Comment by reptation

In a sense, one can see how the Nazis' commitment to a brutal racial hierarchy undermined their ability to win WW2 (i.e. Jewish physicists left the country). On the other hand, is this being put forth as a serious theory of historical change? Wouldn't it be better to look at objective conditions (e.g. austerity conditions imposed after WW1, rampant anti-semitism) rather than whether or not the Nazis were 'stupid'? As nasty as they were, I doubt that Hitler, Goering, Himmler, etc. would appear as stupid today. Also, wouldn't the decades long commitment to eugenics on the part of many of Russell's friends, including forced sterilization, suggest that the intelligent should be full of doubt?