Hitler's Leadership Style

Page 3 of 7

• 1. Führerprinzip
• 2. Headquarters
• 3. Hitler's distrust of his generals
• 4. Reliance on instinct
• 5. Strategy
• 6. Sharing the blame
• 7. Find out more
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Hitler's distrust of his generals

Hitler did indeed distrust most of his generals - in part for good reason. He had to overcome a certain amount of timidity among his senior officers before the war - during the reoccupation of the Rhineland, for example - and his perception of them as over cautious set the tone for his relations with them.

Certainly his operational decisions, especially early in the war, were sometimes as good as, or better than, those of his generals. He was, after all, one of the two men who first thought up the campaign plan that the Wehrmacht (the German army) used against France with such stunning success in 1940, and he had to push hard before the General Staff would accept it. As time went on he came to believe that Germany's victories were his alone and that most of his generals were narrow-minded, overly cautious and incapable.

'... the generals expressed admiration for Hitler's political skills and goals.'

For their part, the generals expressed admiration for Hitler's political skills and goals. His defence minister from 1933 to 1938, General Werner von Blomberg, said that Hitler's rise to power represented 'a broad national desire, and the realisation of that towards which many of the best have been striving for years'. Their attitude toward his military leadership, on the other hand, ran hot and cold.

They often recognised his talents - far more than they later wanted to admit. At other times they tried to resist him - though less often, less effectively, and sometimes less justifiably than they later claimed. In any case, he grew ever more distrustful and contemptuous of them as a group, despite the unflagging loyalty that most of them displayed right to the end. As early as 1938 he was heard to say that every general was either cowardly or stupid, and his opinion only worsened with time.

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Published: 2003-02-21