Comments by "TIKhistory" (@TheImperatorKnight) on "Erwin Rommel - Infantry Attacks During World War 1 I WHO DID WHAT IN WW1?" video.

  1. I'm studying Rommel at the moment, and the reason Rommel was respected by the West after WW2 (according to books like "Rommel: the End of a Legend" ) was because they wanted to lionize a German general to justify German rearmament against the Soviets during the Cold War. Once the Cold War was over, the politics changed again and Rommel myth is now no longer needed. Now he's being linked back to the National Socialist regime. Politics...
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  2. Reggie Buffat He didn't support a coup against Hitler. "In reality, Erwin Rommel was not a member of the 20 July conspiracy, abhorred assassination, was only superficially connected with the anti-Hitler Resistance and, therefore, it is highly improbable that he would have actively aided the coup d'etaton 20 July if he had not been incapacitated." Rommel: A Reappraisal. Beckett goes on to explain that Rommel's alleged involvement in the plot came after the war and stems from two of Rommel's friends. And then, mainly from the one who was actively involved in the plot and therefore has a motivation to paint the picture that Rommel was involved too, since the plot was highly controversial in post-war Germany. Rommel sort-of knew some group was maybe trying to resist Hitler and end the war. But the evidence isn't conclusive as to how much he knew. Rommel was linked with the plot because the Gestapo had failed Hitler and desperately needed scapegoats. Von Kluge (Rommel's superior) was linked to it, but committed suicide before he could be tried, so Rommel got the blame too... even though he and Von Kluge didn't get on.
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  3. Reggie Buffat I'm glad you think so. We have a nice little discussion going on here :) You're possibly right though. As I said, I'm still reading up on it. What's interesting is that in "Field Marshal: Life and Death of Erwin Rommel" Butler comes to the conclusion that whatever evidence was presented to Hitler about Rommel must have been little because Hitler's initial reaction was "mild". If there had been more, he argues Hitler's response would have been far more swift. Instead, Butler says it only provided a pretext to what happened later. His house was under surveillance for weeks whilst others were being executed for the plot. Only in September did the Gestapo come for him. Butler argues that it was Rommel's increasing defeatism, his belief that the war should be over in 1944, and that he didn't know how to keep "his mouth shut", that lead directly to Hitler giving him the "choice" to take his own life, and not his alleged involvement in the July plot.
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