Check out Bernie Sanders' campaign rally playlist. It's all about the revolution. The transformation of society. All politicians talk revolution at some point. After all, if nothing needs changing, what's the point of campaigning?
Unfortunately, promises of revolution can be used by the bad guys as well. In The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Shirer explores a very different kind of social transformation: the kind that comes about through the complete manipulation of the society and culture by a fascist tyrant. Shirer explains how the Nazi Party promised to revolutionize and revitalize Germany, and restore the power and glory that it had enjoyed before the First World War. But the "New Order" that Hitler imagined stretched far beyond the borders of Germany itself and involved unspeakable brutality. Ultimately, Shirer argues, Hitler's goal was to transform the very face of Europe by savagely asserting total German superiority.
He did, at least for a while. Fortunately, that New Order was upended, but not before it led to the deaths of 11,000,000 people. What kind of revolution is that?
Questions About Transformation
- What were the specific goals of the Nazi "revolution," as the Nazis themselves understood them?
- How would you characterize Shirer's perspective on social revolutions? What gives birth to them? What enables them to thrive?
- From Shirer's perspective, what were the most significant transformations that the Nazi Party made to German life throughout the rapid "Nazification" of Germany?
Chew on This
Hitler never believed in the "Socialist" part of the National Socialist party. The people themselves would have no say in their own transformation.
By attempting to create a Nazi revolution throughout Europe, Hitler destroyed Germany.