Good things made by the III Reich...

... if there were any...

What do you think? We all know that in the general view they were very few and that they ruined it later. But many of those good things seemed good back then but they weren't.

An example could be that there were not many unemployed people. Good thing. BUT those workers had the same salaries that in 1928 but goods' cost was 4 times more than in 1928...

 

Hmm, I suppose one could say that the war that the Third Reich started eventually led to all manner of technological advances, but I'm not sure that that could really be listed as a 'good thing'.

 

Of course there were many TEMPORARY benefits, which made the population support the nazi government.

EVERLASTING benefits? I guess...

- rocket technology
- VW bug
- first non-smokers cabins
- freeing Austria forever from the "We are in reality Germans"-feeling
- freeways (even though I don't know how much of the road network did survive the war)
- Riefenstahl's trendsetting film technology

Hmmm, that's all crossing my mind for the moment.

 

Did'nt the company Bayer invent aspirine during Hilters term in power ? It might have been started before Hitler got to power but it was a good German invention.

Also I think they invented synthic oil and fuel during the war. That will come in handy for the time we pump all the oil wells dry and still have not make any progress in solar energy.

 

The cyanide suicide pill Hitler tried on Blondi and then used on himself. With all that sh1t Dr. Morell injected in him, it was sheer luck he wasn't immunised

 

I don't know about it being German, but I'm pretty sure asprin predates even the First World War, nevermind the Third Reich.

 

Well, Germany invented alot of things. But, alot, if not all were used for war.

Definatley Von Braun and his rockets, if not for him, we probablly would not be on the moon today.

The Germans were the first to implement widespread use of the Jet engine, they did not invent it, but they sure made it practical.

The Germans developed early night vision equiptment very similar to the american "starlight scope" (check me on that one) used by the Americans in vietnam.

Lets not forget the Sturmgewehr 44, the worlds first assault rifle. They also had the StG-45 which was in developement also.

The Anti-Tank weapons the germans made were semi-modern by end of war standards for sure..those boys were baddass.

well thats all i can think of for now..

 

You are correct Greenjacket !! Aspirin was invented by Felix Hoffmann of the Munich State Laboratory. Bayer picked up on it around 1897. It was German but not third reich vintage.

 

Skoda made some of the first generation Pzkfws now they make (only recently) kick ass cars
MAN made the Tiger, now they make big trucks
Krupp were steel manufacturers, now they make great coffee appliances amongst other things
Porsche, they need no introduction.
Mr Porsche also made the VW as already mentioned.

The stahlhelm was based on a German design dating back to medieval times and is now copied by US forces

They were the first to effectively use camoflauge

They had the best Grenades

But the WORST politics.

[ 03. November 2003, 03:55 AM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]

 

Very good, indeed. But now I think we must discuss the good things made by the III Reich in the short term, what made it a popular régime and made a whole nation believe in the Führer; the Autobahn, the improvement of the economy, houses, schools (which was not good, but seemed good then), restoring German pride and those kind of things...

 

Skoda was a Czech firm, actually

 

Well, These are easy questions to answer. But they are all politics. What made them popular was they promised better and they gave a scapegoat, jews. Germans were gonna buy anything at the time due to the excessive and pathetic terms imposed upon them by the versaillies treaty. I think that is why the Communist party was second popular. Not to mention Hitler was a Genious, he could give speaches like no other expecially when he got out of prison after he attempted the first putsch. Apparently, he learned alot in the prison in the way of speaches and such..

 

Welcome, aboard, Shock! Hope you enjoy yourself in here!

This is a myth. Versailles treaty was what Germany deserved after WWI. Germany herself had shown that she would do even more humilliant peace treaties if she won - examples: Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk .

He never studied oratory nor how to give a speech. It was a completely natural talent. Since he joined the DAP in 1919 until the Pustch he already made masses go mad because of his speeches.

 

Actually, thats false. He met an Illusionist in prison and gained many extra skills from him..I mean, even rudolf hess wrote mein kampf. Hitler was good, but he came out better when he did his time.

I also, disagree with the terms put on germany after the First World war. Germany isen't a 3rd world country, Could not survive with those imposed. Either way, Whoever would have gained power would have broke them anyways.

 

This is a myth. Versailles treaty was what Germany deserved after WWI. Germany herself had shown that she would do even more humilliant peace treaties if she won - examples: Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk .
</font>[/QUOTE]Has a historian yet made the work to compare these treeties carefully? Anyway, two wrongs don't make a right. And Germany, in this treaty and after, was sentenced to pay more reparation than it was able to pay.

Definitely the Allies made it wrong the time between the wars. Either they should have imposed milder terms on Germany, or keep her down stricter.

 

Yes, British Historian T. L. Jarman has made a very good analysis of the treaties, as well as Mr W. S. Churchill.

Germany was imposed more than she could pay, but she had to pay that. She destroyed all that and more. The problem with reparations was the method, which had many problems evertwhere.

The mistakes were made mostly by France, buying president Wilson's naïve promises and idealistic radical changes. Both Clemenceau and Lloyd-George were silly to allow Wilson to arrange a peace he had contributed very little to. And France again made the mistake of not acting in the 1930s as she did in the 1920s, as she must have acted.

And maybe the Germans could have been angry about the Diktat of Versailles, which was imposed on them. I wonder why, since they lost the war... But they retified and accepted the treaty with the new one of Locarno. There's not only to blame the nazis for WWII, but all the German prussianism and German stupid megalomania.

 

One of the most important and lasting things to come out of the Third Reich: Infantry use and training.

The German Infantry developped a system of infantry training and warfare now standard across the world. Misson style orders and personal initiative were totally new concepts in the worlds armies at the time, and despite the fantastic stories of the Tiger and the Me-262, the real strength of the Nazi War machine revolved around their sterling use of highly skilled, organised and motivated 'Landsers' in the infantry.

 

Blitzkrieg tactics which countries can use to make war shorter, thus reducing the amount of causalties.

 

Very, very good points, both of you, Vermillion and Squirrel!

I have always thought that the panzers get all the attention when it was the foot soldier the one who fought the toughest and most decisive campaigns of the war - if we leave most of Blitzkriegs behind...

 

Neither invented, nor intruduced by the Germans. The first one to use it was Zhukov in the Mongolian-Manchurian war.

However, nazi Germany was the first nation to use this tactic really to a great extent.