Editing Nero Decree (section)

{{more citations needed|date=May 2025}}
{{Short description|1945 order issued by Adolf Hitler to destroy all German infrastructure}}
[[File:Fernschreiben Speer Befehl betreffend Zerstörungsmaßnahmen im Reichsgebiet (cropped).jpg|thumb|"Decree Concerning Demolitions in the Reich Territory", issued by Adolf Hitler on 19 March 1945|260x260px]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}The '''Nero Decree''' ({{langx|de|Nerobefehl}}) was issued by [[Adolf Hitler]] on 19 March 1945, ordering the destruction of German infrastructure to prevent its use by [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] forces as they [[Western Allied invasion of Germany|penetrated]] deep within [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]. It was officially titled '''Decree Concerning Demolitions in the Reich Territory''' ({{lang|de|Befehl betreffend Zerstörungsmaßnahmen im Reichsgebiet}}) and has subsequently become known as the Nero Decree, after the Roman Emperor [[Nero]], who, according to an apocryphal story,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Publius Cornelius Tacitus |title=The Annals |location=Book 15 [15.16] |url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/tacitus/TacitusAnnals15.html |access-date=27 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414174551/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/tacitus/TacitusAnnals15.html |archive-date=14 April 2009 |quote=Nero at this time was at Antium, and did not return to Rome until the fire approached his house}}</ref> engineered the [[Great Fire of Rome]] in 64 AD. The decree was deliberately disobeyed by [[Albert Speer]] shortly before [[German Instrument of Surrender|the fall of the Nazi regime]].