Adolf Hitler was a military leader and dictator heading the Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. He is attributed with initiating the world war II, as well as overseeing fascist policies, which resulted in the death of millions of people. He was born in Branau am Inn a town located in the upper Austrian border and was named after his father Alois Hitler. His father had been born out wedlock, which caused speculations in the early 1920’s that his grandfather was a Jew. Additionally, his father worked as a civil service and retired early in 1895, when Hitler was only six years. Upon retirement, his father created a tense and strict environment at home that made him clash with his father frequently. At age 13, his father died, and with his siblings, they were left under the care of their mother Klara where they faced numerous challenges and he was forced to quit school based on his poor performance (Nicholls 12).
He was sent to a military hospital for treatment and news reached him of the German’s defeat and surrender, which led to the end of the war. The news made him annoyed and felt betrayed by the German government, which shaped his life, as well as the future of the world. The sudden and unexpected surrender of the German government left many Germans feeling betrayed, and the subsequent inflation and increased unemployment heightened the anger. This led to burgeoning of local political groups. Hitler was working for military organization in 1919 when started looking for a political group, which after joining was made the leader.
It was through this group that Hitler propagated the ideology of a coup, which he believed would bring a stronger government, which could resume Germany lost glory. Therefore, in 1923, he attempted a coup, which failed and led to his imprisonment, which was supposed to last for five years, but only lasted nine months. During the period in prison, he formulated the ideologies and thoughts of a new Germany, which were expressed through his book Mein Kampf. By 1932, he had become famous and had garnered enough support to run for the presidency, but he lost to Paul Von Hindenburg (Hitler 89). However, he was appointed as German chancellor in 1933, where within a year he took over both presidency and combined with his role as a chancellor making him the supreme leader.
After legally ascending to power as the German leader, he began solidifying his position and those who disagreed with him were sent to concentration camps. To strengthen the German pride he adopted the use of numerous propagandas, where he blamed the communists and Jews for the challenges and problems facing Germany. The pan-Germanism ideology was behind Hitler’s inspiration of combining the German people with different countries in Europe. In the period ranging from 1935 and 1938, Hitler adopted the Nuremberg laws to remove the Jews from the German society. At the same period when unemployment was rampant, Hitler put the unemployed people into a massive armament program. The propagandas were used to manufacture enemies and prepare the country for war. The world wars II created a cover for the Nazi’s, where they created an elaborate plan and a system which worked Jews as slaves and later killing them (Alberge para 7). This was termed as holocaust where millions of people lost their lives.
Hitler started invading and uniting with the neighboring countries and started with Rhineland in 1936, he then proceeded and annexed Austria without engaging them in a fight. During the period the possibility of another war was imminent, but based on the Munich Agreement of 1938, the west could not intervene. However, when the German forces entered Poland on August 1939, the world could not hold on to the German surge of power, and this marked the beginning of world war II. He formed alliances with Russia and Italy in the same year he invaded Poland. In 1940, he proceeded to invade and take over Denmark, Norway and France and Hitler had conquered the vast western Europe and was turning to the East (Hitler para 6). However, despite the alliance with Russia, German forces invaded Russia, which was the most gross mistake of Hitler’s forces.
During the beginning of the war, the German forces were unstoppable, and they conquered numerous battles. However, the advances made by Hitler’s force started to slow down, when the Russian introduced the ‘Scorched Earth policy’, which made the German forces run in the Russian winter without adequate supplies. With an inadequate supply line, the German forces started retreating. Consequently, the western allies forces were pushing hard making strong advances on Germany. The German forces were pushed back by Russia, which was followed by defeat in Africa and western Europe, and Germany was slowly being overpowered.
The western forces pushed hard as the German forces retreated, which made Hitler paranoid retreating to a bunker. German forces were overpowered, and the western forces were approaching Berlin from all directions. The forces had retreated entirely, which made Hitler increasingly erratic and out-of –touch. In 1944, Hitler survived an assassination attempt, which made him develop an atmosphere of fear and suspicion. On 29 April 1945, Hitler married his mistress after a long period and committed suicide on 30 April 1945 (Wilde para 8). His suicide marked the end of the world war II as Germany surrendered soon after his death.
In conclusion, Hitler will run in the history book as the person who began the second world war the most costly conflict experienced in the history of the world. His desire was to expand German’s territory plunged the world into a war, with dire effects on the world economy. Equally, Hitler will also be remembered for the holocaust, which executed millions of people, approximated to be more than eleven million. Commentators have concluded that Hitler must have lost his mind owing to defeat in the war.
Works Cited
Alberge, Dalya. "Adolf Hitler a war hero? Anything but, said first world war comrades." 16 August 2010. 17 September 2013 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/16/new-evidence-adolf-hitler>.
Hitler, Adolf. "Adolf Hitler." 2013. The Biography Channel website. 17 September 2013 <http://www.biography.com/people/adolf-hitler-9340144>.
—. Mein Kampf. (extracts). Munich: ZHINGOORA BOOKS, 1938.
Nicholls, David. Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion. London: ABC-CLIO, 2000.
Wilde, Robert. "Adolf Hitler." 2013. About.com.European History. 17 September 2013 <http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/hitleradolf/p/prhitler.htm>.
