Friday, April 2, 2010

Why did Erwin Rommel join the German Military if he had issues with Hitler




Erwin Rommel, a military leader who was involved in two very intense battles in World War two. He fought in The Battle at El Alamein in North Africa and at D-Day. He is known as the "Desert Fox" and is one of Germanys most respected military leaders in World War two. He remained leader after the war, but once Hitler noticed Rommel and saw what he could do and the success he made, Hitler appointed him as Commander of the Afrika Corps. Rommel was different from most Germans, he believed that all prisoners of war should be looked after and not abused and punished. Once Rommel once found out that one time Italien troops took British POWS' valuable items, Rommel ordered that they be immediately returned to their owners. In July 1944 the German Army was unable to stop the allies during opperation overlord and Rommel tryed to warn Hitler that Germany was going to loose the war and that Hitler should end the war. Rommel was then asked to join the plot of others to assasinate Hitler but refused because he thought that Hitler should be arrested and put under trial. By this point Rommel should've left the country and not been apart of the German Military instead of sticking with him and becoming his alli. Also knowing that the war was going to loose because of Hitler. Later in the year Hitler found out that Rommel was plotting against him and sent two generals that he could either commit suicide and protect his family or go on trial for high treason and be executed. Month's before that Rommel was wounded in a war. So then the 'reason' that Rommel died was because of his wounds but it is told that he commited suicide. Considering all of this, Rommel should not have agreed to do any of the options because he was not in the plot in the first place. He agreed to something else he wanted done to Hitler. Him agreeing to the plot was only a rumor. Part of why Hitler wanted Rommel to die was because Rommel was legand and Hitler did not want him to overshadow him and Hitler was going down in popularity because of all the bad things he did. Rommel could of escaped but he knew that his family would of been hunted down and punished. If Rommel never joined the German war Hitler would never of accomplished what he did. They called Rommel the 'wizard on the battle field' and the outcome would have been completely different and possibly over a lot sooner. On the other hand Rommel had another idea about the war and how to treat these prisoners. If he had not been apart of it, there would have been more cruility. Hitler used him and allowed him to lead a lot of battle because he did such a great job. Rommel was just doing his duty as a military officer.

5 comments:

  1. It was a brave thing for Rommel to sacrifice his own life for is family. If he believed that prisoners of war should be looked after and not punished, than why did he join the German military?

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  2. To what McKenna Hutcheson said, it's because he just wanted to do his duty and be apart of the military even though he had to deal with things that he did not like. He didn't join the German military because he liked being abusive toward the Jews, he tryed changing it when things did go wrong. I guess it is just one of those things that poeple have to deal with if you want something, but yes it was very brave of him.

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  3. I'm not quite sure what you mean by Rommel being "legand." And also how would Hitler's popularity decrease if he were committing murder to millions of people...wouldn't his popularity increase?

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  4. My question is did Hitler get credit for the decisions that Rommel made? And what made Rommel believe that it was better to take care of their prisoners, wouldn't being in the German Military make him more harsh?

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  5. It seems that Hitlers popularity would only increase becuase of Rommel with his amazing war efforts and strategies that boosted Nazi moral. If Rommel continued to win battles for The Nazi's the popularity of Hitler should have grown becuase it would look as if Hitler planned out Rommels strategies, considering the information getting to the public was being twisted and censored.

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