Are Hitler and Napoleon comparable to one another?
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magolding — 11 years ago(August 29, 2014 10:21 PM)
Napoleon is still a French hero (imprfect through but a hero none the less)
tell me a german who can say the same from Herr Adolf
Unfortunately you are wrong and there are small (but all too large) numbers of neo nazies in Germany and most other western countries.
No Hitler Streets, of course, since it it may be illegal and certainly political suicide for government officials to honor HItler. -
furienna — 10 years ago(June 21, 2015 10:33 AM)
Seeing how most of the world has spent at least seventy years hating Adolf Hitler and seeing him as evil, it might be hard to realize that Napoleon Bonaparte was equally hated and feared by many in his day. Yes, Napoleon has a far better reputation in 2015 than what Hitler has. But to British people before 1815, he was no less than the same kind of threat that Hitler would become to their great-great grandchildren before 1945.
And to an average German person, who did not belong to one of the prosecuted minorities, things looked just fine between 1933 and 1939. Hitler managed to give the people new jobs after the bad situation of the 1920s, and a new hope and pride after all the humiliation after the WWI. And if you drive on the Autobahn in Germany today, you can still thank Hitler for making sure that they were built. It was only after the WWII had ended with misery for them, that the Germans started understanding that it had been a mistake to vote for Hitler.
So yes, I can see some really big similarities between Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. Both of them were also technically foreigners in the very countries, which they would eventually rule over. (Napoleon was born on Corscia only one year after France had taken it from Genua, so he was really more Italian than French, and Hitler was born in Austria and not in Germany.)
Intelligence and purity. -
KillWonder — 10 years ago(July 05, 2015 04:35 PM)
In the actions yes but not so much in ideology however both were extremely nationalistic megalomaniacs! Napoleon is in my book just as a Tiran as Hitler was. And interestingly both had to deal with there last same enemies in order to achieve there final victory, namely Britain and Russia.
God bless Britain and Russia.
PS The Autobahn in Germany were already being in construction under the Weimar republic before Hitler took control and also the economy of Germany was getting better but Hitler took the credit for it all. Though he did also enlist almost everyone in the army which also helped unemployment. -
furienna — 10 years ago(July 06, 2015 02:43 PM)
And interestingly both had to deal with the same enemies in order to achieve there final victory, namely Britain and Russia.
Indeed, that is yet another interesting comparison.
The Autobahn in Germany were already being in construction under the Weimar republic before Hitler took control and also the economy of Germany was getting better but Hitler took the credit for it all. Though he did also enlist almost everyone in the army which also helped unemployment.
Fair enough, Hitler might very well have taken the credit for other people's ideas and acchievements. But my point was that for several years of his reign, 90 % of the German population had no reason to see him as a bad leader. And it was only after it had become too late, that the people realized their mistake.
Intelligence and purity. -
KillWonder — 10 years ago(July 07, 2015 09:08 AM)
I'm not so sure about that 90%. After '33 everyone was being watched and those who did not approve of Hitler and his ideology would get prosecuted from a fee to the death penalty, the Stockholm syndrome at its work.
Every German knew there was no more freedom of speech and the government taught it's children to hate. Germans are not bad people and I find it unbelievable that 90% would be happy and content with that inside of them. -
furienna — 10 years ago(July 07, 2015 05:44 PM)
Those are some good points. But what I meant was that if you didn't belong to a prosecuted minority, you had no reason to fear anything. Unless you were brave enough to speak and work against the new government, of course. I never said that Nazi Germany was a perfect society. Far from it. Neither did I say that Germans are bad people. But still, most of the them could live a good life during the first years of Hitler's reign.
Intelligence and purity. -
SuperDevilDoctor — 10 years ago(July 10, 2015 12:36 AM)
Another telling contrast between Napoleon and Hitler
Napoleon ended anti-Jewish laws in France and all territory controlled or annexed by the French Empire.
On Napoleon's orders, Jewish ghettos were torn down and all occupations opened to Jews.
In French-controlled Italy, Jews no longer had to wear the Yellow Star. (Which was not a Nazi invention It pre-dates WWII, and was originated by anti-semitic Catholics.)
Napoleon is considered a "Righteous Gentile" by Israel (like Oskar Schindler).
Send her to the snakes! -
J-Street1 — 9 years ago(August 15, 2016 10:20 PM)
I'd compare Hannibal to Napoleon, instead. I realize they're from vastly different eras, but as generals, they are strikingly similar. They were both brilliant strategists and tacticians and their logistical talent was also amazingly renown for creative success. Napoleon was of course an admirer of Hannibal.
When one thinks of canning and technology to improve an army's ability to march on its stomach, one also must think of Hannibal's genius in marching elephants across the Alps and living off the land. When one studies great classic battles, one must always include Hannibal and Napoleon when one discusses highly disciplined forces, quickly maneuvering on the battlefield successfully against a larger force and stunningly winning battles repeatedly they were not supposed to win. There's Napoleon's Austerlitz. There's Hannibal's Cannae.
Hannibal was Carthaginian and Carthage was a kind of France fighting a British Empire in the way Carthage faced Rome. There are differences, but there are similarities. They were competing Empires in close proximity. Also, when one looks at Napoleon's army being marched to death (its campaign in Russia and its Waterloo - of Napoleon's exile and return and his ultimate death far away in obscurity) one is reminded of Hannibal's exhausted Army and marching and Hannibal's exile and death. Napoleon's legend was like Hannibal's legend; they were legends in their own time and to this day they are legends. Their enemies copied them and defeated them ultimately through attrition and copying them in their own style down to the last detail. Lord Wellington even wore the same kind of boots and the same kind of Breguet watch to
feel
like Napoleon. Roman generals did the same when adopted Hannibal's ways of doing things, down to the last detail.
Some have compared Hitler to Napoleon, but I don't see Hitler as being such a brilliant strategist and tactician. Hitler had excellent generals and he did in fact save the German army a few times from destruction, but I just don't see the same finesse and tactical brilliance in the Germany of WWII. Accepting the invasion of France like a French disaster rather than a German victory and accepting the initial German invasion of Russia as a Russian disaster rather than a German victory, as soon as Germany began fighting major powers it really hit a brick wall and started reeling backward. Hannibal was greatly outnumbered but winning stunning victories. Napoleon was outnumbered and winning stunning victories. As soon as Hitler was greatly outnumbered, he was destroyed.
As an alternate to Hannibal, I would propose Julius Caesar, especially in regard to politics and governing. -
Vlad. — 4 years ago(September 04, 2021 07:00 PM)
This seems obvious but it’s really not. France was suffering as evidenced by the bloody revolution they endured. Most people needed the stability Emperor Napoleon provided.
Extending further beyond France’s borders, the Napoleonic Code formed the basis for the modern Democratic legal system. Your life has been made better by Napoleon.
You can call him a killer, which he is. Humans are inherently warlike. Perhaps Napoleon was just more honest than you about his nature. If it were not him, revolutionary France would’ve been attacked by one of the many monarchies that feared it, anyway.
Stop.