What Fear Did To Hitler & Germany

In the United States it is illegal for a political group to have its own militia-like group of supporters whose job is to combat other political groups. Why would Germany allow a political group to have not one but two armies. Fear. I believe that fear controls our decisions, creates paranoia, and creates a lust for power.

It is human nature to want control and power, in the 1920’s in Germany there were two popular parties, the Nazi’s and The Communists by 1929 there was barely a communist party. Heres why, the SA was a furious machine and had die-hard support to the Nazi Party. The SA beat or killed any person who openly opposed Hitler and the Nazi’s, so it is rather clear that even though Hitler said people loved him, and some did, most loved him out of fear and suspend their ability to make decisions on their own merit.

Fear did not only make its impression on the German population but on Hitler himself. Fear can create paranoia and distrust, this paranoia was taken to the extreme by Hitler. In 1933 after being elected Chancellor and securing his power he launched the most infamous political purge in history known as “The Night of the Long Knives” where the famed SA was obliterated through assassinations carried out by loyal party members and the SS which was the SA’s counterpart meant to provide security to hitler and be known as the “elite force”. Innocent people were killed despite their loyalty because of Hitler’s paranoia which was derived from fear of losing power.

The final thing that fear inflicted on Hitler and Germany was vulnerability. Through history I personally have noticed that the more desperate to keep and gain power, the more impressionable you become. Heinrich Himmler was the ambitious leader of the SS, he hated the SA and want to destroy them. Hitler had already started show his mentally unstable side and because of this he believed Himmler when he stated that the SA wanted to overthrow him. Without an investigation, Hitler plan “The Night of the Long Knives” and purge the SA.

Ultimately fear changes everything about us and it allows those who feed off of it to take control over us. This is another dimension that allows groups to rise and fall and this is in one way that Hitler came to power.

Source: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Sturmabteilung_SA.htm