Adolf Hitler Biography ( leader of the Nazi party.)

Adolf Hitler Biography:

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.

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.”

– 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.

adolf-hitlerHis   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!”

– 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.