Everyone's heard about Hitler's mental health problems, especially as he developed worse symptoms towards the end of the war. But how crazy do you think he really was? I heard that he was being treated by his personal physician with methamphetamine, which contributed to his paranoia and deteriorating mental state.
I really don't know how crazy was he, totally crazy? But who was more crazy, Hitler or all those that followed him and changed the course of history? I think Hitler had to be an extremely convincing person.
At the start Hitler appealed to what he saw as the injustice of the Treaty of Versaille after the WW1 which saw the German people made to suffer as he saw it. He was a very convincing person, the Germans at the time felt very downtrodden, and second class in the eyes of Europe, he rose to power by promising to restore dignity and wealth to the German people. He had no idea of economics, or politics really, which cost Germany millions. To say he was "mad" is a bit of a stretch, these days I think we would term it as depression, when things started to go wrong, he lost control not only of the people, but of himself. There are those that think had he been 6 months further down the line with the V2 and heavy water projects, Germany would have won the war, and Hitler would have risen to be one of the greatest dictators and empire builders the world had ever seen. But "mad" by todays standards, probably not.
Adolf Crazy? Define crazy. And what time-frame do you want to talk about? It seems clear even from second and third hand reports Adolf was suffering psychotic breaks from reality by the Spring of 1945 due to a variety of factors -- overwork, over-medication, lack of proper sleep and progressive "medical issues". The injuries he suffered on 20 July, 1944, also to a justified state of paranoia. From the last film of him he does appear to be gravely suffering. But he also appears to have been lucid at least for a portion of his day. He had the clarity of mind in his last hours to draw up a new Will and to try to get it, the document, to safety. That was Adolf at the end. But what of earlier times? He showed signs of brilliance and superior energy throughout the 1930s. Just read a book called "Hitler's Table Talk" where his secretaries record his dinner conversations. Read about how he manipulated his underlings, the NSDAP, and the German people. During the 1920s before his promidence he does seem at times to lack focus. And if reports of his hidden private life can be believed he did suffer some mental tramas -- something almost understandable for a highly intelligent mind with an artistic flair.
Sort of agree with this, some commentators even regard him as a flawed genius, tactically his judgement seemed to be superb, it was only in the latter stages, when his generals took things into their own hands because of his incapacity that things really went wrong, and added to his mental instability, the fact he only really trusted Rommel is a reminder of how much he was trying to control on his own.
Thank you. I think Hitler was incredibly persuasive and used the ability to manipulate the masses to carry out an agenda for Germany's domination across Europe. Of course as his power was dwindling, he became more paranoid. At the same time, I question the individuals who blindly followed this man and his idea to even carry out the crimes committed under Hitler's reign.
Many scholars think that he had manic-depressive disorder his whole life, and that he may have had split personalities too.
I can't even imagine when he had the world at his feet, he most likely was feeling invincible, a god on earth, but an evil one exterminating people just because...
"Exterminating people just because...". Curious enough David Irving and his allies argue Adolf was actually against the wholesale elimination of any people inside Greater Germania. Through that into the mix regarding Adolf's mental health, if you please.
It really depends on your definition of "crazy". While by today's standard and ethics, it is wrong and "crazy" trying to conquer another country (let alone a whole continent or even the whole world) for the sake of expanding your territory, a lot of dictators and great conquerors throughout the history were actually remembered as "heroes" (Alexander the Great; Napoleon; Genghis Kan, etc.) What Hitler did in WWII (trying to conquer all of the Europe and beyond) could be considered as "crazy". Of course, when you talk about more of the micro decisions he made, some of them also don't seem to be reasonable or logical... but it could be contributed to his arrogant and lack of military expertise. As for his unstable mental healthy, we don't know for sure how bad it was toward the end of the war. Anyone who had previous winning a war then later being put on the losing end might "break down" mentally. All those talk about the meds he was taking and the side effects, it could be just propaganda.
