# Could A European Dictator Like Hitler Emerge? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 15, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240 "2015-07-15T16:09:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/41 "2015-07-18T23:38:30Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Color me pleasantly surprised. I would have thought in a thread about the rise of a new Hitler someone would have made an asinine Obama comment by now. > I apologize for underestimating the fine people of the SDMB. Ah, hate to break this to you, but Obama isn’t European nor does he lead any countries over there, so it’s unlikely he’d be able to become a ‘European Dictator Like Hitler’. Perhaps you were confused by what the OP was asking, or perhaps you leaped to the conclusion that there are 'dopers who think Obama is a European and could thus potentially become a European Dictator down the road… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/42 "2015-07-18T23:57:20Z")
No confusion. I was expecting something like “Well if it could happen in the USA with Obama…” ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/43 "2015-07-19T00:31:56Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Ah, hate to break this to you, but Obama isn’t European nor does he lead any countries over there, so it’s unlikely he’d be able to become a ‘European Dictator Like Hitler’. Perhaps you were confused by what the OP was asking, or perhaps you leaped to the conclusion that there are 'dopers who think Obama is a European and could thus potentially become a European Dictator down the road… > > 😛 [**Donald Trump’s ‘Birth Certificate’ Proven to Be Fake**](http://gawker.com/5786779/donald-trumps-birth-certificate-proven-to-be-fake) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/44 "2015-07-19T00:32:49Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > No confusion. I was expecting something like “Well if it could happen in the USA with Obama…” Wandering further off on a tangent, I’ve noticed we haven’t had any conspiracy theories about Obama figuring out some tricky way to get a third term. My guess is that the people who’d normally be talking about this are so worried about Hillary that they’d be happy to get another four years of Obama instead. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/45 "2015-07-19T00:54:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How is that the anti-Hitler model? Hitler used the same pretext in his early invasions. He claimed, for example, that the Czechs were oppressing the ethnic Germans living in their country and said he was invading Czechoslovakia to protect them. OK, good point, I hadn’t considered that. But later on, Hitler abandoned that pretext completely and simply sent the Wehrmacht running amok in France, Russia, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/46 "2015-07-19T01:43:24Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But later on, Hitler abandoned that pretext completely and simply sent the Wehrmacht running amok in France, Russia, etc. That’s an argument that the appeasers made in the thirties. Hitler originally appeared to have limited aims: he was trying to bring various groups that were arguably German into the country of Germany - the Saar, the Rhineland, Austria, the Sudentenland, Memel, and Danzig. So people could make the argument that Germany had some plausible claim to these areas. But the invasion of Czechoslovakia (the part left after the Munich settlement) was a watershed moment. There was no significant German population in Czechoslovakia and the local Czechs had no desire to be part of Germany. After this there could be no pretense that Hitler was going to stop at Pan-German reunification - he was looking for conquest. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/47 "2015-07-19T02:00:01Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Within the EU, the only Great Power to have economic and military power is the UK. I guess a Hitler type _could_ come from there, but the UK is as liberal a democracy as exists in the EU at present. You are making the capital mistake of confusing the future with the present. What counts is not current usage, but potential usage. Germany – due to various manpower, location, and economic issues – has the potential to harm Europe in such a way that only Russia can equal. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/48 "2015-07-19T08:12:30Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I think there’s a key difference between right- and left-wing movements of today versus the 30’s. They’re less about grandiose vision, more about pocketbook issues. > > Right-winger in 1930: Send these Jews to the gas chambers! Then we shall fulfill our racial destiny and inaugurate the thousand-year Reich! > > Right-winger in 2015: Send these immigrants back to Pakistan! Then we’ll spend less on welfare for them, so we can spend more on welfare for ourselves! > > Left-winger in 1930: Join us as we rise up to slaughter the bourgeoisie and begin the glorious revolution! > > Left-winger in 2015: Join us as we rise up to demand lower interest rates and to not raise the retirement age! > It’s just not quite the same. I may be wrong, but didn’t the Nazi persecition of Jews (and others) \*\*\*begin with \*\*\*more nebulous blame of all society’s ills on ‘the foreigner amongst us’, then later escalate to gas chambers? ---
**Author:** ![TennisMenace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@TennisMenace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TennisMenace)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/49 "2015-07-19T17:52:16Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > GDP: > > Germany = $3.73 trillion > France = $2.806 trillion > UK = $2.678 trillion > > Active Military Personnel: > > France = 215,019 > Germany = 180,218 > UK = 156,940 > > Not that I expect a dictator to come from any of them, but let’s not exaggerate the length of the UK’s shadow. I’m glad you cited these numbers because I too felt singling out the UK was a tad unfair, especially to the above two countries. But to answer the OP, I say, I don’t think so. Maybe the EU restrains such from happening. I believe there is a better chance of an evil world leader coming out of the Middle East countries, meaning the Muslim Countries. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/50 "2015-07-19T17:55:40Z")
> [@TennisMenace](#): > > I’m glad you cited these numbers because I too felt singling out the UK was a tad unfair, especially to the above two countries. > > But to answer the OP, I say, I don’t think so. Maybe the EU restrains such from happening. > > I believe there is a better chance of an evil world leader coming out of the Middle East countries, meaning the Muslim Countries. I’d be a lot more concerned about someone like Marco Rubio than someone like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on that front. ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/51 "2015-07-19T17:59:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I may be wrong, but didn’t the Nazi persecition of Jews (and others) \*\*\*begin with \*\*\*more nebulous blame of all society’s ills on ‘the foreigner amongst us’, then later escalate to gas chambers? Yes.\*\* ITR champion\*\*'s assertion is incorrect. Hitler rose to power by scapegoating Jews for “pocketbook issues” as the depression took hold. Prior to that, (most) people viewed Hitler as a clown spewing “nonsense”. It was always there, in his writing and speeches, but economic hardship was the impetus for people to accept it. ---
**Author:** ![Hiker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3be4f8/32.png) [@Hiker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hiker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/52 "2015-07-19T18:05:38Z")
> [@TennisMenace](#): > > I believe there is a better chance of an evil world leader coming out of the Middle East countries, meaning the Muslim Countries. I do not think so. These countries are not powerful enough. If you want to go with the classic megalomaniac dictator, I’d say your best shot is probably China. There you have at least a combination of authoritarian structures and considerable firepower. For that to happen, China would have to suffer a major economical setback that brings down the current ruling class and replaces it with something more extreme. All in all, I do not think it is likely. (And in Europe: Not a chance.) ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/53 "2015-07-19T18:23:39Z")
> [@Stormcrow](#): > > I could certainly see a country in the position of Greece falling under the sway of a dictator; but as others have pointed out, thats only half the OP’s question - Greece is too minor of a nation to spark a major war in Europe. The wars in the former Yugoslavia were sparked by the breakup of that nation, but are there any other other states in Europe where things are being held together by such a fragile thread? I don’t think anyone’s brought it up yet, but for a time Greece was run by a Fascist Junta, called “the Black Colonels” so they’ve already had this happen. That said, to add to your point the Greek military is not exactly known for its competence. Any war they got in would probably be with the Turks and the Turkish army would give them a swift spanking and send them to bed without their supper. ---
**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/54 "2015-07-19T20:32:52Z")
Is this some sort of troll either for or against the Obama administration’s incredible failure to contain Russia? Yes, there is currently a dictator in Europe consolidating absolute power, annexing territory, building up his military, inflating the sort of unsustainable economy that you get when you base your prosperity on looting your neighbors, and scapegoating minority groups in his own country, who is defended by treasonous “pacifists” abroad who will latch on to anything that opposes “capitalism” or “U.S. hegemony” no matter how vile, until the war needed to stop him is a hundred times as horrific as it would have been were it launched as soon as it became necessary. Could another Hitler emerge? Putin’s been here for 15 years, man. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/55 "2015-07-20T05:17:25Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I may be wrong, but didn’t the Nazi persecition of Jews (and others) \*\*\*begin with \*\*\*more nebulous blame of all society’s ills on ‘the foreigner amongst us’, then later escalate to gas chambers? Not much “later”. The first concentration camp (Dachau) was opened 51 days after Hitler became Chancellor (on March 22, 1933). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/56 "2015-07-20T06:31:10Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Not much “later”. > The first concentration camp (Dachau) was opened 51 days after Hitler became Chancellor (on March 22, 1933). That wasn’t the beginning of his racist narrative though, was it? _Mein Kampf_ was published in 1925, for example. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/57 "2015-07-20T08:59:50Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Color me pleasantly surprised. I would have thought in a thread about the rise of a new Hitler someone would have made an asinine Obama comment by now. > I apologize for underestimating the fine people of the SDMB. So your are OK with asinine lefty comments but annoyed by asinine righty comments? Stupid is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/58 "2015-07-20T09:05:56Z")
> [@camille](#): > > Yes.\*\* ITR champion\*\*'s assertion is incorrect. Hitler rose to power by scapegoating Jews for “pocketbook issues” as the depression took hold. Prior to that, (most) people viewed Hitler as a clown spewing “nonsense”. It was always there, in his writing and speeches, but economic hardship was the impetus for people to accept it. No, mostly. German Nazi era antisemitism has its roots in their misunderstanding of genetics and biology. They considered Jews to be the other and a cancer on the German people. Its a concept that is hard for Americans and Westerners to understand. The (Nazi) Germans considered themselves to be a unique people and be that the state and all its resources should be put to the service of the people. There was no room for any outsiders. Also antisemitic was a powerful force in both German and Austrian intellectual circles since the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/59 "2015-07-20T09:07:56Z")
> [@Hiker](#): > > I do not think so. These countries are not powerful enough. > If you want to go with the classic megalomaniac dictator, I’d say your best shot is probably China. There you have at least a combination of authoritarian structures and considerable firepower. For that to happen, China would have to suffer a major economical setback that brings down the current ruling class and replaces it with something more extreme. All in all, I do not think it is likely. > > (And in Europe: Not a chance.) Again, no. China has no modern history of foreign wars of conquest and its highly unlikely that the Chinese people would rally around one. Now, were China to be invaded things would be much different. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240/60 "2015-07-20T09:09:19Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I don’t think anyone’s brought it up yet, but for a time Greece was run by a Fascist Junta, called “the Black Colonels” so they’ve already had this happen. > > That said, to add to your point the Greek military is not exactly known for its competence. Any war they got in would probably be with the Turks and the Turkish army would give them a swift spanking and send them to bed without their supper. Unless the Greeks allied with the Kurds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-european-dictator-like-hitler-emerge/725240.md?page=4)