Throughout history war has caused casualties in the hundreds of millions, and as much as people may enjoy watching these past barbaric catastrophes as an act of Armageddon, this is simply almost never the case. War itself has never been, and will never be, black and white. While most literary, or even cinematic, representations of war seem to emphasize the idea that military conflict is constantly “good versus evil,” and that the simple idea that evil and good even remotely share characteristics, conflicts, or even morals, it would be considered taboo. It is evident that, comparing their literary work The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer and Generals Die In Bed by Charles Yale Harrison, the argument of the fatal and the ethical incapable of sharing these characteristics is simply apocryphal . . In both books he follows the stories of men who many, without a doubt, would consider to be poles apart. Some would even go so far as to suggest that comparing both of these men would be disgusting, evil, or even obscene, but regardless of who these individuals are or what they did, both Adolf Hitler and the narrator of Generals Die In Bed ultimately. they shared a similar hallmark, inner turmoil. They have demonstrated this through their constant disparity, perpetual fear, and continued distrust of others around them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To begin, both Adolf Hitler in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and the narrator in The Generals Die in Bed demonstrated a remarkable amount of inner turmoil with their continued desperation while in military conflict . Near the beginning of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich there was a part where Adolf had expressed his feelings about the German loss to the Allied forces during World War I: "I could no longer bear it," Hitler says in recounting the 'happened. scene. «Everything went black again before my eyes; Staggering and groping I returned to the ward, threw myself on the bunk and buried my burning head in the blanket and pillow. . . So it had all been in vain. All the sacrifices and deprivations were in vain. . . in vain were the hours in which, with mortal fear gripping our hearts, we nevertheless did our duty; in vain the death of two million people who died. . . Had they died for this? . . . Did all this happen just so that a gang of miserable criminals could take over the country?”. This shows the high inner turmoil Hitler had during the loss of the war. After all the years he spent in the Bavarian Army and the sacrifice he had to witness and endure, it is undeniable that what he experienced was not only physically demanding, but also emotionally challenging. Once he had discovered that all the time, energy, and toil he had been subjected to were inconsequential compared to the inevitable loss to both the German and Central Empires, the experience of it all had evidently taken a toll on him. test his mental stability. Any individual subjected to such stress and pressure would surely have succumbed to the perpetuation of feelings of misery and hopelessness. Later, towards the end of the book, Adolf was in a situation where he felt betrayed by everyone around him. After the attempt on his life he had become distrustful of everyone, even his old party supporters. 'I've been lied to everywhere,' he fumed at one of his secretaries in March.” This statement indicates a sense ofdespair at the loss of the people he once trusted. This would evidently cause internal conflict due to the fact that he had absolutely no one to trust. This would have pushed him further into a feeling of isolation and loneliness. It would also cause a sense of paranoia in Hitler which is undeniably a trait of inner turmoil. Related to this point, in the book Generals Die In Bed the narrator also displayed similar characteristics. There was a scene where the narrator was having a conversation with one of the other soldiers he was friends with, while they were discussing over dinner his friend asked him what he thought about the current state of the battle they were fighting, the narrator said “This is war ; there is so much misery, anguish, agony, and nothing can be done about it. Better to sit here and drink the sour, hard wine and try to forget. This statement demonstrates the disparity of the situation he was facing at the time. It shows that the book's narrator was evidently dealing not just with a war, but with an internal conflict. When he states that he would rather drink to forget than face reality, it shows that he is mentally unprepared to face the reality of war which would ultimately cause inner turmoil. Additionally, both Adolf Hitler in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and the narrator of Generals Die In Bed demonstrated a notable amount of inner turmoil with his perpetual sense of fear while in the presence of war. Near the beginning of Generals Die In Bed there is a scene where the narrator and his friend Fry were conversing about the enemy they were fighting, when Fry asked the narrator his opinions on the Germans, he stated, "They take everything from us: our lives, our blood, our hearts… our job is to give, theirs is to take.” That comment from the narrator demonstrates the sense of fear he had in association with the enemy away absolutely everything from him and his fellow soldiers. This would ultimately cause anxiety in the narrator whenever he engaged in combat with them. There would be a fear that, if he lost in battle, everything he once knew and had would be being robbed by the Germans, including his life, would evidently cause him great internal conflict. Furthermore, while the narrator was in the trenches there was a constant threat of both death and illness he found himself in had certainly put a strain on the way he lived his daily life in a situation of conflict and hostility. While in the trenches he declared: “I find nothing to console me, nothing to calm my terror.” This confession demonstrates the absolute terror and isolation he felt while at war. It shows that he was in such a constant state of panic and anguish that he was unable to find any way to help himself deal with the situation and his surroundings, all the narrator could do in the end was drown in the endless cycle of fear he lived with. .Relatedly, in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler also displayed the same characteristics as the narrator. Towards the end of the book there is a scene where the Russians are depicted marching towards Berlin to take control of Germany, while Hitler was trying to realize that this was his end “As much as Hitler was now, a physical wreck, with a disastrous end staring him in the eye.” faced as the Russians approached Berlin and the Western Allies invaded the Reich, he and some of his most fanatical followers, Goebbels above all, stubbornly clung to the hope of being saved at the last minute by a miracle.” This evidently shows desperation and apprehension towards their inevitable defeat..