Third Reich

[claymore]

Why was Hitler`s regime called the 3rd Reich, was there a first and second Reich in German history?. Judging by a documentary I saw the other night on the SS and Odessa , it looks like the fourth Reich could be on the way to becoming a reality.

[dundurn]

The Holy Roman Empire was considered to be the First Reich. The Deutches Reich that ended with the abdication of the Kaiser in 1918 was sometimes called the Second Reich. There was absolutely no connection between the Reichs, but Hitler used the term partly as a form of validisation of his plans for German domination and partly as a form of promise to the German people of returning glories.

[VHG]

Well it could be argued that Hitler came to power on the back of the depression in Germany at the time.

Now we have a worldwide depression, which is of course affecting Europe, we will have rising unemployment, lower standards of living, and eventually higher taxes to pay for all the government borrowing.

With the stupid decision by most European countries to allow alomst unrestricted immigration I think the seed is sown for the "far right" to expolit all these issues.

Immigration is fine during times of "good" but is a disaster when things go bad.

I can see parties like the BNP and other right wing parties around Europe using the immigration issue (and general financial mess) to whip up support.

So you could be right (if you wil excuse the pun)

[adrenochrome]

America has copied many of Hitlers actions since the Great Depression of the twenties and thirties. What is now known as the Peace Corp was an organisation established in late twenties USA, where teenagers were used as a patriotic workforce which planted trees around the dustbowl, to stop soil erosion. Likewise, the Hitler Youth were used in community programmes.
Under Goebbels propaganda, Hitler evoked the Wagnerian approach to German mythology, arousing the 'Siegfried' in Northern German society to fight for Germany. Likewise, President Bush uses the term 'patriot' as a recruitment banner. Whether it is the 'Patriot Act' or claiming (as Sarah Palin did) that non-Republican Virginians were 'unpatriotic'.
Hitler scapegoated a non-Christian religion, turning German resentment upon the Jews, just as President Bush and Gordon Brown are scapegoating Islam, just because a minority use terrorism.
Germany was not facing depression as stated by the answer above; Germany was starving, life was cheap and it had been reduced from a major power into the equivalent of present day Rwanda or Congo. This was due to the retribution for the first world war, and because of the extreme punishments dolled out by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, ending WW1.
Yes, when problems arise people tend towards the extremes of politics, such as the BNP in the UK. However, a fourth reich occuring? - no. This depression has been caused by the unfettered Capitalist approach to banking, so more people will turn to the left of politics - eg USA elects a Democrat not a Republican, the UK where 'New Labour' is unpopular and people wishing for the old Labour party of the left, not a copy of Thatcherite Conservatism.

[nohorn]

OK Claymore, could you or someone clue me in on the new world order, what it is and how it will fit in with he mess the world is in as previously mentioned?