ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the exercise of Hitler's absolute power in those fateful five years when deformation of the power structure had left him in a place to shape events in a measure unusual even for dictators, let alone for democratic heads of government. It attempts to explain how the 'idea' of Nazism, in the person of the Führer, came too implemented as practical foreign policy. It finds part of the answer to this question in the character of Hitler's leadership and decision-making in these years. The war for him was no conventional military conflict. It represented the decisive step towards fulfilment of his 'idea', accomplishment of his 'mission'. But another, equally crucial, part of the answer is found in the impact upon government of the now untrammelled Führer power. Reflection of Hitler's concept of power and provided the framework within which the underlying ideological driving force behind the war could find implementation in specific policies of barbarism and genocide.
