Hitler Blogg (sorry!!!)

Through his time in power Hitler was responsible for the murder of six million Jews; he annexed most of mainland Europe, crippling world powers like France and Britain on the continent and ushered the world into the age of modern warfare forever. But what was it that brought a man of little significance from a town of no prominence to become one of the most infamous people in World History?

Adolf Hitler was Born in Braunau am Inn, an Austrian town near the boarder of Germany in 1889. His childhood was comfortable as his father was a civil servant and his mother a housewife. Even before his birth the Hitler name was tainted with a history of family incest and three prior sibling deaths. He went on to attend Art College despite his father’s wishes to move into the civil service. He was not a successful student and ended up painting postcards on the street of Vienna.

In 1913 Hitler left Austria for Munich, when War broke out he joined the German army rather than the Austrian army to which he was conscripted. Hitler fought for the duration of the war and was awarded two iron crosses; however there has been a lot of speculation as to why he only ever rose as far as the rank of corporal. From Hitler’s position the war seemed to be leaning in favour of the Germans as there were no troops on German soil, So when the arrival of the Armistice was a great blow to both the Pride of the Germany and Hitler himself.

The war was something that gave Hitler and identity, so when it was over he had no desire other than to carry on in the only vocation that seemed to suit him. He became a police spy, it was at this point that be became involved with the National Socialist Party. Hitler obviously had a great natural flare for politics, from this point he went on to swing the party to the right and eventually lead to the peak of German politics.

In 1923 the Nazi party lead the Putsch Bavaria; they wished to reinstate the Bavarian Monarch. This was a failure, the judges involved were conservative, and as this was a conservative crime they went easy on Hitler, the Nazi party was dissolved and he was given a meagre nine month jail sentence. It was here that Hitler wrote Mien Kamf, which formed the basis of future Nazism. Hitler was reinvigorated on release, with a new set of ideals and confidence in his abilities he went about reforming the Nazi Party.

The Nazi ascent to power is interesting in that it could have very nearly not happened. Many of the occurrences that lead to Nazi domination of the Reichstag were outside the party’s control. However, its pragmatic leader was quick to capitalise on these events. The German people were used to one single autonomous leader; the Weimar government was indecisive and wore on the patience of many citizens, especially conservatives. The Wall Street cash was the final nail in the coffin for the Weimar Government, Germany was in decline, the current order seemed useless and the only party that didn’t have anything to do with Germanys disintegration was the Nazi Party, this gave them leverage over their opponents.

In the general elections preceding the Crash the Nazis, a small party won 18% of the vote. Hitler dominated the party and his ideals lead it, they would soon have absolute power and mass support. Germany as a nation used to one strong and decisive leader, an indecisive republic was not going to suffice, and so they eventually grew to embrace Hitler as a single autonomous leader. He moved up the ladder of German politics swiftly and surely, going from party leader, to vice chancellor, to chancellor and eventually to Fuhrer. This last hurtle was passed after the Reichstag was burned down, the Nazis blamed the Communists, instilling fear in the public before offering the Nazi way as a solution to their problems.

As Hitler had become more prominent in German politics he began to look at certain aspects of the Nazi Party as an embarrassment, namely the SA. The SA had acted as his private army since the early days of the Nazi party, the official German Army, or the Reichsphere hated the SA and saw them as nothing but hooligans. Hitler used this tension to his advantage by setting the two upon each other. This event was known as the “Night of the Long Knives”, in which Hitler gave the German army leeway in order to kill prominent figures in the SA, forcibly disbanding it. The Nazi party was purged and the Army was appeased and now supported Hitler, so when the Chancellor died in 1934 Hitler took up the role merging his current role to become Fuhrer. This was only possible with the supported by the Army.

After he came to power he set about breaking the sanctions imposed on Germany at the treaty of Versailles after The Great War. He used a carrot stick method, presenting a progressive Germany by accepting disarmament deals but all the time taking risks like gradual remilitarisation, the reoccupying of the Rhineland the taking of Czeckslovakia and eventually the Anschluss, when Germany Merged with Austria. The move that eventually bought about war was the invasion of Poland and lead to the second world war. France soon fell and all of continental Europe was under the Nazi banner.

In 1941 Hitler set his sights on the Soviet Union in the biggest invasion of all time, his goal was Lebensraum, the occupations of western Russia by the Germans as a superior race ruling over the Slav people. Invaded Russia in June 1941, while the Soviets were still in the process of arming, this ultimately lead to his defeat. After Achieving many initial victories it was soon apparent that Russia wasn’t as easily won, the land itself was far too big, the German troops under equipped and the climate overbearing. The Nazi war machine was being pushed back on all fronts and by July 1945 Berlin was being levelled by allied bombs. He died in a bunker with his associates arguing over who would be next in line to lead the “great” German empire.

One of the most prominent issues of Hitler’s time in power was his anti-Semitism, this started while working as an underpaid artist in Vienna and was carried with him throughout his life. He saw the Jews as an evil to be utterly destroyed. In Mein Kamf is goal was to move the Jews to Madagascar after completing annexing and cleansing mainland Europe. This idea was never put into practise and instead the Fuhrer opted for mass murder. Four million Jews are said to have been killed. Hitler also targeted disabled people, the homeless and homosexuals.

Hitler is said to be the biggest destroyer in history, not only did he destroy what he despised, but in the end he obliterated what was dear to him. Old Germany and Prussia were gone, his country was carved up and split between allied powers. He brought on the modernisation of western powers and made both Russia and America the most powerful countries in the world. He was politically and socially ambitious, making Germany a world power at the expense of other “lesser” nations, but ultimately allowing it to crumble.