Date of Award

5-1969

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

History

Committee Chair(s)

Gary Huxford

Committee

Gary Huxford

Committee

Blythe Alstrom

Committee

Barbara Miller

Abstract

Adolf Hitler's rise to power had its beginnings in the distressed years following the First World War. The defeat of Germany was a shattering experience for Adolf. In Mein Kampf, he revealed his agony. “I could stand it no longer . . . . Everything went black again before my eyes; I tottered and groped my way back to the ward, threw myself on my bunk, and dug my burning head into my blanket and pillow . . . . So it had all been in vain. In vain all the sacrifices and privations; ... in vain the hours in which, with mortal feat clutching at our hearts, we nevertheless did our duty; in vain the death of two million who died ... Had they died for this? . . . Did all this happen only so that a gang of wretched criminals could lay hands on the fatherland?” Hitler believed that this defeat did not come on the battlefield, but rather because of a political "stab in the back" at home. He felt the people on the home front, especially the businessmen were not strong enough in their support of the war.

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