Barbarossa, Pearl Harbor and Ukraine are military failures of the autocrats
Perry Smith
When I conduct workshops on executive leadership, I emphasize the importance of strategic thinking and planning. In the past one hundred years, there have been three colossal mistakes of strategy.
These failures were made by three national leaders. Hitler, Tojo and Putin. They had three characteristics in common. All three were autocrats. They surrounded themselves with lackeys. Their study and understanding of history and grand strategy were both limited and flawed. At the end of this article, I will identify American leaders who were excellent strategists.
As someone who has studied and taught international relations for more than fifty years, I have been fascinated with the behavior of autocrats. My first interest was in Benito Mussolini. I lived in Italy immediately after World War II. I can remember quite vividly the newspaper picture of Mussolini hanging upside down in a square in Milan - with the headline: FINITO BENITO. He was the perfect example of a psychopath in his rhetoric, persona and actions.
Next, I studied Adolph Hitler. I lived in Germany in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. I got to know the German people quite well in the Coblenz, Bitburg and Monchengladbach areas of Germany. Hitler was not only a psychopath, but he was also a brilliant public speaker. His keen understanding of the German political culture in the aftermath of World War I allowed him, through the democratic process, to reach very high office. Folks often forget that Hitler did not become the Chancellor of Germany by conducting a coup.
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/barbarossa-pearl-harbor-ukraine-military-130037724.html