The Wehrmacht and National Socialist Military Thinking

2017/06/22 by David Stahel · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #European history and politics #Communism, Protests, Social Movements #German History and Society

paper · doi:10.1177/0968344515614049

openalex publication_date 2017/06/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

This article argues that Nazi ideology had a profound impact upon the German officer corps in the Second World War not just for their well-established complicity in criminal activity, but also in their approach to warfare. This article demonstrates that Nazi ideology radicalized pre-existing notions of the German military ethos and conceptions of war, leading to an often irrational world view in which impractical, and even impossible, military undertakings could be ‘rationally’ explained, accepted, and understood. At the same time, seventy years after the war, a National Socialist influence upon German military thinking has seldom been discussed in the proliferation of Anglo-American operational histories.

Discussions

• However, according to some "the idea of swearing a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler came from the leading generals themselves in 1934". See David Stahel, 'The Wehrmacht and National Socialist Milit [bsky, 3 points, 1 comments]

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