attempts to argue against him is quickly brushed aside as being incapable, or stupid.It should not be surprising that Hitler also makes frequent use of other formulaic phrases which date from the warfare of the Middle Ages or the military in general. After all, there is a reason for this book's being called "Mein Kampf" or "My Battle", and such proverbial phrases as "gegen jdn. Sturm laufen" (to be up in arms against), "Since the Social Democrats best know the value of force from their own experience, they are most up in arms against those in whose nature they detect any of this substance which is so rare" (43); "auf Leben und Tod" (for life and death), "For me (Hitler), to be sure, these incidents had the virtue that the squad of my loyal followers came to feel really attached to me, and was soon sworn for life and death by my side" (558); and "bei der Stange halten" (to stick to one's guns), "The enormous propaganda which had made the British people persevere and stick to their guns in this war, which recklessly incited them and stirred up all their deepest instincts and passions, now inevitably weighed like lead on the decisions of British statesmen" (616). Hitler also writes "jdn. aus dem Felde schlagen" (to drive someone from the field of battle), "And so he (jews) inevitably drives every competitor in this sphere from the field in a short time" (322). The National Socialists were "die Lunte ans Pulverfa legen", "like a powder barrel that could blow up at any moment, with a burning fuse placed already under it" (484). All of these terms fit splendidly into Hitler's description of the battle for power of the National Socialists. Hitler also had a militaristic interpretation of the rather philosophical Hamlet-quotation "Sein oder Nichtsein" (to be or not to be). This sententious remark turned proverb appears six times in Mein Kampf, and Hitler also used it repeatedly in his speeches, especially in his proclamations of the "Endkamp...
