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Hitler's biggest mistake is considered to be the fact that he insisted on being in charge of all military decisions. He was so feared that senior military commanders eventually stopped questioning his decisions, or offered any alternatives. It is believed that Hitler's doctor was responsible for his addiction to amphetamines, as he was regularly given a shot that miraculously gave him his energy back. SS chief Heinrich Himmler once retrieved a needle used in one of his injections and had it analyzed - it was found to contain amphetamines and other drugs.

Hitler's irrational military decisions as the war progressed is one reason a military assassination attempt by the Allies was never considered, as it was believed if he was killed, his more capable generals would change the tide of the war with capable military planning and execution. Eventually, his decisions led to military disaster for the Germans. It is still considered as a military example of how government micromanagement can play a disastrous part in military operations and success.

A more recent example of this was the ill-fated Desert One mission, which was the mission set to rescue the hostages taken by Iran in 1979. President Carter, a former Naval Officer (and not a very good one - Admiral Rickover failed his interview) insisted on micromanaging every aspect of the mission. Vietnam before that is another example of how government micromanagement can cause bad results, and is largely blamed for the end result in Vietnam.

Military forces do best when they are given specific objectives that are not overly restrictive, and the planning and execution is left to the military commanders who are the experts. HIstory has shown time and again that like Hitler, micromanagement can be a huge disaster for any nation.

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16y ago

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