Specifically, both blamed Great Britain for having initiated the war, in a deliberate attempt to cripple Germany as an economic and naval competitor. In Stresemann’s case, however, this common-sense model of military-economic competition was softened by his understanding of the mutual interconnectedness of the world economy and above all by the importance he attached to the United States as a counter-weight to Britain and France. Hitler’s outlook, by contrast, was far more embattled. He regarded the liberal ideology of progress through industry, hard work and free trade as nothing more than a
...more
