Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

Chapter XXVHITLER VERSUS NATIONALSOCIALISMIN THE FIRST BOOK OF HIS DISCORSI, MACHIAVELLI writesthat a tyrant who wishes to establish absolute rule in a country notpreviously ruled by tyranny must change everything: officials,institutions, titles, even the location of the cities; yes, he must evenmove inhabitants from one province to another, 'as shepherds drive theirflocks from place to place.' He, on the other hand, who wished to reforma state to the satisfaction of all, would do well to leave as many thingsas possible outwardly as they are, so that the changes are not evennoticed. Measured by this rule, the National Socialists conductedthemselves more like reformers than like tyrants in the first months,even years, of their regime; for although they thoroughly revamped themethods of government, they retained most of the traditional institutionsfrom parliament, whose decisions they never failed to invoke, down tothe subdivision into states.Here Hitler appeared at the height of his fickle political technique.Power suddenly offered problems he had not expected and was by nomeans prepared to solve — a situation very different from H. S.Chamberlain's Utopian scientific dreams. Yes, there were manyproblems to be left unsolved — for the moment, at least; issues to beleft untouched, resistance unbroken.The reason for this was no inclination or gendeness on Hitler's