Bullock, Alan - Hitler, A Study in Tyranny (rev..

861 Pages·2006·51.57 MB·English

Atiot.F
Ittltt A STUDY IN TYRANNY
ALAN BULLOCK
by
Revised Edition
Completely
HARPER TORCHBOOKS
The Academy Library
Harper & Row, Publishers
New York and Evanston
TO MY
MOTHER AND FATHER
HITLER: ASTUDYINTYRANNY-CompletdyRevisedEdition.Prefaceand
newly revised material Copyright 1962 by Alan Bullock, Printed in the
United StatesofAmerica.
This edition was originally published in 1964 by Harper & Row, Publishers,
Incorporated,
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
mannerwhatsoeverwithoutwritten permission except in thecaseofbriefquo-
tations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address
Harper&Row,Publishers,Incorporated,49EastSSrdStreet,NewYork 16,N.Y,
FirstHARPERTORCHBOOKeditionpublishedMarch 1964by HarperSc Row,Pub-
lishers,Incorporated,NewYork andEvanston,
Libraryo Congress CatalogCard Number: 63-21045.
CONTENTS
Preface to the RevisedEdition 15.
Acknowledgements 18
Abbreviations 20
BOOK
I
PARTY LEADER, 1889-1933
1 TheFormativeYears, 1889-1918 23
2 The YearsofStruggle, 1919-24 57
3 The YearsofWaiting, 1924-31 121
4 The Months of Opportunity, October 1931-30 January
1933 187
BOOK
II
CHANCELLOR, 1933-9
5 RevolutionafterPower,30January1933-August1934 253
6 The CounterfeitPeace, 1933-7 312
7 TheDictator 372
% From ViennatoPrague,1938-9 411
9 ##/<;/'* PF<v, 7itfP 490
BOOK
III
WAR-LORD, 1939-45
10 TheInconclusive Victory,1939-40 563
11 'The World WillHoldItsBreath', 1940-^1 610
12 The UnachievedEmpire,1941-3 651
13 TwoJulys,1943-4 704
14 TheEmperor WithoutHisClothes 753
EPILOGUE
805
809
Bibliograp$hy
Index 817
3 ' 7086635
KANSAS CITY (MOO HUJ-.JC LIBRARY
ILLUSTRATIONS
Adolf Hitler Frontispiece
The following -will be found after page 384;
At the age of thirty-four
At Munich in the early 1920s
Leaving a Party meeting
InWeimar, 1926
With President Hindenburg
InPotsdamGarrisonChurch, 1933
In theSportpalast
At the Nuremberg Parteitag, 1934
The
Berghof
TheFuehrer's study at the Berghof
EvaBraun
Hitler and Eva Braun
With 1939
Tiso,
WithFranco, 1940
Hitler and his Generals in 1941
After 20 1944
July,
MAPS AND CHARTS
Hitler's Ancestry 28-29
German 1938-1939 440-441
Annexations,
Expansion of Hitler's Empire, 1938-1943 682-683
Men do not become tyrants in order to
keep out the cold.
ARISTOTLE, Politics

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION
I FIRST began this study with two questions inmind. The first,
suggestedbymuchthatwas said at theNurembergTrials, wasto
discoverhowgreatapartHitlerplayedinthehistory oftheThird
Reich and whether Goring and the other defendants were exag-
geratingwhentheyclaimedthatundertheNaziregimethewillof
one man, and of one man alone, was decisive. This led to the
second and larger question: if the picture of Hitler given at
Nurembergwas substantially accurate, whatwere the gifts Hitler
possessed whichenabled himfirstto secure andthen to maintain
such power. I determined to reconstruct, so far as I was able,
thecourseofhislifefromhis birth in 1889 to his death in 1945,
in the hope that this wouldenable me to offer an account ofone
ofthemostpuzzlingandremarkablecareersinmodernhistory.
Thebookiscast,therefore,intheformofahistoricalnarrative,
interruptedonlyatonepointbyachapterinwhichIhavetriedto
present a portrait of Hitler on the eve of his greatest triumphs
(Chapter 7). I havenot attempted towriteahistory ofGermany,
norastudyofgovernmentandsocietyundertheNaziregime. My
themeis notdictatorship, butthe dictator, thepersonal power of
one man, although it may be added that for most of the years
between 1933 and 1945 this is identical with the most important
part ofthehistoryoftheThirdReich. Upto 1934theinterestlies
in the means by which Hitler secured power in Germany. After
1934 the emphasis shifts to foreignpolicy and ultimately to war,
the means by which Hitler sought to extend his power outside
Germany. Ifattimes,especiallybetween 1938 and 1945,thefigure
ofthe man is submerged beneath the complicated narrative of
politics and war, this corresponds to Hitler's own sacrifice ofhis
private life (which was meagre and uninteresting at the best of
times) to the demands ofthepositionhehad created for himself.
Inthelastyearofhislife,however,ashisempirebeginstocrumble,
the true nature ofthe man is revealed again in all its harshness.
Nomancansitdowntowriteaboutthehistoryofhisowntimes
- or perhaps of any time - without bringing to the task the
16 Preface
preconceptionswhichspringoutofMsowncharacter andexperi-
ence. This is the Inescapable condition of the historian's work,
and the present study is no more exempt from these limitations
thananyotheraccountoftheeventsoftherecentpast. Neverthe-
less, Iwrotethisbookwithoutanyparticularaxetogrindorcase
to argue. I have nosimpleformula to offer in explanation ofthe
events I have described; few major historical events appear to
me to be susceptible ofsimple explanations. Nor has it been my
purposeeithertorehabilitateortoindictAdolfHitler.IfIcannot
claim the impartiality ofajudge, I have not cast myselffor the
role of prosecuting counsel, still less for that of counsel for the
defence. However disputable some ofmyinterpretations maybe,
there is a solid substratum of fact - and the facts are eloquent
enough.
The bibliography printed at the end sets out the sources on
which this study is based. In the ten years since this book was
first published much new material has appeared which throws
light on the history of the Nazi Party and the Third Reich* I
have takenthe opportunity ofanewedition tomake a thorough
revision ofthe whole text, taking this material into account and,
where it seemed necessary, rewriting in order to make use ofit.
The passage often years also means a change ofperspective:
thisis more difficultto takeintoaccount. Ihavefoundnoreason
to alter substantially thepicture I drew ofHitler when the book
was first published, although I have not hesitated to change the
emphasiswhere itno longer seemed right. It is in the account of
theevents leadingup totheSecondWorld War thatI have made
themostcompleterevision, partlybecauseofthelargenumberof
new diplomatic documents that have been published, partly be-
causeitisherethatmyownviewshavebeenmostaffectedbyth
longer perspective in which we are now able to see these events.
I am indebted to Mr A.J. P. Taylor's Origins of the Second
World War for stimulating me to re-read the whole of the
documentary evidence for Hitler's foreign policy in the years
1933-9. The fact that I disagree with Mr Taylor in his view of
Hitler and his foreign policy -more than ever, now that I have
re-read the documents - does not reduce my debt to him for
stirringmeuptotakeacriticallookatmyownaccount.
Amongst many other writers fromwhomIhave learned since
this bookwas originally published, I shouldlike to mentiontwo
otherOxfordcolleagues:ProfessorTrevor-Roperwhoseessayon
The Mind ofAdolfHitler convinced me that Hitler's table talk