Adolf Hitler

I think Hitler was a great man, but not great in the sense that he was killing innocent people, but great in the sense that he was able to market his ideas throughout the country.

Such charisma can only come from a great person.

Agree or disagree!

 

i guess if you talk about his influence,

he is a great man

but no one can deny what he did was very bad

in that sense, he really destroyed that era

 

So was Ghengiz Khan, Mao Ze Dong, or Tamerlane. Humanity would do well to have less such great men.

 

Hitler was as rotten as they get, yeah sure he was a good at convincing Mobs of people to follow his insane plan, (He should have been on infomercials) but does that make one stand out as Great? Millions of people died in some of the most horrendous ways possible, I see no greatness. All I see from what I can gather, is a man who controlled mobs perhaps better than anyone, and in the end took the most cowardly way out.

 

The thing is, Hitler was able to convince so many people to follow him and do the most heinous acts possible...

His skill of propaganda is just beyond limits.

I'm not saying saying that he is a good person, but that he's the best persuader ever.

 

You're right, he is unquestionably a great leader. It's only what he did with all that power that was not so great.

 

I have a real problem referring to this man as a great anything. I fully understand everyones use of the word, I can' help it.

I'd say he was influential, but I want to choke when I hear great.

 

I agree that Hitler was a great man

in the sense that he murdered tens of millions of people by wars, hate and holocaust. Only Stalin before him "achieved" and over ahead of him in that sense. Every totalitarian is 'great'. The question regarded is not the quantity but quality and values. And in that sense Hitler was the greatest satan of human kind in the last centuries.

 

"I have always said that if Great Britain were defeated in war I hoped we should find a Hitler to lead us back to our rightful position among the nations. I am sorry, however, that he has not been mellowed by the great success that has attended him. The whole world would rejoice to see the Hitler of peace and tolerance, and nothing would adorn his name in world history so much as acts of magnanimity and of mercy and of pity to the forlorn and friendless, to the weak and poor. ... Let this great man search his own heart and conscience before he accuses anyone of being a warmonger."

-- Winston Churchill

"I hate nobody except Hitler — and that is professional."

-- Winston Churchill

 

American Heritage Dictionary says:

1. Very large in size.
2. Larger in size than others of the same kind.
3. Large in quantity or number: A great throng awaited us. See Synonyms at large.
4. Extensive in time or distance: a great delay.
5. Remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent: a great crisis.
6. Of outstanding significance or importance: a great work of art.
7. Chief or principal: the great house on the estate.
8. Superior in quality or character; noble: "For he was great, ere fortune made him so" (John Dryden).
9. Powerful; influential: one of the great nations of the West.
10. Eminent; distinguished: a great leader.
11. Grand; aristocratic.
12. Informal Enthusiastic: a great lover of music.
13. Informal Very skillful: great at algebra.
14. Informal Very good; first-rate: We had a great time at the dance.
15. Being one generation removed from the relative specified. Often used in combination: a great-granddaughter.
16. Archaic Pregnant.



I'll give him 'powerful', but obviously he was not as powerful as his opponents. He lost the war. Influential: perhaps, but obviously not influential enough to gain the support he wanted from Britain.

I think overall it's clear the 'great' is probably not the wisest word to use to describe Hitler. It has too many positive connotations.

“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think” A. hitler.

 

Hitler can be called great in several of the ways mentioned above.

I have read some of his Mein Kampf and my sense is that his overarching intentions were noble ones. But he had what is called "a fixed idea" regarding 'racial purity' which gradually drove him insane.

 

You think that his fixed idea was the thing that drove him insane?

 

Yeah that is just my impression, given how it seemed to obsess him so. Sometimes obsessions take over people.
Of course, I've heard that he also had some pathology ... maybe that could've affected his mind too.
I should look that up; I'm not sure whether that was a rumor or whether it was an undisputed fact.

 

I believe that hitler was charismatic. There is a difference between charaismatic and great however.

 

Is there any particular reason we're having this discussion? Seriously, what good does this do any of us? Was Hitler "great" in the scope of his impact on the world?

I feel strongly compelled to revert to the childlike phrase of "Well...duh!"

Really. There are far more important issues that we could be discussing.