The guy was the ultimate piece of shit but was a natural public speaker that knew how to make the masses swoon. We're damn lucky that he was a paranoid fuck because if he had listened to his generals rather than killing a lot of them he very likely would have won the war.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
A truly scary and frightening thought but it was a VERY realistic possibility and one that we were much closer to than people would ever readily like to admit.