- Venomous.:
- There are multiple totalitarian dictatorships all over the world - that still exist today. Only look at Robert Mugabe and all the terror he has inflicted in Zimbabwe.
The common people supported the Nazi regime because they were afraid of themselves or their loved ones being hurt or killed. That's an attitude that could easily lead to war - even in the modern world. People always seem to argue - "Oh! I would never be corrupted, I'd rather die. I'd never do those horrible things. Blah blah blah". But when you think about it, self-preservation is human nature. In all honestly, most people would sacrifice the life of a stranger they've never met in order to save their loved ones. Most people would carry out their orders if it meant they would survive.
There were numerous youth indoctrination practices that kept the population malleable to Hitlers wishes. This growing pressure to conform is what led to the regimes 'success'. Conform or die basically. If you're entire world existed of the ideologies of the Nazi movement, if everybody you knew conformed, you would too without a single doubt. Otherwise you'd be dead.
Basically, I think Hitler was very attuned to the 'dark side' of human nature and manipulated this knowledge into gaining power for himself. My theory. Tell me if any of this didn't make sense.
It was more than simple fear though, you have to remember that before he was elected to the chancallory, Hitler was just a politician. Although he had alot of power before he was elected and a small personal army, he was not an huge threat to the OVERALL german population. It took more than fear for hitler to gain power. It took the impoverishment of a people, and a feeling of being lost. Hitler would not have gained power if it had not been for the bad economy. It just would not have happened. People were attracted to him because they saw their situation as deseperate, they decided that there situation was so bad that the only way that they could fix things was to turn to a man they would have called a mad man and an agitator just a few years earlier. I gaurentee you that in a country with a decent, non-opressive government, and even a mediocre economy, totlitarinism will not occur. This type of government preys on fear, the type of fear that bad economy brings.
There is alot more to it than this, including a required mind set, which I may go into later, but I think that this is enough for now.