The Führer Principle was a very simple concept. Rudolf Hess probably best summarised the Führer Principle when he said in a public speech: “Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler. Whatever he does is necessary. Whatever he does is successful. Clearly the Führer has divine blessing.”

The Führer Principle required everyone in Nazi Germany to accept that Hitler had all the solutions to Germany’s problems and that whatever he said had to be right. On the day after the Night of the Long Knives Hitler defended the action of the SS by stating that for 24 hours he had become the law in Germany and that the SS were simply carrying out his orders.

The Führer Principle became embedded into everyday life in Nazi Germany. The formal greeting of ‘Heil Hitler’ was an effective requirement and children were required to use the salute both on their way to school and once there. They were also told that they should report their parents if they were seen doing the salute/greeting in a half-hearted manner.

With the cinema and newspapers controlled by the state, there were a total freedom in the way of portraying the Fürer as the 'the greatest miracle in history', ' a genius building the world' and also Nazi leaders considered Hitler as having messianic status: “The Lord has sent us Adolf Hitler.” (Robert Ley)

After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate all political opposition and consolidate their power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany when the powers and offices of the Chancellery and Presidency were merged. A national referendum held 19th August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitler's hands, and his word was above all laws. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy . Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autonbahns (high speed highways). The return to economic stability boosted the regime's popularity.

Racism, especially antisemitism , was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples —also referred to as the Nordic race —were considered to be the purest representation of Aryanism, and therefore the master race . Jews and others deemed undesirable were persecuted or murdered, and opposition to Hitler's rule was ruthlessly suppressed. Members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or forced into exile. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned. Education focused on racial biology , population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed.

Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands, threatening war if they were not met. Austria and Czechoslovakia were seized in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939, launching World War II in Europe. In alliance with Italy and other Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940 and threatened Great Britain. Reichskommissariats took brutal control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned and murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps. The implementation of the regime's racial policies culminated in the mass murder of Jews and other minorities in the Holocaust. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide turned against the Third Reich, and major military defeats were suffered in 1943. Large-scale bombing of German cities, rail lines, and oil plants escalated in 1944. Germany was overrun in 1945 by the Soviets from the east and the other Allies from the west. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat led to massive destruction of German infrastructure and unnecessary loss of life in the closing months of the war. The victorious Allies initiated a policy of denazification and put the surviving Nazi leadership on trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials.