WI: Hitler becomes General and/or Major War Hero

IIRC, it takes 12 and a half years to rise from the firsed commissioned rank to Colonel and Hitler wasn't even there yet.

So you saying there no amount political wheeling and dealing, coupled with a few impressive heroic showings on the battlefield that could get that sped up?
 
So you saying there no amount political wheeling and dealing, coupled with a few impressive heroic showings on the battlefield that could get that sped up?
It could, except it probably would lower it to maybe 8-9 years rather than 12. The military doesn't just promote people based on courage, especially not to senior ranks. For senior ranks pure bravery doesn't cut it, a person has to also demonstrate tactical, strategic, and command ability at several different points during their career. For instance Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated US soldiers of all time, only got to First Lieutenant.
 
Nitwit? Your entire tone here is far too insulting for far too little reason.

Make your point without insulting others (which in this case would be very easy). If you can't, then maybe your point isn't that valid.

I realise the tone was regrettable, the anger unnecessary and I apologise
 
It could, except it probably would lower it to maybe 8-9 years rather than 12. The military doesn't just promote people based on courage, especially not to senior ranks. For senior ranks pure bravery doesn't cut it, a person has to also demonstrate tactical, strategic, and command ability at several different points during their career. For instance Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated US soldiers of all time, only got to First Lieutenant.

I am not sure what the German equivalent of staff college was at that time but given Hitler's demonstrated personality which was never that of a details man I cannot see him achieving the qualifications required to rise to colonel/oberst.

Further given the nature of the interwar Reichswehr in which off the top of my head Colonels average age was something like 57 prior to the repudiation of Versailles he would have faced a long slow slog to promotion. Had he received promotion during the war the officers course lasted more than six months by itself and given he might well have been expected to complete the NCO course prior to that he could well have been out of the front lines best part of a year.
 
I agree with the rest of this post and what others have said as well. A person just does not rise from the enlisted ranks or civilian life to be a Major General in 4 years of warfare, even if he proves himself to me supremely gifted. It only happens in "Star Wars", General Solo.

That said, I would argue that Hitler obviously had the ability to motivate people. The rise of the Nazi Party, World War 2, and the death of millions at the hands of Germans who forgot they were citizens of a highly civilized nation are evidence for that.

Hitler showed himself to be an excellent political activist in the Weimar post-WW1 republic. His advancement from nothing to prime minister in 13 years is incredibly fast and successful.

But during WW1 he was totally lacking in these skills. Partly it was because his main rants about "the elites betrayal of Germany" and "the threat from jewish communism" still were in the future (Hitler never connected well with the wilhemite germany), partly because the audience hadn't experienced the Versaille treaty and according to some Hitler hadn't gone through his breakdown and rehabilitation at the end of WW1 (Hitler wasn't blinded by gas, but suffered from hysteric blindness and was treated at a mental institution).

As several already have pointed out it is remarkable that Hitler never really reconnected with his WW1 "mates". That is a sign that they weren't impressed by his interpersonal skills - skills that the german military system saw as vital for an officer.
 
I agree with the rest of this post and what others have said as well. A person just does not rise from the enlisted ranks or civilian life to be a Major General in 4 years of warfare, even if he proves himself to me supremely gifted. It only happens in "Star Wars", General Solo.

It is just about possible. Enoch Powell rose from private to brigadier (equivalent to a German Maj Gen) during WW2, which was admittedly two years longer. There are probably other examples.

That said, I would argue that Hitler obviously had the ability to motivate people. The rise of the Nazi Party, World War 2, and the death of millions at the hands of Germans who forgot they were citizens of a highly civilized nation are evidence for that.

It is a different business motivating 500 people in a beerhall or 5000 people in an auditorium than doing so on a one-to-one or one-to-few basis.

I agree that the premise is, unfortunately, ASB.
 
I wonder if the question might work the other way round. Rather than Hitler ending the war as a general officer, what if a general officer assumed the role of Hitler in the early 1920s?

The obvious candidate would be Ludendorff, who was too unwilling to be directly involved in the day-to-day necessaries of politics and simply expected to be called on to lead. Is it not possible that someone might have convinced him that he at least ought to establish a permanent party he could lead as a figurehead? Had he done so, it may have choked off the rise of the Nazis (or subsumed them) and provided a route to the presidency post-Hindenburg, either in 1932 or 1934.
 
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