A closer look to Goering's life of luxury shows that he was more than enjoying his success, his arrogance and extravagance being by now well-known. Goering had good organizational skills and he was appointed in charge of so many different positions because he had the capability to follow the Nazi ideology with more belief than many others. Goering was truly dedicated to the Nazi cause, although not entirely unmotivated.

Goering was the man that stood behind the elimination of the Jewish community from German economic life, as he fined the German Jewish community a billion marks and order their exclusion from economy, their properties, even schools, parks, or forests. Goering was one of the leading figures that planned the "Aryanisation" of Germany and the European territories under German rule. Goering personally benefited from the Aryanisation of Jewish businesses and used this in his advantage, increasing his personal fortune.

Considering the fact that he was still an important military figure, Goering was the connection between Hitler and the military elite. However, despite his heroic behavior during World War I, Goering is eventually fascinated with power and continuously tries to gain as much influence as possible, abandoning his military aspirations for his power aspirations. During the last years as an important figure of the Third Reich, Goering's military ambitions were related to creating a strong army in which he would hold the power and a strong and well conducted secret police.

His territorial aspirations might have been dictated by Hitler as he played a key role in bringing about the Anschluss in 1938 and the bludgeoning of the Czechs into submission. However, despite the territorial aspirations of Hitler, Goering was more inclined towards diplomacy and feared a general European war.

Goering believed that Germany was not yet capable to carry out a war with the rest of the European countries and believed that it was not yet the time for Germany to attack other European countries because they were not ready enough. More precisely, he believed that Germany was not yet capable to defeat other prestigious European armies and he particularly believed that the Luftwaffe was not yet comparable to RAF, the British Air Forces.

With this just view of his position, Goering was determined to do whatever it takes to win the war when the World War II started. He knew what his army's capacity was and he was very aware of the plusses and minuses of his air fleet. He managed to use the advantages he had with the Luftwaffe as much as possible and initially it seemed that the air force he had build was unbeatable.

The German's were victorious in their battles and Goering's air force managed to destroy the Polish Air Force and to invade France. These victories made Goering a German hero again and his managing skills were awarded by Hitler with the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross. This distinction was a recognition of Goering's leader skills.

However, Goering's reputation as an undefeated leader of Luftwaffe was soon stained by the defeat suffered during the Battle of Britain. This battle was the first one to be carried out entirely by air forces and it represents the confrontation between the German Luftwaffe and the British Royal Air Force. The importance of this battle during the Second World War is crucial, because it represented the first important strategic test that the German air force did not pass. "British historians date the battle from 10 July to 31 October 1940, which represented the most intense period of daylight bombing. German historians usually place the beginning of the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941, on the withdrawal of the bomber units in preparation for the attack on the U.S.S.R."

Following the lost Battle of Britain, Goering found himself in a temporary difficult possition, both politically and military. Added to his image of a failed military leader was the image of his extravagant lifestyle while the German population began to experience the severity of war.

Goering had a good strategically personality and he was skeptical from the very beginning of the war that the German armed forces could not be capable to fight all the other Western European countries. However, he accepted the challenge and as it turned out, he lost. Regarding an eventual attack over Russia, Goering was even more skeptical that they had the military capacity to win....

He tried to convince Hitler that it was difficult to conduct a military campaign against a very well trained and equipped Russian military, but he was unsuccessful.
Therefore, Goering was in charge of the operation Barbarossa, the campaign against Russia and he hoped that he will manage to save his reputation if the campaign would prove to be successful. But as he initially believed, the campaign against Russia proved to be a disastrous failure for Germany and the relationship between Goering and Hitler started to deteriorate.

Goering was not only responsible for the German air force, but he also conducted a ground combat unit which was named after him and that was successful on several fronts. However, the German army was far from successful and soon Goering began to fear whether they could win the war or not.

Goering's military involvement is also proven by his command of the Forschungsamt (FA), the Nazi underground monitoring services for telephone and radio communication. Goering understood the importance of the secret services and he contributed to creating a well build state apparatus which monitored every threat to Nazi security. Together with his field military experience, Goering was also a very important figure behind the creation of the secret police.

Goering was also involved in the Holocaust as he is one of the most important ruling figures which authorized on paper the "final solution of the Jewish Question." In his trial later on Goering denied that he was very actively involved in the violent acts against the Jewish community, but that is hard to believe.

As the end of the war was closer and the German defeat as well, the relation between Hitler and Goering deteriorated irremediably as Hitler found out about Goering's plans to take over the leadership.

Hermann Goering surrendered on May 9,1945 in Bavaria and he was brought before the Nuremberg Trials, where he eventually was sentenced to death by hanging. However, he managed to kill himself so that he wouldn't have to face a public death.

Goering remains one of the most important figures of the German Nazi dictatorship and he managed to become a respected personality during Hitler's rule due to his military skills and power ambitions.

Goering most definitely remains one of the spots of world history as he was involved in the most blamed crimes against humanity. His involvement in the Holocaust has been proved and he was therefore sentenced to death. Although he is not considered a hero, his military capability can not be overlooked.

Hermann Goering should be analyzed and judged for his failures, for his actions, but as well for his extravagant lifestyle, all these elements creating a just image of what type of leader he was.

Goering clearly was a well trained military leader, he had the ability to justly evaluate the capacity of his army, he was capable to coordinate large schale air actions, but all these qualities were shadowed by an egocentric personality in a permanent search for power and personal well-being. These elements combined with the historical circumstances of his existence make from Hermann Goering a negative personality of the 20th century.

Bibliography

Hermann Goering, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring;

Hermann Goering, Jewish Virtual Library, available at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/goering.html;

Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1), available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagdgeschwader_1_%28World_War_1%29;

Manvell, Roger and Franenkel, Heinrich, Goering, Greenhill Books, London UK, 2005;

Sturmabteilung, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung;

Wistrich, Robert S., Who's Who in Nazi Germany, Routledge, 1997.

Hermann Goering, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring;

Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1), available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagdgeschwader_1_%28World_War_1%29;

Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel, Goering, Greenhill Books, London UK, 2005, p. 403

Sturmabteilung, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung;

Hermann Goering, Jewish Virtual Library, available at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/goering.html;

Hermann Goering, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring