Makers of the Twentieth Century: Hitler
Hitler's contribution to the history of the twentieth century has been one of destruction. The war he started in 1939, argues Jeremy Noakes, was to recast the pattern of our world irreparably.
In his speech to the Reichstag on January 30th, 1941 to celebrate the eighth anniversary of his appointment as Reich Chancellor, Hitler boasted that the Nazi revolution was leading to 'the biggest upheavals which have ever taken place on earth'. One of the most authoritative of his recent biographers, Joachim Fest, agrees with him. 'No one else produced a solitary course lasting only a few years such incredible alterations in the pace of history. No one else so changed the state of the world and left behind such a wake of ruins as he did.' Moreover, Fest continues, 'the eruption he unleashed was stamped throughout by his guiding will.' There can be no doubt that Fest is expressing the conventional wisdom about Hitler's impact on world history. Nor is this impact judged simply or even primarily in terms of its scope. It is much more the evil nature of Hitler's actions that has shaped our view him. For those who survived the Second World War and for the subsequent generation, Hitler figures as a modern Attila or Genghis Khan and the term Nazi has become the most abusive epithet that can be bestowed in politics.
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