Adolf Hitler posed this question to the German people in 1923. The face of post World War I Germany was truly battered, in all senses of the word. Germany had lost the war politically, which essentially meant emotionally. The country had no sense of leadership, and was suffering from many economic hardships. With the loss of the war, came the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles. Within the treaty, many demands of Germany were made which nearly raped her of her economic capacities. Industries had suffered, causing great unemployment. With this unemployment came inflation as well. The hardships posed upon the country not only harmed her economically, but socially too. The state of the people was equally harsh. Stripped of any sign of nationalism that may have once reigned within them, there was very little to have pride in. They were the joke of Europe, not to mention the brutal force

which had caused the hardships within her neighbors as well. Leadership was also lacking at this time. The control of state that had once governed in Germany was strongly ousted away. Germany knew nothing but monarchical rule, but this had been replaced with the democratic attempt of the Weimar Republic.

Fascism's ideal government would be fashioned around the good of the community or nation. Everyone would work solely for the benefit of the nation. Regularly this would take place with the merging of the state and business leadership, with concern only of the nation. In this, the nation will also take care of its members if the need should arise. This could be in the form of money, shelter, food, or any other need that might come about (Schneider, 1936).

The correlation between Nazism and Fascism is very strong. Whether or not Nazism can actually be defined as a branch of Fascism is not entirely clear, but they share many of the same characteristics. When Drexler originated the German Workers' Union, he intended to do so with set nationalistic goals, but then a racist tone was taken on. As the German Workers' Union evolved into the National Socialist party, the racist tone became more blatant. Nazism stressed the superiority of the "Aryan" man, with the destiny of the Master Race to rule the world over the other races (Bullock, 1962). A violent hatred towards Jews emerged. This was partially due to the climate of the German Workers' Union, but the very intent of this hatred can be attributed to Hitler, personally.

The party had now been laid out and its program was clear in what it stood for. It was obvious that many racist roots embodied in their plans, and they encouraged a strong will to hate. It was at this time that the party decided to change its name to the National Socialist Peoples' Party, later to be known as the Nazi Party. To symbolize this change, Hitler himself designed a new flag as an insignia of the movement (Krebs, 1976). "Whipping in the wind, the swastika flag suggested dreaming blood, black pistons in violent motion, and sudden flares of movement" (Hitler, 1941).

Drexler was equally impressed with Hitler, and immediately saw his potential. Drexler invited him to attend one of the executive committee meetings. From this point, Hitler joined the party, though he was described as "a card carrying member with the intention of destroying and recreating the party in his own image" (Nyomarkay, 1967). Thus the birth of Nazism and the ideologies which encompassed it.

In a period of little over a year since Hitler first came to the German Workers' Union meeting, an entire political force had been created. With the creation of the twenty five point plan came the answers to many people's questions, and a desire to learn more. The focus of the party gave the people of Germany a target in asserting their anger, and a sense of direction as to where the country was to go. The party now published its own newspaper, and meetings had to be held in the open air to accommodate the crowds of six thousand plus people (Sheridan-Allen, 1965).

The racial theories of Nazism is the only arguably strong difference between Fascism and Nazism. They both share the major characteristics of strong nationalism, loyalty to a dictatorial power, anti-socialist views, and elitism. It is therefore certain that Hitler had some familiarity with the works of Hegel and Nietzsche. Hitler's belief about himself as expressed in his autobiographical work Mein Kampf echoes of Hegel and Nietzsche. Cynical though he was, Hitler's cynicism stopped short of his own person. Hitler recognized himself as a person taking the chaos and developing new order in Germany with the direction of reason, or Providence. He came to believe that he was a man with a mission, so marked by Providence, and therefore exempt from the ordinary canons of human conduct (Bullock, 1962).

Though new to Germany when Nazism was embedded w

Some common words found in the essay are:
National Socialist, Workers' Union, Fascist Theory, Revolution Fascism, Friedrich Nietzsche, Treaty Versailles, Drexler Hitler, Chancellor Germany, World Spirit, Nazi Party, german workers', german workers' union, workers' union, bullock 1962, national socialist, nyomarkay 1967, sheridan-allen 1965, german people, adolf hitler, national socialism, birth nazism, national socialist party, sheridan-allen 1965 hitler, merging business leadership, question german people,
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