Was Hitler Dumb or Smart?

[History Speaks]

Evidence for Being Dumb​

Believed in ridiculous conspiracy theories about Jews, like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion being real.

Terrible academic record and grades in school.

Apparently misspelled tons of basic German words and botched basic German grammar in letters to correspondents and in drafts of Mein Kampf (see Hitler by Kershaw' and Hitler's Private Library by Timothy Ryback).

Evidence for Being Smart
​

Rose from an "unknown soldier" to dictatorial power in Germany, said power was based on his "charismatic authority" (see Max Weber).

Turned much of German society—not just mouth-breathing brown shirts—into a personality cult devoted to glorifying him.

Could beguile and impress not only his lackeys, but seasoned foreign statesmen.


What say you, anons?

 

[Aunt Marge]

Overall probably smart, but a victim of his own ego. He was smart enough to get into power and that probably amped up his delusions of grandeur hence the retarded military decisions. It'd say smart but delusional/crazy.

 

[DumbDude42]

highest IQ in all of human history

 

[byuu]

 

[Nikes_JustDoIt]

highest IQ in all of human history

6 million?

 

[Lone MacReady]

Turning a war-ravaged Germany into an economic and military superpower in less than 20 years, capable of instilling fear into the minds of the Banking Tribe over 7 decades after his death?... Yeah, he must've sat on his thumbs for most of his life doing nothing and eating paint chips.

 

[Too Many Catgirls]

The answer is in their motto: Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi Party!

 

[Bonesjones]

We know you are Hitler obsessed but can you keep your stupidity to the retard containment thread?

 

[Milkis]

He had Tiger Energy, he didn't have book smarts but he could work on his gut instinct and, of course, his charisma with crowds and people. A lot of the stuff Germany accomplished (e.g. rearmament) was because he had somewhat competent people and let them do their own thing and then fight it out for who could do it better. In the period 1933-39 that gave us the SS and the Org. Todt, the Autobahn, the Kraft durch Freude program, the Panzertruppen, etc., all other peoples' ideas that Hitler could recognise as good and throw his weight behind, even if he couldn't come up with them himself. In fact I think his most notable "content" contribution (vs. speeches or decisions) was the design of the swastika flag itself and the rituals of the Party rallies in Nuremberg.

Of course, his gut instinct and organisational Darwinism then morphed into (a) his paranoia and tatical micromanaging on the Eastern Front, and (b) the famously Byzantine structure of the Third Reich at all levels, especially the intelligence services.

What I'm trying to say is that if Hitler was born in Miami in 1985 he'd be a real estate magnate right now, with a GED, a Dodge Charger and an orange trophy wife.

 

[Wintersun]

Only a true retard can refuse help from thousands of Russians who hate Russia, while invading Russia with a strategy that Napoleon himself proved wasn't viable.

He was an incredible speaker, to be sure, and someone who manipulated his way to the top, revitalized his country, etc. But his lack of faith in his brass, along with forever damning his country to be remembered as the ones who did the Holocaust, that's pure retardation.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

Hitler was people smart and was really good at tapping into peoples emotions and understanding sympathy and empathy very well.
He was such of a charismatic public speaker that everyone is to afraid to imitate his success but still wants to hold a candle to it.
He was very good at playing the politician game even if it seems that at least his younger self would have felt reviled about it.
He was very great at capitalizing off of victory and understood the power of crowds.

The worst thing you could really say about his intelegence is things that you and I are guilty of. The "it seemed like a good idea at the time" decision mistakes that ultimately cost him.
His biggest problems was his egoism and pride in some sense lead to his and his nation's downfall.

Ultimately I would say somewhere in between with some complexity thrown in.

 

[History Speaks]

along with forever damning his country to be remembered as the ones who did the Holocaust

His legacy has absolutely deprived mainstream Germans from having any kind of national pride. I live here (not German but live here), and can say the German people are profoundly uncomfortable with their own flag. Except for some reason at soccer games.

Even people who are basically center-right and show no signs of animosity to non-Germans, Jews, or non-whites are shamed as fringe bigots in Germany, simply for being somewhat patriotic. That is the impact Hilter left.

 

[Cilleystring]

Hitler was as big of a lolcow as they come

 

[Stabmaster Arson]

View attachment 3507809

This is hilarious. Wartime propaganda source: trust me bro. Hitler is a big poopy head and he shidded and farded

 

[byuu]

This is hilarious. Wartime propaganda source: trust me bro. Hitler is a big poopy head and he shidded and farded

It has been confirmed that this was written by Karl Mayr, who did hire Hitler for anti-communist surveillance operations.

 

[Archie_Kimkicker]

The real question is: if Hitler lived today, how long before he trooned out?

 

[Vril-Dame vom Aldebaran]

Everything He did was for a purpose. To talk about whether He was dumb or smart by mere human standards is to miss the bigger picture. He was possessed by the Aryan racial spirit, a visionary, a mystic, as Carl Gustav Jung correctly assessed. Whenever He made decisions He was not merely a man, but the racial spirit manifested. Some decisions may not be understandable by mortal minds because they were made from a point of view that reached far beyond physical reality.

Read Miguel Serrano.

 

[History Speaks]

View attachment 3507809

I would love for this to be an accurate account (Imagine if the Führer of the thousand-year Reich actually failed an intelligence test to be a mail-carrier . . .), but there are way too many red flags to take it seriously, even though the author knew Hitler.

 

[Queen Elizabeth II]

Charisma is not intelligence.

There are many leaders, if not most, who have a number of intelligent people supporting them. People who have ideas, but cannot express them or convince others they are good ideas.

There are a small number of people who are charismatic and extremely intelligent; Napoleon comes to mind but one of the faults of Charisma is it often leads to extreme hubris. Just because you can make others think you are the hottest shit ever does not mean you are, and the worst thing you can do is believe your own PR.

Hitler fell to this. Had he not gone for Russia, and had he not fucked around with Stalingrad to no end things may have gone better for him. So did Napoleon think he was unstoppable.

Hitler started very strong. He knew how to read a room, and to charm people with skills.and talents he lacked. His problems only really started when he started making his own, often catastrophic, military decisions after getting too confident. There are leaders who individually show great initiative for complicated schemes solo the way Napoleon revolutionised war, but Hitler never really did. What Hitler was very good at was convincing other capable people that they should really put their talents to work for him.

I wouldn't say Hitler was stupid, but he wasn't one of the intellectual leaders of his age. What he did have over most of them however was he was very organised, had a rare talent for capitalising on the mood of a room and could quickly identify the people who could do the things he could not and dazzle them with charm.

 

[Larry David's Opera Cape]

I don't know. But I do know the guy who killed Hitler was smart, but crazy. After all, who else would have the nerve to successfully kill Hitler?