This question has been asked a bit in different places, but I haven't come across it on this site. So, I'll ask.

Many historians say Hitler would've been one of the best authors of all time, had he not gone mad. Many said he would've been one of the most brilliant men of all time, had he not gone mad.

Some say he was too nuts to ever be anything.

So, what's your opinion? Was he an insane idiot or a brilliant madman?

He did become chancellor of Germany... so he couldn't have been a complete idiot, right?

He was brilliant of course. Evil, psycopathic but a genius, no doubt there.

Hitler only started to 'really' lose it in 1943 when the war in Russia began to go against his armies.

Hitler was not mentally ill like a lot of people like to think, it really angers me when people say he is though. Hitler was a man with a vision for Germany and a greater Europe unfortunately for him and his evil Nazis most of the world disagreed with this. I think Hitler finally started loosing his marbles though after the famous July 20th 1944 bomb plot by Von Stauffenberg. If you see him in footage before the bomb he seems normal and healthy looking, when it is after the bomb he is very drained and thin and often shaking. He also starts to have very erratic behaviour this is also documented by certain officers around him. So no Hitler wasnt mental, maybe some of his officers were rather strange but he himself wasnt.

Mabey me was just a tad bit disturbed Kamakazi, just a wee bit.

both

He made it onto the front cover of Time magazine twice - you know, before he went mad and all.

It's a fine line you speak of and often the two go hand in glove, ya know?

Originally Posted by KAMIKAZI

Hitler was not mentally ill like a lot of people like to think, it really angers me when people say he is though. Hitler was a man with a vision for Germany and a greater Europe unfortunately for him and his evil Nazis most of the world disagreed with this. I think Hitler finally started loosing his marbles though after the famous July 20th 1944 bomb plot by Von Stauffenberg. If you see him in footage before the bomb he seems normal and healthy looking, when it is after the bomb he is very drained and thin and often shaking. He also starts to have very erratic behaviour this is also documented by certain officers around him. So no Hitler wasnt mental, maybe some of his officers were rather strange but he himself wasnt.

His onset of loosing his marbles began to surface before July 1944, although it was a very gradual process. It was around the time of Operation Zitadelle (Kursk) that his judgement and his reasoning began to unravel, although some will say that his judgement was always slightly circumspect. Your right though. The July 1944 bomb plot really did push him over the edge into paranoia and fantasyland.

Contrary to what most people will still believe Hitler was a decent strategist who well understood the logistics and economies of warfare. The problem was that there were men in the German command structure who were a bit better than he was. Hitler also tried to do too much himself (especially true after he decided to become the CnC of OKH).

Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) his ego would not allow him to delegate and trust others with the really big decisions. Which is a pity for Germany as they had some really brilliant commanders at that time. How often do you get men with the genius and ability of Heinz Guderian and Erich von Manstein coming along at the same time. Not often.

hitler had a really bad meth addiction as well.