What if Hitler served on the General Staff in WW1

In what I promise is my last question of the what if Hitler served series

what if he was wounded severly in 1915 and couldnt return to the front... major leg injury lets say (no amputation but he can't run or go beyond a gentle walk without a limp)

lets say he gets assigned as a clerk at the general staff in berlin... he serves there for three years honorably, getting a strong insite in the command of a nation at war and finishes the war as a feldwebel

what sort of effect would this have on him in the later years
 
In what I promise is my last question of the what if Hitler served series

what if he was wounded severly in 1915 and couldnt return to the front... major leg injury lets say (no amputation but he can't run or go beyond a gentle walk without a limp)

lets say he gets assigned as a clerk at the general staff in berlin... he serves there for three years honorably, getting a strong insite in the command of a nation at war and finishes the war as a feldwebel

what sort of effect would this have on him in the later years

Gets a strong insight into the command of a nation at war... like when your generals tell you continuing an offensive in the dead of winter is a bad idea, to listen to them? :p
 
If he starts growing in to a ww1 mindset though then Germany would probably perform even worse.
 
I read Guderian's memoirs and Hitler's ideas in regards to the military were heavily tied to his experiences on the front. He recommended using artillery to create craters for either winter shelter or protection, even though Guderian told him about the permafrost that Russia had that Flanders did not.

Less experience on the front (due to getting wounded earlier) and more exposure to military strategy above the enlisted-man level would likely help his strategic acumen, plus less combat might make him less hardened.
 

MrP

Banned
I read Guderian's memoirs and Hitler's ideas in regards to the military were heavily tied to his experiences on the front. He recommended using artillery to create craters for either winter shelter or protection, even though Guderian told him about the permafrost that Russia had that Flanders did not.

Less experience on the front (due to getting wounded earlier) and more exposure to military strategy above the enlisted-man level would likely help his strategic acumen, plus less combat might make him less hardened.

That brings to mind another idea, not related to this thread, for which I apologise - to send Hitler to the Eastern Front in WWI. I can't help but smirk at the 'Allo 'Allo line in my mind now. :D
 
if he had a positive experiance under the general staff it could lead to people like manstein and runstead being the highest general's in the army he might actually defer to them
 
Now im thinking this, what if his experience was especially negative. Like people or the generals are just generally rude to him while working there.
 
Not to mention he probably won't win that Iron Cross, First class, and would likely lose his appeal to the "common soldier"


As they say, he might not even be 'Hitler'.

A right demon of a man still, no doubt. But I wouldn't be surprised if Hitler had some sort of PTSD, which might have been mitigated or lessened in such a scenario.
 
As they say, he might not even be 'Hitler'.

A right demon of a man still, no doubt. But I wouldn't be surprised if Hitler had some sort of PTSD, which might have been mitigated or lessened in such a scenario.
He definately showed a few PTSD-esque symptoms OTL, like his hysteria-induced blindness towards the end of World War I.
 
Not to mention he probably won't win that Iron Cross, First class, and would likely lose his appeal to the "common soldier"

If you wanted to go for minimalist changes in the spirit of the OP, why not simply have him wounded in some sort of Iron Cross-worthy act? Still can put on his war hero hat in such a case.
 
Actually, something overlooked here, if he serves on the staff, his entire opinion of just how the war was lost may be changed, that is, he may not subscribe to the "Stab in the back" mindset, rather, having seen first hand some of the more egregious blunders within the army itself, peerhaps he's less likely to lay the blame on Jews or other elements of German society and perhaps more likely to lay the blame at the feet of the Kaiser, von Hindenburg, Moltke the Younger and the admiralty and their failures for Germany's defeat?

The Kaiser: Where to begin? Big share of blame there.

Moltke the Younger: Gutted the Schlieffen Plan by needlessly stripping the needed man power away from the west to fight in the east where it was not only not needed, but many of whom didn't arrive until after Tannenburg was over anyway.

Hindenburg: The Hindenburg Programme. Need I say more?

The Admiralty: What was the whole damn point of having a fleet if it was never going to be used? The surface fleet ended up being little more than an expensive ornament in port throughout the war. Trying and losing is one thing. People will say "Hey, you tried to break the blockade, it just didn't happen but at least you gave that last full measure to try and save Germans from starving." The German admiralty just sat on their asses and after Jutland, did very little else.

Could Hitler, under these circumstances, dissillusioned with the old order, the Kaiser, the Junkers, all of that, perhaps Hitler becomes a Bohemian, an ex-pat living in Paris, studying architecture rather than getting involved in the messy and ugly world of politics in Weimar Germany?

It's a much different view from a desk at HQ than from the front lines and that view is of the reality of failure rather than the conspiracy theory.
 
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