Neorealist Kenneth Waltz (1959) provides three-pointers, famously referred to as the “Image/Levels of Analysis”, to explain why throughout history wars have been fought on different levels and fronts, creating an unforgiving humanitarian crisis, as well as satisfying the aims for which they were first and foremost set in motion. Waltz believes that to understand how wars are formed, human nature cannot be set aside.

Painting his first image, he argues that the egoistic nature of man is by far a recipe to cause insecurity. This nature of man is driven by selfishness, misdirected aggressive impulses, and stupidity. These factors are borne out of man’s environment – education, political, health, economic, religion, and associates among others.

The second image focuses on the internal structures of states’ policy, governance, resources, groupings, religion, culture, military et al.

The third image tends to discuss the anarchy of the international arena or the constraints of the international system. To test this hypothesis, it is prudent to analyze one of the world’s renowned warlords, Adolf Hitler, and his relations with Germany and World War II.

A sketched biography of Adolf Hitler and Himmler by Henry Field in a supposed secret letter addressed to Major John Donough in 1943 portrays how Hitler’s formative years were full of troubles. His “illegitimate” father, Alois Hitler, was a violent-tempered and very abusive man who physically assaulted his dog, wife, and children.

Young Adolf, experiencing this, was said to have feared and hated his father. Reaching puberty age, Adolf became defiant by occasionally opposing his father. “The result of domestic situation on Hitler was a mixture of narcissus and Oedipus Complex,” Henry Field wrote.

To compound the challenges, the death of his father and subsequently his mother, led to him dropping out of school but attempts to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he later settled, failed vehemently. He tried to make life in a homeless shelter from little. His struggles for survival led to his convictions, for he as well was expelled from England on the charges of being a Souteneur. All these life experiences propelled Adolf to become a toughened person, which, no doubt, accosted the title of his book: “Mein Kempf,” meaning “My Struggle”.

Research has shown children raised in abusive homes show a high tendency of being bullies, as established by psychologist Polansky et al (1981). In Polansky’s assertion, adolescents abused in childhood often turn out to be defiant and hostile. Thus, the negative energy children received, turned to project the same or even worse into the environment, which was the case with Hitler.

The hatred for his father as a child became ‘chronic’ during his adulthood. By extension, he hated himself as an Austrian, therefore, the only means of gratification is to be in absolute self-denial and portrayed as a German. As someone who is obsessed with racism, Hitler defined and classified the “Germanic race” as the Aryan Race – blond hair, blue eyes, and tall.

Hitler rise to power with all these embedded in him like a sleeping volcano waiting to explode to unleash its havoc. His starting point was writing and acceptance to serve in Germany’s Army on the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 and was awarded medals for having shown braveness. As a bitter person, he fails to accept that the war was short-lived and against the odds, Germany signed a treaty to broker a peace deal.

He devised every means to win the hearts of many German nationalists who were equally bitter about the outcome of the war. He was able to sink through the cracks in Germany by the use of propaganda to gain overwhelming support from the masses. Hitler believes: “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” He collapsed a multi-party system into a one-party state by declaring his National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi Party, as the only legal political party in Germany.

Hitlercompelled Cabinet to enact a law abolishing the Office of the President and combined the powers to his of the Chancellor, which automatically makes him the Head of State and Head of Government. He ensured that 20 members of the opposition party, tagged as enemies, were rounded up and shot. His Anti-Semitism led to the annihilation of an estimated six million Jews and supervised the forced disappearance of about eight million more minority groups in fulfillment of “racial cleansing”. With such an ideology, and having gained autocratic power now within Germany, Hitler turned his eyes towards the rest of Europe.

Germany under the leadership of Hitler began to roll out its long-held foreign policy to conquer and dominate Europe politically and economically (Fischer, 1960). First World War (WW1) collapsed without it achieving its aim. Meanwhile, the Allies, through a collective decision, signed the Treaty of Versailles and demanded the demilitarisation of the Rhineland, as well as Germany paying 132 billion gold marks, equivalent to US$33 billion in reparations.

A decision that got under the skin of many German nationalists who blamed the German Army for betraying the civilian leaders, and the Marxists for accepting the responsibility of starting the war, although after almost 10 decades it has accepted the responsibility to pay reparation for WW1. Most German veterans believed the war could have been won if the military had not compromised and joined the Nazi Party. Hitler also had three agendas – revise the Treaty of Versailles, unite all German-speaking people into one Reich, and expand eastwards to achieve Lebensraum.

The coming event of the Great Depression in the 1930s also cast its shadows on the country and made life unbearable for the citizens, coupled with the Hitler style of leadership, saturated with hate speech against Jews and other races, the country relapsing into the war became inevitable. The Germans, deluded by Hitler’s oratory and charismatic speeches, failed to deduct logical reasoning from his stupidity, even in the face of the African-American Jesse Owens, who defied the “Aryan Race” ideology in 1936 heavily politicized Summer Games in Berlin, to win four gold medals. Under the influence of Nazi Propaganda Chief Joseph Goebbels, the Games were designed to promote the party ideology of the superiority of the Aryan Race.

Gerhard Ritter, who is described as the doyen of West Germany’s historians, refutingFischer’s assertion of Germany’s aggressive foreign policy and the origins of World War I, claims all powers were more or less equally guilty of pushing Europe over the brink. The international arena, which lacks order, Ritter further contested, placed Germany rather in that defensive position to riot against its weak military but hostile neighbors -France and Poland (Waltz, 1959).

The situation became more complex in the face of the burgeoning League of Nations that lacked enforcement capacity, which earlier failed to admit Germany as a member. Germany voluntarily withdrew from the league of Nations and Hitler began to militarise the nation in anticipation of territorial conquest. Other variables on the international scene that cushioned the war include Italian aggression against Ethiopia, Japanese militarism against China, and Germany’s neutrality pact with the Soviet Union to divide and control Eastern Europe.

In an arena where there is no order, the survival of the fittest becomes paramount (Darwin, 1864), and the country began to toe the path of might in 1939. It invaded Poland, while Holland, on the other hand, surrendered, followed by Belgium. By 1941, the war had spread from the European frontiers to gain global attraction, with Germany’s ally, Japan, attacking the United States as well as the move of overrunning other Asia countries. Japan’s aggression earned it, a reprisal atomic bombing of its cities – Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

The fierce war led to Africans being recruited to fight Hitler and his army on behalf of their colonial masters. From all indications, there was chaos everywhere and no central government to bring order. World War II ended in 1945 with an estimated 70 to 85 million people perishing. The conclusion of the war also led to the establishment of the United Nations, after the League of Nations could not stand the test of time.

As Sun Tzu audibly put it “…when your weapons are dulled; your ardor damped; your strength exhausted, and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.” The reality ensued on Hitler, and he is believed to have committed suicide.

Pros and cons of Waltz’s theory.

The argument that human nature is anarchical, in my view, cannot entirely be true, or even if that is the case, why should one choose a neutral position between two warring parties. There would be no cooperation if the nature of man is solely anarchy. On the hand, Holland and Belgium surprisingly surrendered without a fight, suggesting that some states would rather comply with the rules of peace than the rules of war.

The international space is a perfect demonstration of the animal kingdom -where some states are predators, while others are prey, as the theory sought to demonstrate, however, there is also a drive for cooperation (idealists’ position) between states.

In this regard, Kenneth Waltz’s Level of Analysis is a classic theoretical piece that undoubtedly portrays how wars are formed from micro [individual], macro [states] to heterogeneity [global] stage to create an atmosphere of pandemonium. Seemingly, the theory failed to acknowledge the inherent sense in humans to cooperate for survival.

Perhaps, all Hitler wanted to see is a unified Europe but failed to seek solace in reasoning, hence choosing war over cooperation. In my view, cooperation at the time was possible, a reason, he was able to strike deals with Russia and Poland. The Germans at the time were carried away by their emotions and equally failed to acknowledge they were dealing with the “wrong guy,” who was fighting self-inferiority.