Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Scorpion]

Hitler was an idiot.

I know what many of you are probably thinking. "How can you say that Hitler - a man who turned the German economy around, restored law and order to the streets of Berlin and Munich, raised Germany's national standing, gave millions of his countrymen a new confidence vis-a-vis other countries, and was a European fashion icon - was an idiot." I can just see many of you spitting bile at your computer screen as you read this. "Is nothing sacred, any more? Hitler - an idiot. You're obviously the idiot, you dick. Show some respect." Well, hear me out. The reason I think Hitler was an idiot is because he didn't play chess. And the reason he didn't play chess was undoubtedly because it was invented by dark-skinned people, and was all too popular with east European commie unter-menschen. The latter fact probably also convinced him that there was also something undeniably "Jewish" about the whole affair. Anyhow, not being a chess player was one of his many failings as a war leader. I'm pretty much addicted to computer chess, and one thing you learn pretty quickly is that when you're beaten you're beaten. You stare at the screen and you know you've no chance, even though you might have a fair number of players still on the board. You've been out-maneouvered. Fighting it out until you've lost your very last pawn is a fool's errand. But that was Hitler's war strategy. "Fight to the very last man - not one man is to retreat from the front." A total idiot. Accept that a battle is lost, pull back, learn from your error and await the next attack. Time after time tens of thousands of German soldiers were unnecessarily wasted as cannon fodder in already lost battles. As the war was drawing to an end, with enemy armies approaching from east and west, he could have had hundreds of thousands of extra soldiers ready to defend Germany's borders, and Berlin itself. Instead, they were all in their graves or in Russian concentration camps and Berlin was to be defended by old men and twelve year old kids. Nice war strategy there pal.

And all because the stupid man didn't play chess.

[andrewchon]

I disagree, Hitler was an idiot because despite his Catholic upbringing, he didn't molest young boys.

[Steelrails]

I always warned Hitler that evil would triumph because good is dumb. And in the end he was reduced to a caricature screaming about Kim Kardashian, Rebecca Black, and the ending of Dexter

Told the same thing to Osama. The USA and the Jews have all that book-learnin. You don't stand a chance. Where's he now? Fish food.

[young_clinton]

Very good analogy.

[Smithington]

[drcrazy]

I was his kindergarten teacher. He made a door nob look smart. However, his finger paintings were fantastic.

[Scorpion]

Honestly, I can't find any hard evidence of Hitler ever playing chess. How could someone with designs on conquering every country within reach not have been attracted to chess? Maybe he was so obsessed with German racial superiority that he thought strategy wasn't that important. Only thing I could find was this drawing of Hitler allegedly playing chess with Lenin in Vienna in 1909.

http://en.chessbase.com/home/TabId/211/PostId/4005737

Skeptical cat is skeptical.

[Smithington]

I can somewhat understand Hitler not playing chess. I can even understand him actively disliking it. Sure it's important for long-term strategic planning, but that was not Hitler's gig. He placed everything on blitzkrieg. No gentlemanly "It's your move now" crap for him. He planned to move all his pieces at once before the other guy even sat down at the table. Chess, moreover, is about rules. Hitler had no time for those. Finally, Hitler's mentality was forged by WWI. The Germans were bogged down for four years in a war that Berlin thought would last a few weeks. In Hitler's war there would be no standing still. Chess is all about 'standing still' for long periods of time while you and your opponent planned your next moves. Hitler had his own rulebook about how the next war would go, and chess did not reflect that in any way.

[wooden nickels]

I have no praise for what Hitler did. However, I would say he was good at what he did.

[Harpeau]

Hitler was an idiot- a gifted orator, but still a moron. If ANY other person would have led the war strategy, the Nazis would have won. Wait 5 years before going to war- the Nazis would have won. Have only 1 battlefront, the Nazis would have one. Kept the Americans out... Hitler was a lobotomized idiot!!

[Steelrails]

Hitler wasn't much of an idiot, he was just beyond his depth. He could play the game of internal party politics and consolidating power well, just not war.

The idiots were his military men for not enabling a "tragic end" to befall him either in August of 1939 or in the interim between the Phony War and The Battle of Britain. The other idiots were the Propaganda Ministry and the SS for not realizing that Hitler would be a liability in a war as commander-in-chief.

[Zackback]

Fighting a war on two fronts (Americans, British, etc in the west and the Russians in the east) was not wise.

[Smithington]

[Scorpion]

He was a competent politician, and a gifted orator, but as a war leader he was utterly incompetent. Starting from his decision to let the British escape at Dunkirk in 1940 it was one stupid decision after another. There were several generals who saw this and conspired to have Hitler killed, but he escaped time and again. Their best chance was when Hitler and Himmler were to visit a certain place together (can't remember where, exactly). A group of generals had planned to give a signal, then men would stand up and shoot the two dead. Himmler failed to show and, although the assassins were ready to roll, it was called off because they feared a bloody feud between the SS and the wehrmacht. Hitler and Himmler had to die together. Then, of course, there was the bomb under the desk fiasco. So many lost opportunities. Someone with nothing to lose should have just walked up and shot him in the head.

[Zackback]