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Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany during World War II. He was a fascist dictator, ruling through the Nazi Party, the SS, and the Gestapo. Early lifeHe was born in the town of Braunau am Inn, in Austria, then his family moved to Linz while he was still at a young age. Later he wanted to become a painter. He lived in Vienna? and Munich?. World War IHe joined the German army when World War I broke out, working as a runner. He rose to a rank equivalent to private first class. His unit was decimated at the Battle of Ypres, coming up against expert British marksmen armed with Lee-Enfield rifles. Later in the war he was wounded in the groin, and temporily blinded by mustard gas. Weimar RepublicFollowing the war Hitler joined the Nazi party. He was arrested for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch, and sent to prison. There he wrote an autobiographical book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). Nazi DictatorshipHitler was elected chancellor of Germany in 1933 and then took complete control of Germany, declaring himself Fuhrer. He enacted laws stripping Jews of their citizenship and barring them from most businesses. His foreign policy was aggressive and Germany rapidly expanded back into remilitarizing the Rhineland, annexing Austria, conquering Czechoslovakia, and finally invading Poland. World War IIThe invasion of Poland sparked World War II. Germany was successful early on, conquering France, but failed to subdue Great Britain. An ill-advised attack against the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 resulted in a two-front war, and with the entry of the United States into the war in December 1941, Germany's fate was sealed. By 1945, the Allies closed in from the east and west. The Soviets conquered Berlin. In an underground bunker, Hitler married Eva Braun, then they committed suicide the next day. LegacyHitler is widely regarded as the most evil man in history. What is baffling is how he could have come to power in a sophisticated, advanced, civilized place like Germany. |