No question who the top German leader was. Hitler was a fearless fanatical genius with charisma. He was a gambler and loved to rely on boldness and bluff but he frequently had good intuitive insights in critical situations and often acted decisively on these occasions. On the other hand, he would often waffle in critical situations and great opportunities would pass without action. The end for Hitler came in April 1945, when he and his wife of one day - Eva Braun - committed suicide in the bunker.
Ability to assemble and control a group of talented and ruthless individuals - Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Bormann, and Speer - for his top echelon. These men were the German leaders of World War 2.
Successful use of bullying and bluffing techniques to seize Austria and Czechoslovakia without a fight.
Adoption of blitzkrieg techniques, with his highly mobile Panzer divisions, to quickly conquer Poland, France, and other Western European countries. More conventional leaders would have used conventional trench warfare techniques and a World War I type stalemate might have occurred.
Goering Goebbels World War 2 Questions World War Europe Tours
Failure to immediately invade England after Dunkirk. See World War 2 Battles for details. (Many experts question whether this was a failure).
Decision to attack Russia before finishing off England.
Holding back on increasing war production after the war started. He had a head start in armaments at the beginning of the war but was apparently too concerned about the German people having to make too many sacrifices. (Yes, even Hitler worried about public opinion.) So war production lagged and England was actually producing more planes than Germany during the Battle of Britain. This weakness was corrected in the later years of the war through Albert Speer's efforts but, by then, it was too late.
Misjudging the strength of the Russians. He almost got away with this one as Stalin, for some time, refused to believe that Hitler was actually attacking him and held his forces back. When he finally unleashed them, several Soviet armies and much of the air force had already been destroyed. When unleashed, the Russians fought back fiercely and, also, were able to move their war plants east out of the German Army's path.
Poor strategy in Russia. Hitler continually split his attacking forces - one column toward Moscow, a second toward the Caucasus, and a third toward Leningrad - instead of concentrating on the main target, i.e., Moscow.
Flittering away resources on "secret weapons" instead of building more fighter planes. With more fighter planes, he might have kept air supremacy over Russia and also neutralized the American and British bomber raids over Germany.
Campaign against the Jews. During World War I, German Jews fought bravely for Germany. Hitler should have know that because he was there in the trenches with them. Had the Jewish men been available for service, manpower shortages would have partly alleviated. Also, the many scientific minds, e.g., Einstein, that were lost to the German war effort were irreplaceable.
Failure to better mobilize women into the war effort as was done in Russia, England and the United States (Rosie the riveter). This would also have helped alleviate the manpower problem since male workers who were replaced would have been available for military service.
An excellent book on Hitler's blunders is "Hitler Slept Late: And Other Blunders That Cost Him the War"
1. World War 2 Leaders. Hitler had many gifted leaders on his staff, but, except for possibly Speer, they were a ruthless bunch.
2. Blitzkrieg. No, Hitler did not originate Blitzkrieg warfare, but he approved the concept. At times, he appeared to claim the concept as his own.
4. Germany in World War 2. More good stuff on Hitler, his strategies, how he could have won the war.
Conclusions For Hitler - German Leader In World War 2.
Hitler was an evil man but he was also a political & military genius. He took on practically the entire world and gave a good account for himself and Germany. Fortunately, he made a few mistakes. Thank God he made the mistakes, I don't know how to speak German.