Adolf Hitler was an Intelligent Individual

I'd like to start my argument by wholeheartedly accepting my opponent's definition of intelligence. I will be proving how Hitler most certainly was not that intelligent of an individual. One of the most common misconceptions about Hitler is the theory that, since he got a 'lot' of people to follow him during his rise to power, that he must have been smart. First of all, while people did follow Hitler at the beginning of and during his rise to power, that 'lot' definitely did not constitute the majority. The results of the March 13, 1932 election stood as follows: Paul von Hindenburg, 49.6% of the overall vote; Hitler, 30.1% of the overall vote; Ernst Thaelmann, 13.2% of the overall vote; and Theodore Duesterberg, 6.8% of the vote [see citation 1]. Almost an entire seventy percent of the German people voted against Hitler in this election [1]. Joseph Goebbels, a strong Hitler supporter and the man who would eventually become Hitler's infamous propaganda minister, reportedly remarked, "We're beaten; terrible outlook. Party circles badly depressed and dejected. " [1]. It was a similar result for Hitler in the April 19th, 1932 election: Hindenburg garnered 53.0% of the vote, Hitler 36.8%, and Thaelmann 10.2% [1]. On June 1st of that same year, the newly elected Hindenburg made the decision to appoint Franz von Papen as Chancellor of Germany. What was one of the first things Papen did? Dissolve the national Congress, of course! He then called for Germany's third legislative election in five months. This is the first point where Hitler's non-intelligence shows itself. Hitler and other members of his Nazi (National Socialist) Party were "determined to bring down the republic and establish dictatorial rule in Germany" [1]. They attempted to accomplish this goal by performing horrendous acts of violence, murder, and other extremely antagonistic actions. Chaos ensued, and martial law was enacted in Berlin. This was all thanks to Hitler's brash attempt at taking advantage of the situation Papen set up for him. This is a recurring trend in the actions of Hitler: the situation in which he was supposedly 'intelligent' in was usually set up for him by some other event. It wasn't Hitler's intelligence - it was outside events that pretty much anyone could have taken advantage of, with the proper guidance of course. Hitler was of average intelligence at best, and there are many, many situations where even that seemed to be stretching the truth. Even though he may have had people following him in greater numbers after these occurrences and into the future, if you have 100 idiots following another idiot, does that make the leading idiot smart? The previously mentioned 'exploitation of prior events' that Hitler so commonly used to his advantage lies at the core of his Nazi movement. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles imposed "particularly stringent treaty obligations upon the defeated Germany", due to the fact the Western powers viewed Germany as the instigator of the war [2]. The treaty forced Germany to concede territories that were previously under German control to Belgium (Eupen-Malmï¿½dy), Czechoslovakia (the Hultschin district), and Poland (Poznan [German: Posen], West Prussia and Upper Silesia) [2]. However, the most "humiliating" clause in the entire treaty to Germany was Article 231, otherwise known as the "War Guilt Clause". This article forced the nation of Germany, as a whole, to accept FULL responsibility for World War I. This made them reliable for all material damages inflicted upon other nations [2]. The French still pressed further in the treaty, as they sought to limit Germany's ability to recover from the war due to the fact the French were worried Germany would be able to recover from the war and start an entirely new conflict. The treaty limited the Germans to 100,000 men, with conscription prohibited. It also restricted the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, and no submarine fleet whatsoever. Additionally, it restricted Germany from having any kind of air force. [2] Predictably, the citizens of Germany and the other defeated nations viewed the treaty as an unfair punishment. The citizens were outraged at the 'punishments', and this only added on to the negative emotion and feelings that had been stoked by their collective defeat in the war. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I believe, states it best: "The war guilt clause, its incumbent reparation payments, and the limitations on the German military were particularly onerous in the minds of most Germans, and revision of the Versailles Treaty represented one of the platforms that gave radical right wing parties in Germany, including Hitler's Nazi Party, such credibility to mainstream voters in the 1920s and early 1930s. Promises to rearm, to reclaim German territory, particularly in the East, to remilitarize the Rhineland, and to regain prominence again among the European and world powers after such a humiliating defeat and peace, stoked ultranationalist sentiment and helped average voters to overlook the more radical tenets of Nazi ideology. " [2] The point I am trying to make here is that it was less of Hitler's supposed intelligence that resulted in his political prominence, and more the situation he rose to prominence in. His party's notorious propaganda overshadowed its blatant stupid radicalism, and the fact that so many people believed that his party stood for the German nation's resurgence as a whole was the driving force behind his and his party's ability to garner any influence at all. Hitler's intelligence had little to do with this certain facet - it was more the idea that he WAS intelligent (among many other fantastical notions), as depicted by the Nazi propaganda and its corresponding ministers, that grew followers to his cause. This is highlighted by a speech by the previously mentioned Goebbels on Hitler and the media of the time: "The newspapers today are filled with congratulations for Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler. The nuances vary, depending on the tone, character, and attitude of the newspaper. All, however, agree on one thing: Hitler is a man of stature who has already accomplished historically important deeds and faces still greater challenges. He is the kind of statesman found only rarely in Germany. During his lifetime, he has the good fortune not only to be appreciated and loved by the overwhelming majority of the German people, but even more importantly to be understood by them. He is the only German politician of the post-war period who understood the situation and drew the necessary hard and firm conclusions. All the newspapers agree on this. " [3] The conclusion to be drawn from all of this is that it was of German support for the supposed betterment of their country, not the German support of the supposedly intelligent Hitler, which drove so many people to support said Hitler in the fashion that they did. In all facets of his regime, it was more this love of country, not the love of one leader, that drew so much support to Hitler. Due to the fact I am running short on space in this round of the debate, I will hold off on my arguments against Hitler's intelligence as a military leader until the next round. One of the quickest things to point out about Hitler and the military, however, was the fact that Hitler was an egotistical maniac, bent on running a war by himself and killing anyone who opposed him. I wouldn't exactly call that smart, especially considering the outcome of WWII ended in Hitler's suicide. [4] I eagerly await my opponent's response! [1] . http://www.fff.org... [2] . http://www.ushmm.org... [3] . http://www.ihatethemedia.com... [4] . http://www.historyplace.com...