Was hitler's personality to blame for him being a weak dictator/ strong dictator?

Question

Hitler's personality

Answer 1

I would have thought so - in the same way Churchill's personality determined his performance as a leader. He was flawed certanly - but to create and command the Third Reich and be a leader in the same mould as Napolean is not the achievement of a weak dictator.

Perhaps you need to be a bit more focused on what might have influenced Shucklegruber's behaviour (Hitler's real name, before he reinvented himself) - his Austrian parentage perhaps (possibly a jewish connection which he would later deny: Adolf was no Nordic Aryan) - weak father, strong mother - moderate achiever in civilian life (house painter) - marginalisation in German politics including imprisonment (where he wrote Mein Kampf) - his initially easy successes in warfare - the descent into madness.  He was a master manipulator and extremely charismatic (with Albert Speer and Goebbels, he was the consummate showman - torchlit rallies) - he knew how to exploit human weaknesses: particularly racism and jealousy. You do have to ask yourself how one man could get so far as he did - he had an awful lot of support and plent y of henchmen who thought as he did (or in the case of Himmler maybe even exceeded  Hitler's ambitions in the Final Solution).

Answer 2

HE WAS INDEED A EVIL MAN.

But to be able to get several countries to do what you say including being so loyal, and able to control EVERYTHING by having them obey his own horrid law, his own RELIGION!

MAKE HIM ONE OF THE MOST STRONGEST DICTATORS.

But I think his mind and personality did make him do this.  

Answer 3

Yes. According to his so-called Leader Principle (Führerprinzip), ultimate authority rested with him and extended downward. At each level, the superior was to give the orders, the subordinates to follow them to the letter. In practice the command relationships were more subtle and complex, especially at the lower levels, but Hitler did have the final say on any subject in which he took a direct interest, including the details of military operations, that is, the actual direction of armies in the field.  

Answer 4

Hitler had a strong personality but a psychotic mind. His powerful personality is what the German people rallied behind. His oratory skills and appeal were often referred to (by his inner circle) as the "sun ray lamp" . His mental state however, is something different entirely. He was often psychic and suicidal. His own circle often put him on suicide watch.  German General Heinz Guderian made an observation of the post-20 Jul 1944 Hitler:

"After the July 20th attempt, Hitler was a sick man. Even before the assassination attempt, he had been very nervous, and not in complete possession of his faculties. His left side trembled. His mind was not clear enough to appreciate the real situation of Germany. He was a man of energy and will; his will outweighed his sense. He hypnotized his entourage. He had a special picture of the world, and every fact had to fit in with that fancied pictured. As he believed, so the world must be. But, in fact, it was a picture of another world."

Answer 5

Hitler was perceived as a strong dictator.  During WW II, there were several battles the Germans could have won but didn't because his generals were afraid of him. On D-Day, several German tank divisions were in the Normandy area and could have easily have easily pushed the allies back into the sea. D-Day would have been a fiasco, but Hitler was asleep and none of his senior commanders were going to advise the corps/division commanders to advance on Normandy without direct orders from Hitler. As a result, any actions the Germans could have taken had been lost and it was to late to repel the allies.

Hitler was a cruel, evil man who ruled with an iron fist. If you weren't afraid of him...you were a fool.