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The names are changed, but it is obvious who is being referred to. Chaplin portrays Hitler, here named Adenoid Hynkel, as an egotistical sociopath with delusions of grandeur. Jack Oakie depicts Benzini Napaloni, a.k.a. Mussolini, as an obnoxious braggart and buffoon. Henry Daniell, a veteran Hollywood supporting actor whose specialty was the aloof, loveless villain, plays Goebbels, named Garbitsch here.
Much screen time is spent lampooning Hitler and Mussolini, who were deeply despised by the American people by the time the film was released. Hitler had also conquered France by this point, which meant that he essentially controlled all of continental Europe, an amazing (and terrifying) situation. Although the script was clearly written a few years before, during Hitler's occupation of Austria.
How I felt about it. In 1940, Germany undoubtedly had the finest army in the world. Hitler had become larger than life, and it looked like he would take England next, which survived only because the English Channel stopped the progress of Hitler's tanks. Chaplin's satire was intended to strip away Hitler's sheen of invincibility, which was based upon a national blind devotion to his cult of personality.
Chaplin begins by mocking the devotion itself, showing it to be mindless. Hitler's fiery speeches are demonstrated to be void of content, aside from inflammatory rhetoric against the Jews, who (in this film) are like anyone else aside from a token religious affiliation. Hitler's aides are obsequious, although Goebbels stands out as a cunning manipulator of Hitler, using him as a front man for his disagreeable ambitions.
Chaplin follows the Hollywood principle of the "Good German," here played by Reginald Gardiner in the personality of Commander Schultz. Schultz is a patriotic Aryan who nonetheless doesn't see the point in the ill treatment of Jews. He opposes their oppression, even though it ruins his career (and would in real life lead to his execution).
On the other hand, Chaplin resorts to ethnic humor, satirizing guttural German phonetics and parodying the meter of Italian language. It's all in a good cause, and it has to be remembered that Hollywood movies of the war era were loaded with racist depictions, especially of the Japanese.
In contrast to Hitler, his entourage, and his burly, hateful goons, we have the Jews, presented as peaceable despite their oppression. An exception is Paulette Goddard, Chaplin's wife at the time, who has a meaty role as Hannah, a heroine of the Jewish ghetto. Hannah has a romance with another unlikely hero, an unnamed barber also played by Chaplin. The barber's close resemblance to Hitler, down to his dark, square mustache, becomes a plot twist designed to give hope to occupied Europe.
How others will see it. Although Chaplin's silent films are clearly better than The Great Dictator, the latter is perhaps more popular and better known today. As a talkie (despite silent skits such as Hitler and globe, and the coin-laced puddings), it is more accessible than, for example, The Gold Rush. Its targets are also recognizable, and it is undeniably a pleasure seeing "Hitler" making such a fool of himself.