personal effects consisted of little more than some uniforms, a few pairs of boots, and a well-worn sheepskin peasant coat. So, too, Hitler passed with a dearth of property to his name, among them a flag and some trinkets acquired during a recent birthday party.
8. NEITHER HAD EXPERIENCE IN MILITARY LEADERSHIP
Franklin D. Roosevelt was Woodrow Wilson’s assistant secretary of the navy. From 1922 dictator Benito Mussolini served as his own navy, army, and air force minister. C HIANG K AI -S HEK studied military tactics in Japan and Russia and was commander in chief of Nationalist China since 1925. Longtime soldier Winston Churchill served as an officer, minister of munitions, secretary of war, and first lord of the admiralty before becoming prime minister. Military academy graduate Tojo Hideki worked as chief of military police, chief of staff, and minister of war. Of all the major leaders in the Second World War, only two possessed essentially no background in military authority.
Despite four long years of meritorious service in the F IRST W ORLD W AR , Hitler never rose beyond the rank of corporal. Stalin served in the Red Army during the R USSIAN C IVIL W AR , but only as a political adjutant.
At the end of the war, Hitler declared the German people unworthy of his military genius; Stalin bestowed upon himself the rank of Generalissimo, the medal “Order of Victory,” and the title “Hero of the Soviet Union.” 60
9. BOTH AVOIDED THE FRONT FOR THE ENTIRE WAR
When German guns came within twenty miles of Moscow in December 1941, Stalin refused to leave the Kremlin, yet he also never visited any of his troops in the field. War or no war, seclusion was in keeping with his abstracted style of leadership. After taking power in 1928, he rarely ventured out in public, offered a decreasing number of party speeches, and avoided appearing in villages and factories altogether.
Only once, in 1943, did Stalin risk an excursion toward the fighting, an event he painted in the most gallant terms to Roosevelt and Churchill. His line commanders viewed the occasion differently. Gen. Nikolai Voronov recalled being summoned, driven mile after mile into secluded backwoods to a cottage nowhere near the front, in which a waiting Stalin requested a synopsis of how the war was progressing. “He could see nothing from there,” noted Voronov. “It was a strange unnecessary trip.” 61
So, too, Hitler became increasingly detached. Biographer Ian Kershaw notes how the Führer conducted nine public speeches in 1940, two in 1943, and none in 1944. Ebbing tides in North Africa and the Soviet Union convinced Hitler to avoid the German public almost completely. He instead shuttled between his cloistered Eagle’s Nest mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden and his dreary concrete Wolf’s Lair headquarters in East Prussia. When field commanders spoke of exhausted supplies and faltering troops, Hitler dismissed their reports as defeatist, often adding, “Believe me, things appear clearer when examined at longer range.”
A secretary of Hitler’s lamented, “We are permanently cut off from the world wherever we are…It’s always the same limited group of people, always the same routine inside the fence.” By autumn 1944 the Führer had been absent for so long that many of his countrymen began to believe their leader was either seriously ill or dead. 62
In addition to military arenas, Stalin and Hitler avoided nearly everything else to do with the war. Neither ever visited a field hospital, bombed neighborhood, or concentration camp.
When traveling by train during the war, both Stalin and Hitler insisted that curtains remained drawn so they would not have to see the damage rendered on the surrounding countryside.
10. BOTH HAVE BEEN DEPICTED AS THE ANTICHRIST
Christian fears of the “Final Enemy” were propagated with the coming of the Second World War. Signs appeared profuse—a false deliverer, throngs of devout followers espousing a new
8. NEITHER HAD EXPERIENCE IN MILITARY LEADERSHIP
Franklin D. Roosevelt was Woodrow Wilson’s assistant secretary of the navy. From 1922 dictator Benito Mussolini served as his own navy, army, and air force minister. C HIANG K AI -S HEK studied military tactics in Japan and Russia and was commander in chief of Nationalist China since 1925. Longtime soldier Winston Churchill served as an officer, minister of munitions, secretary of war, and first lord of the admiralty before becoming prime minister. Military academy graduate Tojo Hideki worked as chief of military police, chief of staff, and minister of war. Of all the major leaders in the Second World War, only two possessed essentially no background in military authority.
Despite four long years of meritorious service in the F IRST W ORLD W AR , Hitler never rose beyond the rank of corporal. Stalin served in the Red Army during the R USSIAN C IVIL W AR , but only as a political adjutant.
At the end of the war, Hitler declared the German people unworthy of his military genius; Stalin bestowed upon himself the rank of Generalissimo, the medal “Order of Victory,” and the title “Hero of the Soviet Union.” 60
9. BOTH AVOIDED THE FRONT FOR THE ENTIRE WAR
When German guns came within twenty miles of Moscow in December 1941, Stalin refused to leave the Kremlin, yet he also never visited any of his troops in the field. War or no war, seclusion was in keeping with his abstracted style of leadership. After taking power in 1928, he rarely ventured out in public, offered a decreasing number of party speeches, and avoided appearing in villages and factories altogether.
Only once, in 1943, did Stalin risk an excursion toward the fighting, an event he painted in the most gallant terms to Roosevelt and Churchill. His line commanders viewed the occasion differently. Gen. Nikolai Voronov recalled being summoned, driven mile after mile into secluded backwoods to a cottage nowhere near the front, in which a waiting Stalin requested a synopsis of how the war was progressing. “He could see nothing from there,” noted Voronov. “It was a strange unnecessary trip.” 61
So, too, Hitler became increasingly detached. Biographer Ian Kershaw notes how the Führer conducted nine public speeches in 1940, two in 1943, and none in 1944. Ebbing tides in North Africa and the Soviet Union convinced Hitler to avoid the German public almost completely. He instead shuttled between his cloistered Eagle’s Nest mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden and his dreary concrete Wolf’s Lair headquarters in East Prussia. When field commanders spoke of exhausted supplies and faltering troops, Hitler dismissed their reports as defeatist, often adding, “Believe me, things appear clearer when examined at longer range.”
A secretary of Hitler’s lamented, “We are permanently cut off from the world wherever we are…It’s always the same limited group of people, always the same routine inside the fence.” By autumn 1944 the Führer had been absent for so long that many of his countrymen began to believe their leader was either seriously ill or dead. 62
In addition to military arenas, Stalin and Hitler avoided nearly everything else to do with the war. Neither ever visited a field hospital, bombed neighborhood, or concentration camp.
When traveling by train during the war, both Stalin and Hitler insisted that curtains remained drawn so they would not have to see the damage rendered on the surrounding countryside.
10. BOTH HAVE BEEN DEPICTED AS THE ANTICHRIST
Christian fears of the “Final Enemy” were propagated with the coming of the Second World War. Signs appeared profuse—a false deliverer, throngs of devout followers espousing a new
Similar Books
