How Hitler beat Hitler

A review of "Lucky Hitler's Big Mistakes" by Paul Ballard-Whyte

In February, 2022, I thought authoritarian dictatorships had all the momentum.

The United States and its allies had withdrawn from Afghanistan after two decades of trying to build a viable country, only for the barbarians we removed from power back in the presidential palace. We were barely one year on from a literal (though half-assed) attempted coup meant to overturn the results of the last Presidential election, and the previous President of the United States was cheering it on.

Britain had withdrawn from the European Union, and extremist protest parties were on the rise all over the continent. Even here in peaceable Canada, a conspiracy-addled “convoy” had taken over the nation’s capital, which in turn led to the government raising eyebrows in its own right by imposing the Emergencies Act.

Democracies appeared more divided than at any time in m…