Originally Posted by Chief

Seriously, in peace time (after conquering Europe) I think he possibly would of went down as one of the best leaders of all time. People have this crazy thought that he intended to gas everyone, enslave everyone but Germans, but it is so far from the truth it is crazy. Hitler honestly saw himself and the Nazi's as protectors of Europe, and they recruited from all across Europe (60% of Waffen SS was made up Foreign troops including British, French, etc). I think certainly as you said he was wrong on many fronts, but I also see him as a very intelligent rationalist, and if you look for example at the 1936 Olympics and the quite peaceful occupation of France (not to all of course, but for the majority) I think Hitler showed the potential to be quite a decent peacetime leader, much better and less ruthless on a whole than Stalin for instance. I think, as you stated, he was quite ruthless in a number of ways, shaped as you also said, no doubt by his and Germany's experiences in WWI, and also the necessity for Germany to be such in order to win the war.

Have a read of this book, quite an interesting pre-war perspective from a non-German living in Germany at the time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087...lance&n=283155