My Thoughts on Hitler and Napoleon: Two Kindred Souls
While undergoing the 41st Staff Course at Wellington an interesting case study of Hitler and Napoleon came up in a module. I will now reproduce the discussion in the succeeding paragraphs. Firstly both Hitler and Napoleon came to power with popular support and both became absolute dictators. Hitler came to power in a general election when his Nazi party bagged the largest number of seats in the Reichstag. Napoleon also had popular support when he seized power after the terror of Robespierre.Both men's military graph is also similar and both had a high point before the invasion of Russia and their decline started after the retreat from Russia. Napoleon however reached Moscow, but Hitler's army was bogged down 30 miles short of Moscow.
At the end of the war against Russia and his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon was the most hated man in Europe. Had he been caught by the Prussians or Austrians he would have been executed forthwith. That's the reason Napoleon preferred to surrender to the English under the Duke of Wellington.Similarly the Allies had declared Hitler as public enemy no 1 and after he had lost he committed suicide.
The French were also not happy with Napoleon and they never bothered about his grave in St Helena, where he was imprisoned. St Helena is a distant island in the South Atlantic. Similarly after the end of World War II many Germans felt that Hitler had dragged them into a needless war.
Napoleon and Hitler were also racist and believed in superiority of the their race. Napoleon was dead set against blacks and during the revolution in Haiti (1791-1804) he sent a large French army under Charles Leclerc and killed thousands of Blacks and re-established slavery.He spoke of equality in France only and not for the colonies. Hitler also had convoluted theories against the Slav and the Jews, both men thus had a similar outlook.
Now let us see how Napoleon is looked upon in France now. He is regarded as one of the great frenchmen of all time and the French are nostalgic about the glorious years when he shook Europe.His remains were brought back to France and is now a national monument. The French talk about his military victories and in 2005, the 200th anniversary of his greatest victory at Austerlitz in 1805 was celebrated with great fervor in France. Napoleon is rehabilitated by the french and people have forgotten about the Napoleonic wars and the havoc he created in Europe. People talk only of glory and many rate him as a great general.
I have a question here. What stops the German people rehabilitating Hitler similarly and remembering at one time he had made Germany the strongest power in Europe. History can be funny sometimes and perceptions change.
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