Hitler had outwardly emphasized his will for peace, yet once he came to power, he committed his top commanders to a war of extermination that would secure the German Reich’s supremacy in Europe and so-called "Living Space” in the East. Starving or killing entire populations in the conquered territories was part of the murderous plan. Even the non-aggression pact with Stalin served primarily to deceive. Just as every future campaign, the invasion of Poland was accompanied by the lie that Germany had only forestalled the enemy. In his megalomaniacal belief in his own infallibility, he increasingly usurped military planning.
