed the Presidential powers and became Fuhrer (the leader) – a portfolio he kept until his death by suicide on April 30, 1945
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