Adolf Hitler - history

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the small Austrian town called Braunau. His father was Alois Hitler who later became a senior customs official and his mother, Klara, who was from a poor family. At school Hitler showed great potential and was popular with other students as well. He was also liked by his leardship qualities. He lost his popularity from students and instead liked to re-enact battles from the Boer war with other children. When he was 15 he failed his exams and was told to repeat the year but he left without an education instead. When Hitler was 18, he moved to Vienna with money inherited after his father's died in 1903. He took the money to do well in art which he was best at in school. His applications for the Vienna Academy of Art and the School of Architecture were rejected. It was at this time that Hitler first became interested in politics. He was impressed with the anti-Semitic, nationalist Christian-Socialist party. During the First World War he volunteered to fight for the German Army and gained the rank of corporal He earned accolades as a dispatch-runner. He won several awards for bravery, including the Iron Cross First Class. In October 1918, he was blinded in a mustard gas attack. Germany surrendered while Hitler was in hospital and he became depressed and often cred. After the war ended, Hitler's future seemed uncertain. In 1919 Hitler went to his first meeting of the German Workers' party, an anti-Semitic, nationalist group as a spy for the German Army. But he found he agreed with Anton Drexler's German nationalism and anti-Semitism. He disagreed with how they were organized which led him to make a speech. It soon became clear that people were joining the party just to see Hitler make his speeches, which would leave the audience to follow whatever he said because of his speeches. He quickly rose through the ranks and by 1921, was the leader of the renamed National Socialist German Workers' Party which were the Nazi. With terrible economic conditions, support for Hitler's party grew. By 1923 the Nazi's had 56,000 members and many more supporters. On November 8 and 9 of 1923, Hitler made the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch. He hoped to force the Bavarian government to work with the Nazis and march together on Berlin. The attempt failed but the judge gave Hitler a very light sentence.

While in prison Hitler wrote 'Mein Kampf', which stated his political ideas. He reorganized his party when he left jail, but it was not until the world depression hit Germany that the Nazis were able to get more followers. By 1930 the Nazis had around 6.5 million votes. In the presidential elections of 1932, Hitler came second. On 30 January 1933, President Hindenburg was forced to appoint Hitler as Chancellor because of his popular support. In office Hitler set about sharing his power stating that Nazis go to government and gaining control of emergency powers. With the death of Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler's power was secured. Hitler put Germany's people who had no job to work on a big rearmament program, using propaganda and enemies such as the Jews, to prepare the country for war. Hitler's actions were ignored by his powerful neighbors as they believed peace was the only way to avoid a war. In 1936, Hitler invaded the Rhineland. He then continued to annex Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. Under the Munich Agreement of 1938, the West accepted this. In 1939, Hitler made an alliance with Russia and with Italy. On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland and the Second World War began as a result. In April 1940, Denmark and Norway were also taken. Then France was next. Hitler had conquered a lot of Western Europe. In 1941, besides the alliance, Germany invaded Russia under Operation Barbarossa. It was one of his biggest mistakes. With the German advance held up by the Russians 'scorched earth' policy, the German army was in the Russian winter without a good supply line. In 1943, they started their long retreat. At the same time, the Western Allies were pushing hard and began to advance on Germany. In response, Hitler withdrew almost entirely. In 1944, there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt and, in response Hitler stepped up the suspicion and terror. Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945, with his long term girlfriend Eva Braun, who he is thought to have maybe married at the last minute. Germany's surrender was soon after all of this.