Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
After the Nazis came to power, they sought to control all aspects of civil society and the state, including the military. Historically, the German armed forces had operated with a great deal of autonomy, which was steadily eroded until they were under the direct control of the Nazis.
Even the film Morgenrot, predating the Nazi seizure of power and containing such un-Nazi matters as a woman refusing to rejoice because of the sufferings on the other side, praised such deaths [178] and found favor among Nazi officials for it. [91] Karl Ritter's films, aimed on youth, were "military education" and glorified death in battle. [179]
After the Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the Wehrmacht, a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours.
Non-Nazi parties were formally outlawed on 14 July 1933, and the Reichstag abdicated its democratic responsibilities. [109] Hindenburg remained commander-in-chief of the military and retained the power to negotiate foreign treaties.
Fascism was a major influence on Nazism. The seizure of power by Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in the March on Rome in 1922 drew admiration by Hitler, who less than a month later had begun to model himself and the Nazi Party upon Mussolini and the Fascists. [148] Hitler presented the Nazis as a form of German fascism.
German militarism was a broad cultural and social phenomenon between 1815 and 1945, which developed out of the creation of standing armies in the 18th century. The numerical increase of militaristic structures in the Holy Roman Empire led to an increasing influence of military culture deep into civilian life.
The courts issued and carried out far more death sentences than before the Nazis took power. [198] People who were convicted of three or more offences—even petty ones—could be deemed habitual offenders and jailed indefinitely. [199] People such as prostitutes and pickpockets were judged to be inherently criminal and a threat to the community.
The military re-armament and dire war preparations would make the influence of physical exercises in Nazi German society wane in favour of militarism. The massive sports pageantry events in the large cities, carefully organized to arouse nationalistic fervor, were replaced by military parades of German warriors.