The Chancellor: Hitler’s Rise to Power
Hybrid – Thursday 3:10 pm – 4:50 pm
Jan. 18, 25, Feb. 1, 8, 15
The focus of this course is on how Hitler did not take power, but rather it was offered to him by the army, big business and the bankers. This man, who had only attained the rank of corporal during his four years in the ghastly trenches in France (1914-1918), eventually becomes Fuhrer (leader) of Nazi Germany. Hitler was an opportunist who seemed to have an understanding of human nature. And, as an orator, he could move millions with the spoken word. We follow his rise to power from the collapse of Bismarck’s Corporate State in 1918 to the creation of Hitler’s Third Reich in 1934.
- Week 1: Seeds of Despair – Rise and Fall of Bismarck’s Corporate State
- Week 2: Hitler’s failed putsch in Munich November 8-9, 1923
- Week 3: Fascism: Mussolini and Hitler – the doctrine of Fascism
- Week 4: The Chancellor: Hitler’s rise to power following the failed putsch, 1924-1933
- Week 5: Night of the Long Knives: Hitler combines the offices of Chancellor and President to become Fuhrer
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine in Monroe, Connecticut and is the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. He is the author of six books including On History: A Treatise.