The label “just like Hitler” is often attached to leaders, or would be leaders, as a simple way to accuse the target so labeled of being a very bad person. Without historical context the label “just like Hitler” is just a knee jerk reaction. With that said, put in historical context, I think there’s some very close similarities between Adolph Hitler and his rise to power in Nazi Germany and the rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party’s current paramount leader, Xi Jinping. Of course, with any historical analogy there are some very important differences, in the men, the times in which they rose to power, and the people they rule, but the similarities are strong enough to suggest the world is likely headed for a very chaotic period in the near future.
Hitler fought in the Austrian Army, a nation ethnically German and allied with the German Empire, in World War I. Hitler felt both personal and ethnic humiliation after the defeat of the Central Powers and the Treaty of Versailles. He came to envisioned himself as the great savior of the German people, the one who would restore the German nation’s honor and rightful place in the world. Hitler was a megalomaniac who thought no sacrifice was too great to assure himself a place in history as a military leader on par with Alexander the Great, Julius Cesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, et al.
Xi is a son of the first generation of Chinese Communist Revolutionaries who thought they were raising up China from the humiliation of Western European and Japanese Imperialism. Xi’s family was both aligned with and maligned by the leader of the Revolution, Mao Zedong. His great ambition is to be seen as a revolutionary Marxist on par with Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao himself. His greatest fear is that the Chinese Communist Party will fall victim as did the Soviet Union and the nations of the Warsaw Pact to economic collapse caused by a lack of faith in “The Party.”
For Hitler, the beginning of his ambitions, once he had consolidated power at home and eliminated as much as possible all internal threats, was to reclaim for the Fatherland the Rhineland, Austria, and the Sudetenland. For Xi, the beginning of his ambitions, once he has consolidated power at home and eliminated as much as possible all internal threats, is to fully reclaim for the Motherland Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. The main difference between the two being that the ethnic Germans of those ethnically German lands largely shared Hitler’s desire to unite with the Fatherland, while the ethnic Chinese of Hong Kong and Taiwan are largely, and at times fiercely, opposed to Xi’s ambitions.
Xi, like Hitler, has largely boxed himself in to a course of conquest as a leader. Like Germany in the 1930’s, China today is surrounded peoples who are becoming more and more suspicious of their powerful neighbor. Once on top, Hitler had no out other than to push outward. The same is true for Xi. There is no going back, no opening back up that allows him to keep his position, or even escape unscathed. Once a leader like Hitler or Xi flames the fire of ethnic nationalism and stokes the ambitions of his nation’s military, he must either deliver spoils, or be despoiled.
How Xi’s ambitions play out in the years to come is hard to predict. Hitler came to power democratically, with just under half the vote. His popular support among ethnic Germans, although certainly not universal, was much stronger than Xi’s among ethnic Chinese, the hand-picked leader of the Chinese Communist Party. Germany’s military was also cutting edge, in equipment, weapons, and tactics, and had core leadership that was battle tested in World War I. The Chinese Communist Party has none of these advantages. What Xi does have is a world of consumers addicted to the products manufactured by tens of millions of Chinese factory workers. Whether Xi squanders that advantage or adroitly nurtures it will go a long way to determine Xi’s fate, and the world’s.