Historical parallels and all that

Almaviva

"Germany’s economy was in a mess when Hitler was elected Chancellor in January 1933. Hitler and Nazi propaganda had played on the population’s fear of no hope. Unemployment peaked at 6 million during the final days of the Weimar Republic – near enough 50% of the nation’s working population. Now Hitler decreed that all should work in Nazi Germany and he constantly played on the economic miracle Nazi Germany achieved."

aido179

you realised this thread just ended cuz you mentioned hitler right?

orourkeda

sieg heil

Donal Og O Baelach

Almaviva wrote: »

"Germany’s economy was in a mess when Hitler was elected Chancellor in January 1933. Hitler and Nazi propaganda had played on the population’s fear of no hope. Unemployment peaked at 6 million during the final days of the Weimar Republic – near enough 50% of the nation’s working population. Now Hitler decreed that all should work in Nazi Germany and he constantly played on the economic miracle Nazi Germany achieved."

ANOTHER thread about Mick Wallace?

Chuck Stone

Oh you smart.

Agricola

Enda lacks the charisma of a Hitler, or a toothbrush for that matter.

paddy0090

More Elmer Fudd than Hitler. Though personally I'll always think of him as that 'n****r guy'

Saila

and..

starbelgrade

I rate this thread a 1 out of ten.

Duckworth_Luas

At least the trains will run on time.

El Weirdo

starbelgrade wrote: »

I rate this thread a 1 out of ten.

Generous.

El Weirdo

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

At least the trains will run on time.

That was Mussolini.

Superbus

Yeah - Enda's definitely representative of a rise in extremist politics.

mikemac

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

At least the trains will run on time.

That was Mussolini who got their trains to run on time.
Quite an achievement for Italy

Gah: beaten to it ^^

Duckworth_Luas

El Weirdo wrote: »

That was Mussolini.

So what did Hitler do again?

admiralofthefleet

aido179 wrote: »

you realised this thread just ended cuz you mentioned hitler right?

hitler was a genius that was way ahead of his time

/runs

El Weirdo

feelingstressed wrote: »

That was Mussolini who got their trains to run on time.
Quite an achievement for Italy

Gah: beaten to it ^^

Although the capacity of trains in Hitler's Germany was increased somewhat.

Almaviva

Almaviva wrote: »

"Germany’s economy was in a mess when Hitler was elected Chancellor in January 1933. Hitler and Nazi propaganda had played on the population’s fear of no hope. Unemployment peaked at 6 million during the final days of the Weimar Republic – near enough 50% of the nation’s working population. Now Hitler decreed that all should work in Nazi Germany and he constantly played on the economic miracle Nazi Germany achieved."

Almost all job creation was in the preparation for war, are we planning to go to war!

mikemac

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

So what did Hitler do again?

Network of autobahns

Google tells me the correct term is Autobahnen for plural

Sandwlch

The Germans couldn't repay the French after WW I. Hitler decided to sort it out.
We cant repay the Germans after Bailout 1. Enda has said he's going to sort it out.

PeterIanStaker

This thread is so bad it could be the lead article in the Sindo.

ArtyM

The cornerstones of Nazi Germany.....
Organisation,
Efficiency,
National Pride,
the idea of Genetic Superiority,
Single minded pursuit of goals,
aspire to greatness.

There is not a chance in 200 Hells that any of those concepts could find a home in this country.

---

chunkylover4

used extensive labour programmes like the autobahns to create employment

Donal Og O Baelach

ArtyM wrote: »

The cornerstones of Nazi Germany.....
Organisation,
Efficiency,
National Pride,
the idea of Genetic Superiority,
Single minded pursuit of goals,
aspire to greatness.

There is not a chance in 200 Hells that any of those concepts could find a home in this country.

---

Drink,
Arse,
Feck.

GavRedKing

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

So what did Hitler do again?

He tried to get rid of all the juice.

chunkylover4

chunkylover4 wrote: »

used extensive labour programmes like the autobahns to create employment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vcO5Agst0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co562BXKuMg

stovelid

These parallels do seem to spring up every so waffen.

Elmer Blooker

Almaviva wrote: »

"Germany’s economy was in a mess when Hitler was elected Chancellor in January 1933. Hitler and Nazi propaganda had played on the population’s fear of no hope. Unemployment peaked at 6 million during the final days of the Weimar Republic – near enough 50% of the nation’s working population. Now Hitler decreed that all should work in Nazi Germany and he constantly played on the economic miracle Nazi Germany achieved."

Economic miracle? Nazi Germany? Half of the unemployed were put into the army and the other half made weapons for the army! The result - the destruction of Germany and over 50m dead.

danniemcq

feelingstressed wrote: »

That was Mussolini who got their trains to run on time.
Quite an achievement for Italy

Gah: beaten to it ^^

El Weirdo wrote: »

That was Mussolini.

alas both wrong though!

from here http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp

Claim: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini made the trains run on time.

Status: False.

Origins: Every political leader — whether he be a democratically elected representative or a usurping tyrant — seeks to gain broad public support, because the greater his support, the greater his power. That power may ultimately be used for good or for bad, but either way it must be obtained before it can be wielded.

One Benito Mussolini of the best ways to gain the support of the people you want to lead is to do something of benefit to them. Failing that, the next best thing is to convince them that you have done something of benefit to them, even though you really haven't. So it was with Benito Mussolini and the Italian railway system.

After the "march on Rome" (which was itself a myth of fascist propaganda) on 28 October 1922 that resulted in King Vittorio Emanuele's appointment of Benito Mussolini as prime minister and the accession to power of the fascists in Italy, Mussolini needed to convince the people of Italy that fascism was indeed a system that worked to their benefit. Thus was born the myth of fascist efficiency, with the train as its symbol. The word was spread that Mussolini had turned the dilapidated Italian railway system into one that was the envy of all Europe, featuring trains that were both dependable and punctual. In Mussolini's Italy, all the trains ran on time.

Well, not quite. The Italian railway system had fallen into a rather sad state during World War I, and it did improve a good deal during the 1920s, but Mussolini was disingenuous in taking credit for the changes: much of the repair work had been performed before Mussolini and the fascists came to power in 1922. More importantly (to the claim at hand), those who actually lived in Italy during the Mussolini era have borne testimony that the Italian railway's legendary adherence to timetables was far more myth than reality.

The myth of Mussolini's punctual trains lives on, albeit with a different slant: rather than serving as a fictitious symbol of the benefits of fascism, it is now offered as a sardonic example that something good can result even from the worst of circumstances. As Montagu and Darling wrote:
Mussolini may have done many brutal and tyrannical things; he may have destroyed human freedom in Italy; he may have murdered and tortured citizens whose only crime was to oppose Mussolini; but 'one had to admit' one thing about the Dictator: he 'made the trains run on time.'
No, thanks. I'd rather walk.

Sightings: In an episode of televisions L.A. Law ("Romancing the Drone," originally aired 17 November 1988), Michael Kuzak answers Grace Van Owen's criticism with "And Mussolini made the trains run on time."

Last updated: 29 September 2007

Krusader

Agricola wrote: »

Enda lacks the charisma of a Hitler, or a toothbrush for that matter.

Really?? :pac:

rossie1977

when the irish government start showing signs of most of the 14 points of fascism then maybe you can claim we have another hitler on our hands, george w bush for example could easily have been said to have displayed at least 11 of the 14 signs

danniemcq

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

Economic miracle? Nazi Germany? Half of the unemployed were put into the army and the other half made weapons for the army! The result - the destruction of Germany and over 50m dead.

sigh if only he sent the unemployed off to the Eastern front then the unemployment rate would have been slashed

ejmaztec

I think he borrowed billions from other countries so that he could pimp up the German war-machine, and knowing full well that Germany couldn't pay the money back, decided to invade as many creditor countries that he could, so that Germany wouldn't have to hand back the cash.

It looked good on paper, but he made a couple of errors.

danniemcq

danniemcq wrote: »

alas both wrong though!

from here http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp

And Mussolini made the trains run on time."

Reminds me of a more recent British Rail classic.

The 6:45 from brighton was frequently 5 minutes late arriving in London, so they just added 5 ninutes on to the official journey time. It was rarely late after that !

sensibleken

worst historical analogy ever!

or should i say vurste....aye..aye?

galah

cause the economy was booming and the country/economy striving when Hitler was finished with his "reign", right? :rolleyes:

seriously now, Ted...