Hitler - A Man's Man before he became a Monster.

[old man emu]

It is not the done thing to praise Adolf Hitler due to the horrors his political philosophy caused after 1925, but before the monster he had a life of which little is said. As we come to our national day of remembrance we think of those who put their lives on the line for noble reasons. We remember Australia's baptism of fire in the Dardanelles, and our slaughter on the Western Front starting at Fromelles in 1916. But on the other side of the Line, men were as brave as Our Boys. 

 

I'm not going to praise Adolf for what he did after 1925, but looking at what he did up to the early 1920's, I feel that a man who did what he did is worthy of respect. This video tells the story of a person who did his utmost to secure for his country - albeit his adopted country - the goals for which it went to war. After you view the video, perhaps you might say to yourself, "wouldn't anyone who went through what he did for all those years, only to be defeated, be furious and looking for revenge on those he believed stabbed the soldiers in the back".

 

[facthunter]

Why did Germany go to war.? The assassination of  Ferdinand which today would hardly rate as much at all.  IT was just an excuse..Germany and England were locked in a battle of who's got the best whatever. That's why the Titanic didn't slow down. Hitler was arguably very mentally disturbed by his WW1 war experiences and the French "Reparations" didn't help as they were beyond reasonable. The Nazi Racial purity was adopted from the US KKK  dogma. Quite a bit of sympathy for Hitlers version of National Socialism   existed in America. Nev

[old man emu]

The causes of WWI on the European arose long before Archduke Franz Ferdinand got shot. Bosnia and Herzegovina fell under Austro-Hungarian rule in 1878, following the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), when the Congress of Berlin approved the occupation of the Bosnia Vilayet, which officially remained part of the Ottoman Empire. Three decades later, in 1908, Austria-Hungary provoked the Bosnian crisis by formally annexing the occupied zone, establishing the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the joint control of Austria and Hungary.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Hungarian_rule_in_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

 

After Franz Ferdinand was shot, a whole raft of alliances and treaties came into play, and WWI was fought to sort out the effects of those treaties. 

 

Prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews has experienced a long history of expression since the days of ancient civilizations, with most of it having originated in the Christian and pre-Christian civilizations of Europe. While it has been cited as having been expressed in the intellectual and political centres of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, the phenomenon received greater institutionalization within European Christianity following the dissolution of the ancient centre of Jewish culture, Jerusalem, resulting in the forced segregation of Jewish populations and restrictions on their participation in the public life of European society at times. You can't accuse Hitler of dreaming up anti-Semitism. That was part of the culture that he grew up in and lived in. It seems to be the reason he wanted to join the German Army since he didn't want to fight in the culturally diverse Austro-Hungarian army.

 

Hitler applied his cultural prejudice to apportioning blame for Germany's surrender in WWI. You can tell from his military record that he was a brave and proud soldier. Having experienced the Western Front for nearly all the war, and seeing its horrors, it is reasonable to expect a soldier to blame those who stayed at home, pulling the strings. Also from a front-line trench, you can't see the failure of the government to supply food to both its soldiers and civilians when its import routes are closed. There was more than cowardice behind the decision to capitulate.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

WW2 was just a continuation of WW1. The British were lucky to be allowed into the fun. It was only the idiotic Schlieffen plan which involved Belgium which allowed the poms in.

The poms were on the nose in Europe because of their dreadful actions  in the Boer war, which included the development of concentration camps in the modern world.

[facthunter]

Conditions in Germany were beyond tolerable, Inflation being one of the obvious issues. Adolf had a big axe to grind with the French. Nev

[spacesailor]

Have you seen his plans for the upgraded Berlin. 

Art galleries,  museum's,  and more.

Very modern for those days.

spacesailor

[Old Koreelah]

24 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

Have you seen his plans for the upgraded Berlin. 

Art galleries,  museum's,  and more.

Very modern for those days.

spacesailor

But bluddy ugly and unimaginative!

[Old Koreelah]

On 10/04/2021 at 5:10 PM, old man emu said:

The causes of WWI on the European arose long before Archduke Franz Ferdinand got shot..

Lots of small events and influences caused The Great War, but Australian PM Billy Hughes was a significant cause of WWII. 

His insistence at Versailles on punishing Germany with crippling reparations helped Hitler’s rise. American President Woodrow Wilson had the wisdom to predict that reparations would see another war in twenty years, but Hughes had to have his grandstand moment.

Hughes insulted our Japanese allies, leading to their delegates walking out of the League of Nations. Such was their humiliation at home that militarists took over the government -actually murdering several peacemakers-and launching  a vicious war to subjugate Asia.

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Wow old K, I didn't know that stuff but it sure explains some things. Thanks.

[spacesailor]

BUT 

The Americans insisted on Britain Pay it,s repatriation  to the last Penny !.

Leaving the country on rations untill 1953. Children starving in England in the early 50,s.

Were did that money go ?.

To the Blooody enemy Huns.

Who assassinated all the railway men, sent to France to help rebuild the rail network.

spacesailor

 

[facthunter]

Englands costs were  lend lease costs. Russia said stick your bill. The US was made rich by the war production they provided which was the key to Victory in any case. It was the US Marshal plan that got Germany going again.. it was pretty knocked about and WE got some of their engineering presses etc as reparations.  Nev

[spacesailor]

And the poms got starvation rations, thanks to America.

spacesailor

[Marty_d]

31 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

And the poms got starvation rations, thanks to America.

spacesailor

They probably got quite a few babies though... (thanks to America!)

[old man emu]

10 hours ago, facthunter said:

It was the US Marshal plan that got Germany going again.. i

The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. The brainchild of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, for whom it was named, it was crafted as a four-year plan to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbours—as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States.

 

After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the United States led the Allies in the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese state. Between 1945 and 1952, the U.S. occupying forces, led by General Douglas A. MacArthur, enacted widespread military, political, economic, and social reforms. Although Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the Republic of China had an advisory role as part of an “Allied Council,” MacArthur had the final authority to make all decisions. Once again it was the USA which called the tune.

 

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/japan-reconstruction#:~:text=After the defeat of Japan,rehabilitation of the Japanese state.&text=In September%2C 1945%2C General Douglas,the work of rebuilding Japan.

 

10 hours ago, facthunter said:

WE got some of their engineering presses

Which "WE". I doubt if Australia got any of them.

[facthunter]

I've actually seen them at Commonwealth Steel Co Waratah Newcastle. Massive Hydraulic with "Heine" or something like that  cast into the frame. I was specifically told they were part of war reparations. This would have been in the 50's. I suppose it's possible they relate to WW1. If so, that detail wasn't passed on to me. Nev

[Old Koreelah]

19 hours ago, facthunter said:

...It was the US Marshal plan that got Germany going again...

Marshall and his team deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Inspired, long-term policy that converted former enemies to economic allies.

 

19 hours ago, facthunter said:

...WE got some of their engineering presses etc as reparations. 

I believe the Soviets stripped German factories of tools and equipment.

In the end, it gave German industry a clean slate to begin again and develop new and more efficient designs while Britain limped along for decades with the same old outmoded factories and work practices...and we know where that lead.

 

 

 

[spacesailor]

O.K

Don,t forget England was broke.

and

Repaying that Yankee Marshal his due, out of the mouths of babies.

How can you refit anything without Money.

17 years of paying,

Would the English workers have been worse off under Hitler, Not, from some of us.

spacesailor

Edited April 12, 2021 by spacesailor
Spelling

[old man emu]

I suppose that when your cities and manufacturing plants have been bombed into rubble, all you can do is clear the rubble away and start with a clean slate. 

 

In both Germany and Japan, the USA poured in money for reconstruction simply to prevent the people turning to communism, and to turn to the USA as a leader. I would never believe that the USA would help any country merely from the goodness of its heart.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, spacesailor said:

O.K

Don,t forget England was broke.

and

Repaying that Yankee Marshal his due, out of the mouths of babies.

How can you refit anything without Money.

17 years of paying,

Would the English workers have been worse off under Hitler, Not, from some of us.

spacesailor

I think those debts were repaid only in the last couple of years...

 

 

[kgwilson]

Britain didn't have to pay for any of the lend lease equipment provided during the war (that debt was written off) but they did have to pay for equipment left in Britain after the war that was still useful. But from VE day onwards every bit of aid had to be repaid. Britain was totally broke by the end of the war and the last of the lend lease money loaned by the US & Canada in 1945-46 was finally repaid in 2006.

[old man emu]

We have talked before about Lend Lease material being left in Australia, and that it could not be sold for several years after the war. Then an agreement was reached and it was sold off. However, I wonder how long it took Australia to pay off its Lend Lease debt.

 

Here's a good article on what happened after the war to the stuff. You'll need a box of Kleenex to read it.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/articles/australias-wwii-lend-lease-program.html

[facthunter]

In the USA you were considered unpatriotic if you chose to drive an old car. It's increasingly becoming a place I don't want to be. Nev

[Old Koreelah]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

In the USA you were considered unpatriotic if you chose to drive an old car. It's increasingly becoming a place I don't want to be. Nev

Japan is one country where they replace their cars while still nearly new, but out in the countryside I was astonished to see a 1960s Corolla drive by.

[facthunter]

 My understanding is they are required to have a comprehensive engineering inspection at something like 5 years that is prohibitively expensive. Parts can be an issue also. Nev

[spacesailor]

Don,t tell !.

Jay Leno that, with a super-large garage.full of Old bangers.

spacesailor