Was Hitler intelligent?

[Chick]

Was Hitler intelligent?

Of average intelligence like most of us I think. But the question should be ?was he clever?? in relation to the atomic bomb project he initiated. I think not:

The German project had fundamental flaws from its conception. Many top German scientists had left Germany, some of them Jewish ?migr?s fleeing the new laws of German National Socialism. Other scientists left in protest, significantly decreasing the number of experts available to work on a German bomb. A substantial number eventually came to the United States to work on the Manhattan Project.

It was Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner who discovered fission, well, Meitner actually though Hahn did his best to take the credit. She was from Jewish extract but became a protestant but had to flee to Stockholm and Hahn began to erase her from the history of fission, even having her name removed from the lab they shared but still had to correspond with her to help him understand fission.

Heisenberg claimed after the war he had sabotaged the German project but in reality he got the mean free path of neutrons required for a chain reaction wrong, calculating one ton of enriched uranium would be required in fact it was one Kg.

From July 3, 1945, to January 3, 1946, the Allies incarcerated ten German nuclear physicists a the English country estate of Farm Hall, their goal being to obtain information about the German nuclear research project by way of surreptitiously taped conversations. They were shocked when they heard about the atomic bombs dropped by America having made such a fundamental flaw in their calculations.

So if Hitler didn?t have such a hatred for Jews and had imprisoned the top Jewish scientists from Germany and Eastern Europe who fled to America and worked on the Manhattan Project we may have had a different out come. Fortunately he was more impressed by Von Braun and his rockets.

https://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/meitner.html

[Plough Man]

In response to your fundamental question, it is widely recognised that he was extremely intelligent. Here it is essential to distinguish between intelligence, education and wisdom. He would certainly have been in the MENSA category.

His intelligence combined with his cunning, charisma, intellect and amazing memory gave him the ability to progress from being a corporal in WW1 into being someone who was revered by everyone in Germany.

He had a shrewd insight into human nature, as every great confidence man does, but also he was dangerously egotistical and ruthless. He was an incredibly cunning individual -also a manipulator and an accomplished charmer when he needed to be. The ability to charm and manipulate people around one is usually a sign of intelligence. He was able to appoint capable staff into key positions eg Verner Von Braun and Joseph Goebels and AlbertSpeer. You may not like them but they were very capable.

His ruthlessness was evident when he eliminated any opposition within the National Socialist party eg with the murder of Hans Rohm. Hitler was an accomplished judge of character as demonstrated by his handling of Chamberlain and his guess that Britain and France would do nothing when he invaded Alsace/Lorraine then later invaded Austria and Sudetenland. He was a gambler and had amazing success up until he invaded Poland.

He had an amazing gift as an orator. Philosophy and practice aside, he was amazing in front of a group. He knew how to work a crowd. He could inspire and move people at all levels. He brought Germany out of economic despair and hyper inflation to become the most powerful country in Europe. He had total credibility because of that.

In military terms, he was opportunistic but extremely stubborn in his views. He could see opportunities on a map that a table of generals could not. He drove the Wehrmacht on to greater achievements than any of his generals thought possible eg the conquering of France and Poland in a few weeks. He also had amazing success with Barbarossa until the winter of 1941.

Where did he go wrong in terms of strategy? His downfall was underestimating (like Napoleon) the sheer scale of Russia and the horrors of the Russian winter. He didn?t reckon on the USA getting involved. He underestimated the amount of resources (both human and materiel) that would be required to accomplish his aims.

His stubbornness cost millions of German soldiers? lives (95% died on the Eastern Front) because he would refuse the counselling of his general staff and repeated requests from the field to retreat from indefensible positions.

Thereafter it was a slippery slope of decline into disaster.

As the losses and setbacks mounted he became more stubborn and deranged.

Intelligence and ruthlessness he had certainly, but wisdom he lacked.

Discuss.

[gabys1st]

Thinkhe also had a personality disorder rather like him with hair across the water.

[Plough Man]

The one across the pond can barely rub two grey cells together and can only read script that is 140 characters in length whereas Hitler was extremely well read.

[dbboy]

How can you even ask such a crass question about a murdering, megalomaniac, Nazi dictator who had millions killed in atrocious circumstances in his name?

Admin - surely this cannot be allowed, it's offensive and beyond the realms of anything reasonable.

[malumbu]

Yes I too was shocked when I saw a repeat of Allo Allo the other day. It lampooned the brave resistance and brave Allied pilots, and this one particular episode had a double of both Hitler and Goring. The resistance blew them up and two of the German officers had to act as further doubles for the drive past. I was so angry I had to watch the whole programme, and then flagellate myself for laughing.

Funny question for a social media chatroom, but you can't censor it or airbrush it out of history. With the 75th anniversary of VE day I think this period and lessons from it is ever more important.

[KidKruger]

Ian Kershaw delivers an excellent lecture on YouTube on Adolf, who was a clever, albeit conceited, fantasist.

Wrong person, wrong time.

[diable rouge]

Watch and learn, AJP Taylor unplugged... https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p009lcrs/the-war-lords-2-hitler

[Peckhampam]

KidKruger - would Hitler have been the right person at any time?

[JohnL]

I don't believe in IQ or intelligence per se

There's a lot more that makes up a person than solving puzzles - which in my view can be quite easily taught. Some people who did badly at school do brilliantly in a different environment later.

Hitler had very little emotional intelligence IMHO however - probably due to his history.

[KidKruger]

Dictators normally don?t need emotional intelligence to do their job, not part of the job description...!