World War Two and Spartacus Olsson
Published 28 Feb 2026In Q1 1934, Nazi Germany reaches a breaking point. In this episode of Death of Democracy, Hitler codifies central control with the Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich, crushing what remains of federalism. Abroad, the German–Polish Non‑Aggression Pact (January 26, 1934) shocks Europe while rearmament continues behind a diplomatic mask.
Inside the Reich, the real story is the power struggle: SA chief Ernst Röhm demands a “people’s militia”, forcing Hitler to choose the Reichswehr over the stormtroopers — setting the stage for the Night of the Long Knives. As Himmler expands SS power and Goebbels tightens the propaganda screws, even historic liberal papers like the Vossische Zeitung disappear. Meanwhile, unemployment falls toward three million amid manipulated statistics, wage freezes, shortages, and a looming foreign‑currency crisis.
Watch, then comment: what warning signs do you see when “order” is used to justify permanent power?
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March 1, 2026
How to Serve the Oligarchs for Power – Death of Democracy 05 – Q1 1934
February 22, 2026
How to Use a Tariff War to Disrupt the World – Death of Democracy 04 – Q4 1933
World War Two and Spartacus Olsson
Published 21 Feb 2026In Q4 1933 Hitler pivots Nazi Germany from internal takeover to outward defiance. The London Economic Conference collapses and the tariff truce unravels, Hitler withdraws from the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations — then stages the November 12 plebiscite and one‑party Reichstag election to claim the nation stands behind him. As Goebbels tightens propaganda and press control through the Editors’ Law (Schriftleitergesetz) and daily directives, the Winter Relief campaign turns “charity” into social pressure and Volksgemeinschaft theater. In December, Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht hardens the transfer moratorium to conserve foreign currency for raw materials and rearmament. Using contemporary voices, this episode shows how isolation, manipulation, and “unity” accelerate Europe toward a pre‑war era.
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February 15, 2026
How to Make The Economy Look Better Than It Is – Death of Democracy 03 – Q3 1933
World War Two
Published 14 Feb 2026Death of Democracy returns to Nazi Germany in Q3 1933. See Hitler enforce one‑party rule, sign the Reichskonkordat, tighten propaganda and press control, and expand work programs that feed rearmament. From July to September, follow the legal and cultural Gleichschaltung that normalizes terror and reshapes Europe’s future in this episode.
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February 12, 2026
Inside the Nazi State: One Man’s Descent Into Darkness
HardThrasher
Published 9 Apr 2024How did one man, Rolf Engels, go from student, to victim, to head of the SS Rocket Weapons programme reporting directly to Himmler? How did the Nazi state work, and how did a man like Rocket Rolf navigate the game of snakes and ladders and somehow come out on top?
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February 8, 2026
How Legal Immunity Becomes Absolute Power – Death of Democracy Q2 1933
World War Two
Published 7 Feb 2026In spring 1933, Nazi Germany shows how dictatorship becomes normal. This episode of Death of Democracy follows the regime’s second quarter in power, from the first state-organized antisemitic boycott to the destruction of free trade unions and the takeover of the courts. Step by step, democratic institutions are hollowed out through fear, legality, and propaganda. Death of Democracy reveals how tyranny doesn’t arrive overnight — it is made to feel ordinary.
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February 1, 2026
How to End Democracy in 60 Days – Death of Democracy Q1 1933
World War Two
Published 31 Jan 2025This episode of the history documentary series “Death of Democracy” covers Q1 1933 with Hitler’s appointment as chancellor, the Reichstag Fire, Reichstag Fire Decree, Enabling Act, rise of Nazi terror, Gleichschaltung, and media control, explaining how Weimar Germany’s democracy collapsed in just sixty days.
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January 18, 2026
Who Will Be Chancellor? – Rise of Hitler 27, January 1933
World War Two
Published 17 Jan 2026Back to monthly coverage for this month, because too much is happening in Germany just now. Franz Von Papen meets with Adolf Hitler as 1933 gets going, both of them scheming against Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher. Could they possible form a coalition government with a majority of the Reichstag? Can they even trust each other? Also, who is this von Ribbentrop character? And what’s up with President Hindenburg’s son Oskar? So much going on this month, and when it all reaches its head … just … wow!
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January 11, 2026
Nazis Are the Big Losers – Rise of Hitler 26, October-December 1932
World War Two
Published Jan 10, 2026Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party are forced to hit the campaign trail yet again for yet another round of elections. All this campaigning has seriously drained their finances, so they expect it to do some real good. Unfortunately for them, the November elections are very disappointing for the Nazi Party, and they lose a lot of seats in the Reichstag. Adolf Hitler is still demanding that President Hindenburg make him Chancellor, but the President still refuses time and again, although Hindenburg does have his hands full with two other Chancellors — Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher, and their endless political intriguing.
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January 4, 2026
The Nazis Win Big at the Polls! – Rise of Hitler 25, July-September 1932
World War Two
Published 3 Jan 2026July starts with ever more violence in the streets of Germany, which Chancellor von Papen uses as an excuse to take state control of Prussia, the largest German state. All this comes ahead of the July elections, in which the Nazi Party is the big winner, now the largest party in Germany and Party Leader Adolf Hitler someone that no one in politics can any longer ignore, including President Hindenburg. This summer really is a summer of drama and intrigue.
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December 21, 2025
The Fall of Chancellor Bruning – Rise of Hitler 24, April-June 1932
World War Two
Published 20 Dec 2025The runoff elections for German President give Paul von Hindenburg a strong victory over Adolf Hitler, and convince the Bruning government to try to reign in the Nazis by banning the SA and SS. However, Kurt von Schleicher has managed to convince Hindenburg that Bruning is a liability and by the end of May, Bruning is out and Schleicher has maneuvered Franz von Papen into the post of Chancellor. The Reichstag is dissolved, the ban is lifted, and who knows where Germany is headed!
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December 14, 2025
Hitler becomes a German – Rise of Hitler 23, January-March 1932
World War Two
Published 13 Dec 2025The big news this winter is the German Presidential elections, held now in March for the first time since 1932, which pit current President Paul von Hindenburg against Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. Hitler, though, must become a German citizen before he can run; he been stateless since he gave up his Austrian citizenship seven years ago. The campaigns are quite different, but both effective, and the German people head for the polls.
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December 7, 2025
Can Hitler Be Tamed? – Rise of Hitler 22, October-December 1931
World War Two
Published 6 Dec 2025The so-called “Boxheim Papers” are leaked to the public this fall. These outline what the Nazi Party would do should there be a Communist coup; it involves a lot of people being shot or starved, and paints a rather haunting picture of what Nazi rule may be like in general. The Nazi Party, though, continues to grow in popularity, and President Hindenburg even meets with Adolf Hitler for the first time, indicating to the country and the army that Hitler is no longer an upstart, but a legitimate political force.
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November 12, 2025
QotD: Horror Victorianorum and the anti-Wilhelminites
For now, please note that while there is a section in the “Wilhelminism” entry for “culture and the arts”, there’s no separate section on “Wilhelmine Art”. That’s because you can image-search “Wilhelmine Art”, and even “Wilhelmine Painting” specifically, and all you’ll get is a bunch of Classical-style portraits, and some Biedermeier landscapes. As far as visual art is concerned, the only important artists of the Kaiserreich were the ones who were most vehemently opposed to it.
Which is fine, if you’re an art student (or in that most unemployable of majors, Art History). But we need to know what “mainstream” art looked like under Wilhelm II, and for all intents and purposes it was Biedermeier.
Everyone with me? I’m oversimplifying, but not too much, when I say that you can make a pretty good case that the ultimate cause of World War One was “tradition”. At least, the people who were there sure as hell thought so. If you’re not familiar with Wilhelmine culture — and I am very, very far from Expert — consider the analogous case in Great Britain. Horror Victorianorum has its own Wiki entry, and isn’t that odd? It’s great to see David Stove getting some of the credit he deserves, but if he hadn’t coined it, somebody would’ve, because the shift in English culture was so massive, so in-your-face, that you can see the 20th century being born, in whatever medium you choose: art, architecture, literature, music, interior design, whatever, it’s all stupendously, tremendously, egregiously anti-Victorian.
Imagine “Victorian culture” is Donald Trump. That’s how against it they were. By the end of Edward VII’s brief reign, anything and everything Victorian was not just wrong, not just outdated or silly or whatever, but THE WORST THING EVER. If the Victorians liked it, Edwardians hated it, for any and all values of it; if they’d discovered that any of the guys in Eminent Victorians had really enjoyed metabolizing oxygen, the entire Edwardian Smart Set would’ve asphyxiated themselves on principle.
At that point, Modernism was inevitable, because Modernism was all there could be.
Severian, “PoMo, P-O-M-O PoMo …”, Founding Questions, 2025-08-07.
August 8, 2025
Germany’s Darkest Night Yet? – Rise of Hitler 21 – September 1931
World War Two
Published 7 Aug, 2025September 1931: Berlin descends into chaos as Nazis unleash a violent pogrom on Jewish New Year — while the police stand by. The scandal of the Kurfürstendamm riot rocks Germany, but the month’s headlines don’t stop there: Hitler’s niece is found dead under mysterious circumstances, France’s leaders visit Berlin to a frosty reception, and Japanese troops invade Manchuria. Extremists surge at the polls as democracy teeters — can the Republic survive?
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August 1, 2025
When Stalin and Hitler Teamed Up – Prussia 1931 – Rise of Hitler 20, August 1931
World War Two
Published 31 Jul 2025August 1931: Prussia becomes the battleground as a bizarre alliance of Nazis, Communists (under Stalin’s orders), right-wing elites, and President Hindenburg tries to topple Germany’s last major democracy. With foreign meddling, political violence, and backroom deals, the fate of the Weimar Republic hangs by a thread. Against all odds, the democratic coalition prevails — at least for now. But with chaos spreading and the world watching, can democracy survive the next assault?
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