(The Revolution Will Not Be Televised) wrote:

There was no other party in the Weimar Republic, even the Communists,
who were as openly and avoidly dedicated to Hitlerian principles of
racial supremacy, internal repression and external aggression. The
Nazi party existed only as a vehicle for Hitler to achieve and
maintain power. It was totally and completely subordinated to the
whim of the leader. No other right-wing nationalist party had
anything like the adherence to outright dictatorship with irrational,
visionary goals.

Take a look at the competitors: von Papen and Schleisser? Both of
them were unpleasantly reactionary right-wingers, but even the latter,
basically a junta general, did not have the ambitions Hitler had. I
think it's quite tenable to assume that Weimar democracy might not
have survived the depression, but the personal influence of Hitler on
the road to war and the decision to wage war was absolutely critical.

I think a god argument can be made that the philosophy behind the neo-pagan
revivial that began in the 1890's would have lead inevitably to more war.
Already in WWI (The Great War for Civilization) the swastica was the most
common good luck tallisman among German troops. The pieces were all falling
into place. If not Hittler, then another. If it had come a few years later,
with the pace of German science, the results could have been somewhat
different.

-- Charlie Springer