Biography of Hitler

Biography of Hitler

Biography of Hitler

Adolf    Hitler:-
(1889-1945)  was      a charismatic leader of   the Nazi    party,          gaining  power     in 1933   and become   dictator  of   Germany  until his    death   in     1945. He     led   Germany      in     an aggressive war of conquest invading Western Europe    and       then   the    Soviet Union.    Initially successful, his army  then suffered a series of reverses, before the eventual complete defeat of   his  Nazi       Germany         in      1945.    Hitler  has become    infamous      as  a     personification      of human  evil.   His name   is  inexorably  linked  to the Holocaust and extermination of Jews and other  ‘undesirables. He is also   seen      as       the principle     cause  of  the   Second  World  War  in which  over 70 million  people   died. Yet,  in  the midst   of the Great  Depression, he  captivated a          nation          with  his           mixture                of  charm, xenophobia, and ability to persuade.

Biography of Hitlar

Hitler Early life

Hitler was born in Austria in  1889 to relatively humble   beginnings. His   early    life   gave      few hints  as   to        his future  destiny.    He      was          a comparative failure and  something of a loner. He was twice rejected  from his application to study  art,    and  after        struggling  to  survive in Vienna,    in  1913,  he   moved  to  Munich.  In his early  life, he imbibed  the anti-semitic  feelings which were         common     for         the          times   but displayed             little    political       interest.  On       the outbreak of the First World

On the  outbreak   of      the     First   World   War, he joined the German army  and got  promoted to Corporal. He survived the    war   and in 1918   – like many other German officers – was bitterly disappointed    with  the   perceived   ‘betrayal of the       German     surrender                      and      the   harsh retribution           meted            out    by the       Versailles Treaty.

Against this backdrop of defeat  and  threat  of turmoil         within    Germany,     Hitler     turned        to politics and  set  up   a fledgeling political party –  the  NSDAP (Nazi party)  with  its  mixture  of nationalistic and fascist policies.

In 1923, Hitler   led  his small  Nazi   party    in an attempted   seizure of   power   –  known  as the Munich    beer   hall  putsch.     The putsch  failed, and    Hitler    was  sentenced to a            lenient    jail sentence. It  was in prison that he wrote ‘Mein Kampf‘                 a      rambling   exposition       of             his philosophy     which                    included his      growing anti-semitic         ideology              and   ideas              of an idealised Aryan race.

“the personification of the devil as the symbol of      all     evil assumes   the  living shape    of    the Jew.”

Biography of Hitler

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf 

On    his       release,          Hitler        then        turned       his attentions  to     gaining   electoral    support   and contesting the elections    of Weimar Germany. The  onset  of  the   Great  Depression   provided fertile ground  for his      radical    and      extremist policies.     Against     a  backdrop of    six     million unemployed people  – many in Germany – felt there      was           a    clear                    choice             between Communism and  the    Nationalism   of    Hitlers Nazi  party.   With      the   help   of      his       powerful rhetoric and  his own  private  militia,  Hitler  led the Nazi party to victory in the 1933 elections. He was  made Chancellor  and in   1934, on the death   of    Hindenburg,      he       was   made           the President in 1934, Hitler  declared himself  the supreme    leader  and      ended   all       pretence to democracy.

Biography of Hitler

Adolf hitler

His rise  to      power    was   swift   and comprehensive. Many ordinary Germans were enthusiastic   at the  success   Hitlers  Germany soon         started   to     achieve.  Hitler        began  an extensive        programme         of    road            building, rearmament, and this helped to radically solve the  unemployment    which           crippled          many economies at the time. At the  1936  Olympics in   Berlin, Hitler tried  to showcase his  country as a model of dynamism and progress. But, in addition  to  the         economic   successes, Hitler began  a  systematic   policy   of   discrimination and      harassment           of        the      German  Jewish population and any other segments of society that  did not    fit   in  with the   Aryan   ideal.     This became increasingly    brutalised  and    vicious. No  dissent to  the  regime was     tolerated,  and this  totalitarian state was  enforced through a ruthlessly   efficient   secret      police                   –       the Gestapo and SS.

Hitler also sought to regain territory lost in the Treaty of Versailles. This  was the justification for the  Anschluss    with   Austria    and  later the reclamation      of              the              Sudetenland                  in Czechoslovakia. But, Hitlers ambitions did not merely rest on regaining lost territory. He also began  eyeing     new    territories    and, in      1938, successfully                    gained                the                whole    of Czechoslovakia. Anxious  to  avoid  war,   Allied leaders, such as Neville Chamberlain pursued a policy of appeasement and gave into Hitlers demands.

“I  want  war. To me all means will be  right. My motto   is  not   “Dont,  whatever you       do, annoy the enemy.” My   motto is   “Destroy   him   by   all and any means.”  I am   the  one  who  will wage the war!”

Biography oh Hitler

Adolf Hitler

However,   when it came to Poland, Britain and France decided to oppose     Hitlers   intentions, and     when Hitler   invaded Poland,   France and Great Britain declared war on  Germany. Yet, it soon       became apparent  that        Germany   had built one    of  the       most powerful    armies ever created       and    were technically   and  tactically superior to the Allied armies.

Until the   Battle   of    Stalingrad in  1942, Hitlers war machine appeared unstoppable. A parade of stunning military  victories  led to one of the most successful military conquests in history. Yet,  by  invading the   Soviet     Union,  combined with   the        entry   of the     US  into  the  war, even Hitlers      Germany      had         overstretched itself. Slowly the tide of  war turned, and in 1944, the Soviets in  the  East, and  the Allies in  the West began   their  long   liberation  through occupied Europe to eventually meet in Berlin.

Almost until  the  end, Hitler retained a fantasy of   gaining          a last      minute     victory       through imaginary            weapons        and         now imaginary armies. It   was  not    until      Soviet   troops  were within earshot  of his  Bunker, that Hitler finally admitted            the       inevitable            and committed suicide.

During the war, Hitler met with  his other    Nazi henchman  to     agree    on a  plan   for     the   ‘final solution   of the Jewish problem. This involved the   systematic and    complete     elimination of the Jewish population. Over six million Jewish people   died          in       various  concentration   and extermination camps. These camps  also saw the  deaths   of  millions of  other   undesirables, from          Russian                 prisoners                 of war           to Communists,      homosexuals     and  Gipsies.     It remains  a crime of   unprecedented  scale and horror.