Analysis Of The War That Hitler Won By Robert Herzstein

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In his 1978 publication The War That Hitler Won, Robert Herzstein argues that propaganda was ‘the war that Hitler won’ for two reasons: first of all, Herzstein highlights the “orchestra” principle, stating that the totalitarian nature of National Socialist (NS) propaganda meant that it was all-inclusive and mighty in its force and effectiveness; secondly, Herzstein cites German fighting until the final days of war (despite clearly being defeated) in May 1945 as demonstrating the impressive ability of the NS propaganda machinery. Like many historians before him, Herzstein’s analysis is tainted by preconceived discourses of Nazi exceptionalism and absolute totalitarianism that results in a distorting of historical evidence which helps formulate