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Why is Hitler considered evil, but Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon aren't?

posted 11 years ago by WWu777
8 replies | jump to latest

I've always wondered why Hitler is portrayed as so evil by America. What did he do that other conquerors didn't? Other great conquerors of Europe did the same things he did. Such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte. They killed many people during their campaigns, and executed many prisoners too. Yet those three are romanticized whereas Hitler is greatly demonized. Why?

Stalin was far worse. So was Mao. They starved millions of people. Hitler didn't. Hitler fed all his people and gave them jobs.

Hitler also has great accomplishments that America never tells you about. He ended corruption in Germany and refused to take bribes. He did not let other officials in Germany take bribes either. And he kept his campaign promises. What US politician can claim all that? None!

Hitler did good things and bad things, like many other conquerors did, especially in the ancient world. But there's no reason to portray him as the most evil man in history. That's way overblowing it. He's been demonized beyond what he deserves.

Also, all great conquerors claimed to be of a superior race. That's what they used to justify their conquests. Alexander the Great claimed that the Greeks were a superior race. Caesar claimed the Romans were a superior race. And Napoleon claimed the French was a superior race. Political correctness is a recent phenomenon and an aberration from all of human history. Racism seems to be more natural and normal than political correctness. So the racism of the Nazis does not appear to be unique or worse than that of others.

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[–] TheFonz79 11 years ago

I guess maybe because the evils of Hitler and his regime are still in living memory. There are people still alive who survived the camps. American soldiers who liberated the camps saw for themselves the evil, and many are still alive. Although Stalin and Mao killed millions we didn't see the evidence first-hand. Ceasar, Alexander, and Napoleon are history. Perhaps one day, in another one or two hundred years, Hitler will be, too.

It may also be the shock of the people at the time to discover that a nation, considered one of the most civilized on a civilized continent, could murder millions of people is such a planned, systematic way.

[–] saighton 9 years ago

It may also be the shock of the people at the time to discover that a nation, considered one of the most civilized on a civilized continent, could murder millions of people is such a planned, systematic way.

Almost as if they'd not heard of the (arguable, for the benefit of chauvinist-Turkish nationalists) Armenian Genocide, isn't it? Wasn't that 1916, so they had plenty of time to become aware of it? What, they didn't care because it didn't affect THEM? Shock! Horror! Welcome to Humanity in it's TRUE sense... This is what shocks people, the veneer of 'civilisation', peeled-back. But seeing things any other way than reality, is lying to oneself and to others. Not helpful in the long run, and the events of the 20th Century were a sharp reminder of the price of ignorance of ourselves... which still unfortunately continues to this day.

[–] bond_98 11 years ago

It probably because of the million of Dead Jews. Stalin and Mao killed millions. But they didn't systematic kill people because of their race and creed. Don't ask me why ethnic cleansing is considered worst than cause death from starvation. Or killing people for political reasons.

[–] eddy77 11 years ago

Napoleon came up with the civil code, Hitler came up with the final solution.

/thread

[–] Ehrgeiz 10 years ago

This.
All of the other three were warmongers.
Especially Caesar could be considered in todays perspective a huge war criminal; in his own writings he boasts about the punishment of the city of Avaricum and how his troops slaughtered 40 000 people there.
But - and that marks the difference - all of the three showed mercy to an extent over the people they defeated.
This was absent in Hitlers Germany.

[–] ButterBase 10 years ago

The Ukrainians would like to say hello about Stalin not killing people because of race.

[–] simplemines 9 years ago

Stalin was far worse. So was Mao. They starved millions of people. Hitler didn't. Hitler fed all his people and gave them jobs.

Right. Hitler put all the Jews to work at Auschwitz, throwing gassed bodies into the furnaces. Who knew the Final Solution was a make-work program?

[–] 9 years ago

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