History
Introduction
Adolf Hitler 1889-1945 was the leader of the Nazi party in Germany and the world’s famous dictator of all times. Born of Alois Hitler and Klara on April the 20th 1889 in Braunau am Inn in Austria, he was known by the name Idi in his childhood and youthful days. Hitler was lazy and performed poorly in school. At the age of six, he had started creating tense and strict atmosphere at home. When his father died when he, Hitler, was 13 years, he dropped out of school at age 15. Left with his mother, she could not do anything to her stubborn son and she had other children to take care of.
After his mothers in 1907, Hitler moved to Vienna. Due to their closeness as she protected him from his father’s battering, he carried her picture wherever he went even during death. He had a great passion in art and he tried to peruse it but twice failed the admission examination for the academy of arts. His desires to be a leader made him spend a lot of time with small children since he envied giving orders which his age mates would not take. He enjoyed games involving fights and enjoyed re-enacting battles from the Boer war which he played the part of commando. He also enjoyed shooting rats with an air gun.
Hitler before power
Hitler’s first chance to serve in the army came in 1909 but he was unwilling to serve the Austria army because he despised it. Another opportunity came in 1914 where he was to be recruited to serve the Austro-Hungarian army but his medical report could not allow. In the break of the world war, he seized the opportunity and got involved with the German army as he wanted to proof that Germany had the superior army. To him the outbreak was a life time happiness sent from heaven and he accepted it wholeheartedly. He therefore volunteered to serve the Germany arm because medical examinations were less important.
In the battle, Hitler was brave and impressed his commanders for taking dangerous missions. However, the fellow soldiers described him as odd and peculiar. One soldier, Hans Mend, said that Hitler would seat at a corner holding his head then jump and give speeches against the Jews and the Marxists who he claimed they undermined the war efforts. It is claimed he was a victim of sexual bullying. He was given a risky task of carrying message in the battle field and he proved to be a success. He won five medals in the WWI and he was described of showing cooled-blooded courage and exemplary boldness by his commander. However, despite the positives, he only reached the rank of a corporal.
Hitler was in Munich when Bavaria was declared a socialist republic. He disagreed to the equality policy advocated by the socialists, which he saw as a Jews conspiracy. In 1919, the German army overthrew the Bavarian government and Hitler and other soldiers were arrested and some executed. However, Hitler bought his way out by promising to reveal the entire soldier supporting the socialist regime. This gained him trust from the government officials and he was offered a position of a political officer, which he was to lecture soldiers on politics. He took the opportunity to turn the soldiers against the Jews and the Marxist.
Hitler’s Rise to power
Hitler was used by the German army as a spy where he attended political party meetings. It is on these meetings that he discovered that the German workers party shared his political ideologies. He occasionally gave speeches which captured the party leaders’ attention and he was invited to join the party. He joined the party executive committee and was made its propaganda manager. He brought with him some official which earned the party some money used for announcing their meetings of which he, Hitler was the main speaker and from there he developed the techniques that made him such a persuasive speaker. His speech delivery technique saw many people join the party and therefore his importance in the party would not be ignored. He was an asset that the party would not afford to lose.
He proposed changes to the party name in order to incorporate socialism but redefined it to only include German natives and as a result the Jews and other aliens would lose their citizenship and restrict immigration of non-Germans. Hitler’s proposals were accepted and the party name changed to National Socialist German Workers Party which was later nicknamed the Nazi Party. When he realized the party growth was due to his influence, he challenged the party leader for his position. Though Anton Drexler was reluctant at first, he gave in and Hitler became the party leader in 1921. Hitler’s speech evoked violence and in 1921 he was imprisoned for involvement in beating a rival politician.
He planned a coup which failed and consequently he was arrested and imprisoned for five years. After his release, he offered scapegoats and solutions to the public problems. His masterly of mass psychology won him his way. In 1931 he challenged Paul for presidency but failed because people feared him. In July 1932, the Nazi party won majority votes and Hitler held a chief post. However, due to misunderstanding between the Nazi and communist, Kurt von Schleicher resigned on the 28th of Jan 1933. Two days later, with the help of Alfred Hugenberg, Hitler took office as the Germany ruler.
He became a dictator who was a racist and spread his powers all over Europe. He spread dictatorial policy to Benito Mussolini of Italy, Franco of Spain. He ordered the assassination of the Austrian chancellor. In 1938, England, France and Italy agreed to German annexation of Sudetenland. Hitler used the Munich pact to advocate for the persecuted Germans in Czechoslovakia. He solidified his position as the ruler of German and strengthened his German pride by blaming the German problems to the Jews and communists. He detained those who did not agree with him in concentration camps.
Concentration camps
Concentration camps can be described as a camp where prisoners are detained and brutally treated by the capturers. This imprisonment is universally accepted in a democratic constitution. In 1933 to 1945, the NAZI Germany considered concentration camps as of integral value to their administration process. The camps were of great significance since they were used to control the number of prisoner’s captured. The period when Hitler rose to power, the establishment of concentration camps became popular. The increasing number of political opponent to Nazi political party led the formation of Storm Troopers and protection Squadrons that ensured security and organize the setting up of detention camps to sequester these opponents.
The Storm Troopers set up detention camps in Berlin in order to handle the increasing number of political prisoners. The prisoners under investigation by the secret state police department were held up in Berlin by the Columbia Haus facility. In July 1934, the SA gave the SS freedom to administrate its movements and plans. In response to this important decision from SA, Adolf Hitler gained more authority and therefore appointed the SS leader by then, Heinrich Himmler to formalize the concentration camps into one large system administered by one central leader.
In order to follow the hierarchy of order, SS Lieutenant General Eicke was appointed by Hammler to take responsibility for the formation of one centralized camp under his authority. In 1936, each and every Death’s-Head Unit was established to each camp. The SS Death’s-Head was grouped into two groups composed of commandants and protective detention which detained the prisoners. In 1939, the target group to be killed by the Nazi Germany under Hitler’s administration was done in the concentration camps. The concentration camps finally were changed to become the killing and torture zone of the prisoners by the SS authority under Adolf Hitler.
The World War II
The effects of World War I were so severe to both the countries that participated. This led to the loss of interest in war by most nations. IN September 1, 1939, the unexpected from all the nations that had participated in the First World War happened. The Germany military forces invaded the neighboring nation Poland. This gave Hitler more ambition on taking over the whole of Europe under his command. The influence on Hitler’s conquest further increased when he took over Norway, France and some other nations were neighboring his territory. The only nations that remained firm were the Great Britain and Russia.
The United States of America joined the war in 1941 to fight against the Axis coalition. The unity between America and Britain became extremely furious and had skilled soldiers when compared to the Nazi troop. The last ambition that Hitler had in his mind was the invasion of Soviet Union which was where concentration of powers dwelled. A defeat to Soviet Union would mean a seal on Hitler’s long notion of his territorial conquest to the east of Europe.
The German army conquered most territories and in return they had overwhelmed the fearful Red Army surrounding the famous Leningrad and were almost on the heels of striking the Soviet Russia capital Moscow. Hitler’s army further extended to the Third Reinch from the Baltic to Black Sea territory. Hitler had expected the collapse of the Soviet Union to be immediate and so he ordered an attack to Ukraine. In addition, he forgot to set his objectives like he had done in the beginning. The Russians had reserved a large military in absence of Hitler’s knowledge.
In October 1941, Hitler proclaimed that Russia was dead and would never resurrect. Hitler overlooked the extreme winter that Russia experienced. This caused a severe trouble to his troops. It even forced the commander by then to leave their most deadly warfare that had helped them win most wars fought before. The aftermath of the disaster that took place on December 1941 in Moscow, forced Hitler to sack his own trusted commander by then, Von Brauchitsch and other commanders. Hitler finally becomes more prone to outburst of the blind when he was convinced by his own conscience that his General was vacillating and defenseless. There were so many signs symbolizing the coming defeat to Hitler. One of these signs was his increasingly deteriorating health condition under the prescribed medication of Dr. Theodor. In addition, he encountered self-imposed isolation characteristics.
The fall of Adolf Hitler
In January 1943, General Von Paulus’s sixth army was defeated by the Russians. This meant that the Germans had lost the North Africa Territory to the Anglo-American forces. In six month time, the Allies captured one of the Hitler’s trusted general-Sicily and consequently this led to the fall of Mussolini regime in Italy. The sign of an armistice on September the same year gave the Allies an opportunity to take over Rome on 4th June 1944. In addition to this, the Germany Soldiers were being attacked from the east by the Russian and from the west by the Allies.
The constant bombing from the Allies weakened the self-confidence of the population and thus leading to poor industrial production in Germany. On realization of a clear defeat, Adolf Hitler shot himself through the mouth. The wrath his opponents had on him did not just end there; they took his dead body and burned with petrol in the garden of Reinch. This marked the fall of this most influential politician by then.
Conclusion
Hitler’s journey to supremacy was a battle worthy the fight for personal ambition. However, his gains of power become one of the most destructive regimes in the course of human history. The political dictator showed dictatorial elements and joy of torture from an earlier stage of life. His determination led him up the success ladder but he became the most feared, merciless, torturer and inhuman dictatorial ruler to ever walk on the face of the earth. From attempted coup to taking over the government, Hitler proved his determination and thirst to rule. However, his regime caused a lot of innocent deaths through torture, gas poison, execution and thousands who died in the world war two without any noble cause. However, his supremacy was short lived as he took his own life- the best way for nature to revenge for all the lives he took directly or indirectly.
Bibliography
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Duffy, James P. Hitler Slept Late and Other Blunders That Cost Him the War. Praeger Publishers, 1991.
Germany. Germany and the Second World War. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
Hitler's Death Camps: The Sanity of Madness. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1981.
Spartacus Educational. "Adolf Hitler: 1989-1945." Accessed November 20, 2013. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler3.htm.
