Albert Speer became Hitler’s preferred architect for Berlin through the Second World War because of his grand scheme for the city. If all of his highly expensive plans had been carried out the city, he hypothesized, would be more splendid than Paris. More splendid than Vienna. This was an idea highly attractive to Hitler, who…

I am currently taking a Fall of Roman Empire class so Speer’s and Hitler’s megalomaniacal attempts of turning Berlin into Rome are somewhat ironic. This empire collapsed into itself due to corruption and the unquenchable thirst for power of its leaders. Hitler seemed to severely lack historical perspective (if Napoleon did not manage it, neither…

Wow! After reading the prologue I was amazed at how Hitler celebrated his birthday! I still cannot  get over the idea of how Hitler got so many people to follow him! Along with that, it is weird to think about the dedication in order to see Hitler for just a second or two on his…

I found the discussion about the unusually cold winter in 1939-40 interesting. Moorhouse in Berlin at War gave me the impression he was trying to create an image that Berliners were unaccustomed to the level of chill the city experienced. I guess in some cases this could indeed be true. However, I think a large…

Going to war has to be a life changing experience and to be able to come back alive has to feel amazing! It was interesting to learn about how many deaths there were and how that was a drastic improvement from WWI. In addition, I find it fascinating that a simple solider can come back…

Something that I have found out through these readings so far is that when there is a war going on people sort of fail to think about the civilians and what they are going through. The media never shows what is going on with the innocent civilians. It has just made me grateful that I have…