Political career of Hitler in a CP victory world.

Fenris

Banned
What career in politics, if any at all, would Hitler pursue if the German Empire emerged triumphant from the Great War?

By triumphant, I mean Germany establishes itself as the premier on the European continent, seizes France's colonies for itself, etc. Assume the Bolsheviks take power as OTL. And, of course, he must be rejected from the Vienna art institution.
 
Well, with the German Army still at its pre-1914 size, any Brownshirts or other paramilitaries can be squelched instantly. And with no ToV to undo, the German establishment has no reason to take up with him. Probably never gets beyond a minor agitator.
 
I don't think he would leave the German Army to pursue a political career. He attempted to stay in the army after WWI in OTL, and only left after discovering the nascent Nazi Party while doing work for the military to monitor radical political groups in Munich.

So a CP-victory would butterfly away the Nazis (presumably) and the reason for Hitler to even be in Munich to monitor radical parties (assuming that no Versailles would mean much, much less radical parties springing up in Germany), which would leave Hitler with pretty much being an army lifer. He probably would never rise to anything above sergeant, due to both his lack of formal education and his superior's view that he wasn't officer material.
 
Yeah, no German defeat means no DAP for Hitler to infiltrate and join; I can also see him staying in the mitary, though still joining the police also sounds plausible...
 
crosstime traveler: hey!!! that dude killed six million people in our TL!!!
Granny: impossible, he's a sweet, considerate cop. he wouldn't kill a fly!!!
me: :D:D:D:DHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
Yeah, no German defeat means no DAP for Hitler to infiltrate and join; I can also see him staying in the mitary, though still joining the police also sounds plausible...

I think it depends when the CP victory is. If it's a last gasp off Operation Michael, then you are likely to see a very strong SPD presence in the next Reichstag elections and a lot of unrest. Hitler may well be used by the army in a political role.

If it's 1914, then back to his life in München, although with a bit of army experience, he may be able to get a more respectable job.
 

Thande

Donor
According to Hitler himself he only decided to enter politics when he was frustrated with the circumstances of Germany's defeat in WW1, so I think the stereotypical view that he would not go into politics is correct. Might stay in the army and remain an obscure NCO, might have a civilian career as an artist or something else, but would probably not enter politics.
 
He will probably get back into the art scene, maybe try his hand at writing. Eventually he may end up as a teacher. I could see him becoming the stern headmaster of some unfortunate all boys school.
 
He would also still be antisemitic to some degree; given the genocidal madness he developed OTL I'd say there would still be some roots even in a CP win scenario but without Versailles (and hopefully the great depression might be not so 'great' or even butterflied completely away) there is less stuff for which to find some scapegoat, so he might retain a somewhat 'socially acceptable' antisemitism.
 
[If you] see a very strong SPD presence in the next Reichstag elections and a lot of unrest, Hitler may well be used by the army in a political role.

Is this due primarily to SDP doing well in the Reichstag, or "political unrest" leading to a situation similar somewhat to OTL? What kind of "political role" are we talking about here?
 
The Kaissreich scenario demonstrated the issues this would present. Now, Hitler probably won't ever amount to anything in a CP victory, but don't expect there not to be a Great Depression. Even if not, the CP will still have debts to pay, and the Entente may become very different politically(that Socialist Revolution just may spread.)
 
Is this due primarily to SDP doing well in the Reichstag, or "political unrest" leading to a situation similar somewhat to OTL? What kind of "political role" are we talking about here?

It's the SPD - Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands.

The SPD got 34% of the vote (but just less than 25% of the seats) in the 1912 Reichstagswahl, but was showing some signs of being a fragile coalition - with the likes of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

A quick victorious war might see a revival of the conservatives and the right liberals - whose seats were somewhat inflated by dodgy pacts east of the Elbe.

A long drawn out war - would see the advance of socialism - but splintering of it, just look at the 1919 Nationalversammlung but the split with the USPD and then the further split with the formation of the KPD before the 1920 Reichstagwahl. However, under the Kaiserreich electoral system, splitting would be fairly fatal. (the USPD/SPD vote share in 1919 was about 45.5%).
 
In Up With the Star he goes into politics as leader of the Social Revolutionary movement but is excluded from anything more meaningful than pro-war stump speeches until with the war's end he takes over and due to the nature of the Imperial German chancellorship winds up the biggest failure in the office. The key point in his postwar rise is that even a two-year, shorter World War I introduces enough instability in the Imperial German system to guarantee him some support, as does his willingness to ignore the traditional system and appeal directly to the masses via things like the whistlestop tour. Kaiser Wilhelms II and III hate him, however, so he's never getting near the center of power until the very immediate postwar era when the decision is made to try the Social Revolutionaries to preserve the established system.

Having to keep a coalition on the Imperial German model and Hitler's focus and fixation on keeping Germany's African empire over repairing things at home and complete neglect of economic matters lead to a brutal, short, and unceremonious term as Chancellor with Hitler's legacy being the scrapping of that system and a shift to a stronger parliamentary system so as to try for the same end from a different means.
 
The SPD got 34% of the vote (but just less than 25% of the seats) in the 1912 Reichstagswahl, but was showing some signs of being a fragile coalition - with the likes of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht...

A long drawn out war - would see the advance of socialism - but splintering of it, just look at the 1919 Nationalversammlung but the split with the USPD and then the further split with the formation of the KPD before the 1920 Reichstagwahl. However, under the Kaiserreich electoral system, splitting would be fairly fatal. (the USPD/SPD vote share in 1919 was about 45.5%).

Suppose TTL doesn't see a Bolshevik Russia, would the KPD still even be a factor? Also, how would Adolf Hitler figure into all this?
 
Suppose TTL doesn't see a Bolshevik Russia, would the KPD still even be a factor? Also, how would Adolf Hitler figure into all this?

Bolshevik Russia isn't the only iron in the Marxist fire, in fact I dimly remember that wicked Onkle Karl felt that a country with an industrialised proletariat would be first to revolution such as Germany or Britain. Therefore, it's still possible to form the KPD and the USPD. However, there always was a wide range of small parties in the German political spectrum, many of which need keeping an eye on by the army. Perhaps the anti-semitic Christlichsoziale Arbeiterpartei could resurrect itself as it did as the Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst in the late 20's, although Adolf may not be the best person to infiltrate that as a Catholic.
 
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