I've given it a great deal of thought. Hell, I watch the History Channel all the time, and have probably seen every Hitler program they have. Why? Certainly not because I admired the man, but because I wanted to try to ascertain what he had going for him that so many people stopped being themselves and adhered to his drivel.

He was a dynamic speaker, that goes without saying. And he studied how to be dynamic, mimicking moves he thought would give him the appearance of power. Every word was calculated, every word given just the right emphasis. I bet he studied in front of the mirror constantly. And he read, of course. Read about powerful leaders and how and what they did to gain and retain power.
He made few mistakes.
Those mistakes he made, he tried to remedy.
Of course, his biggest mistake, the idea he could rule the world and dispose of those he considered inferior, proved to be his downfall, but for a long while, he was pretty much on his way toward his goal with massive success.

Der Fuhrer certainly wasn't much to look at. He wasn't anywhere near his Aryan perfection of blond hair and blue eyes, but after awhile, he had people so convinced it was okay as long as you could prove your Aryan pedigree, as long as you weren't disfigured, you'd be acceptable.

What he did do so very, very right, was convince many downtrodden, defeated people that they were superior and deserved to lead the world.
After WWI, Germany was in ruins. They were forbidden to arm themselves and the country was in collapse and desolate. I don't know exactly who started the ball rolling again, but it took a long time for the people to have food and shelter, muchless an army or navy. But, under Adolf's leadership, they managed to thumb their noses at the World Court and League of Nations and started not only rebuilding the country but rebuilding their military within about fifteen years.
Why?
Because once they had food and shelter, a word here and there about how they had been smashed down by inferior races while they were so bloody superior gave lots of people ideas that they truly did belong leading the world. Pick on somebody to blame. It wasn't the allies who destroyed Germany, it was the Jews. And the gypsies and homosexuals.
He got a propaganda machine going to do two things...assure the German people they were terrific in their own right and that anybody else was inferior and should be wiped from the face of the earth.

Now, everybody likes praise. Everybody likes to believe they're top of the heap and king of the hill. If you flatter someone with stuff like this, it will sooner or later convince them.
And with this support, worlds can be won.

Hitler had power no one has had before or since. That's the truth. He had destroyed the governments of "lesser" nations with the might of his army of "superior" warriors. The German women who succumbed to his rhetoric were willing to give their bodies and lives for the Reich.
Or was it for one man who personified such great power?
Hey, he said something and countries were conquered. He wiggled his finger and eight million people were wiped from the face of the earth. He collected fine art, stole it where he could not conquer it, and used gold from the teeth of those he murdered to finance his military might.

Why? How did he do it?

He convinced people, lots and lots of people, how wonderful they were.

False praise, made up history, the idea that they were superior enough to rule the earth...tell people that enough and they'll follow you anywhere. Promise them the world and start giving it to them little by little. Convince people this is what they need. Become like a god in their eyes. Like a god!

Well, all good things must come to an end. I guess he just hadn't counted on people being able to fight back. Mongrels, as he called us, fighting back, and supplying our allies with weapons and soldiers and planes...all that materiel one needs to fight back. So, we weren't his idea of pure, but we all sure as hell knew how to crush the country--again--and in the end, those people who still clung to the ideas that they were superior found out they were just regular people, like all the rest of us. Those who had never been convinced...well, nobody ever writes about them and the History Channel hasn't made a show about those people yet. Too bad. I know there were some.

Now...all this is leading up to a thought. History aside, what would we think if we knew it was happening again?
What would we do if a leader arose who told his people they were superior in every way to everyone else and they had a right to rule the earth?
What would we think if people started arming themselves, or buying countries (it's less messy and bloody) with riches they got through deception or the honest stupidity of their followers?

Would we stand there and just let them?
Or would we be willing to fight to preserve our way of life, mongrelized as it may be?

If there is anything to be learned from the second great war, it is that we must be vigilant. But we also have to know what we're looking for.
Sometimes it lurks in very, very quiet dark corners.