The First Soldier: Hitler as Military Leader

Description

After Germany’s humiliating World War II defeat, numerous German generals published memoirs claiming that their country’s brilliant military leadership had been undermined by the Führer’s erratic decision making. The author of three highly acclaimed books on the era, Stephen Fritz upends this characterization of Hitler as an ill-informed fantasist and demonstrates the ways in which his strategy was coherent and even competent.   That Hitler saw World War II as the only way to retrieve Germany’s fortunes and build an expansionist Thousand-Year Reich is uncontroversial. But while his generals did sometimes object to Hitler’s tactics and operational direction, they often made the same errors in judgment and were in agreement regarding larger strategic and political goals. A necessary volume for understanding the influence of World War I on Hitler’s thinking, this work is also an eye-opening reappraisal of major events like the invasion of Russia and the battle for Normandy. Contents Maps Plates Preface 1. Clausewitz, Hitler, and Absolute War 2. Emergence of the Idea 3. War in Peace 4. Blitzkrieg Unleashed 5. The Blitzkrieg Paradox 6. The Lure of Lebensraum 7. Barbarossa: THE LAST BLITZKRIEG (JUNE–AUGUST 1941) 8. Barbarossa: CATASTROPHE (SEPTEMBER 1941–MARCH 1942) 9. A World Power or Nothing at All (1942–3) 10. No Victory, No Peace (Summer 1943–4) 11. Never Again a November 1918 12 Hitler as Feldherr: AN ASSESSMENT Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index