Here was a man always near the top in any list of real life Villains, Adolph Hitler, who was responsible for killing millions of innocent men women and children during World War II.
Born on the 20th of April 1889 in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary, he was raised near Linz. He moved to Vienna later in the first decade of the 1900s and moved to Germany in 1913.
He was decorated for his service in the German Army in World War 1.
In 1919, he joined the German Workers Party, the precursor of the Nazi Party, and was appointed leader of the Nazi Party in 1921.
In 1923, he attempted to seize governmental power in a failed Coup in Munich and was imprisoned for five years. While imprisoned, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”). After his early release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting the reinvention of Germany, a country still paying for its defeat in World War 1.
Hitler, as a skilled orator and speech maker began to use racism and prejudice to convince the German people that their problems were caused by Jews, Communists and the Capitalist system and by November 1932, the Nazi Party, led by Hitler, held the most seats in the German Reichstag.
Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on the 30th of January 1933. He aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain and France.
His first six years in power resulted in rapid economic growth and the annexation of territories inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which initially gave him significant popular support.
Wanting to expand his empire, his aggressive foreign policy is considered the primary cause of World War II. He instigated large-scale rearmament, totally against the treaties signed by Germany after World War 1 this eventually meant that when on the 1st of September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France declared war on Germany. In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union and In December 1941, he declared war on the United States. The result of these action was that by the end of 1941, German forces and their allies occupied most of Europe and North Africa.
These advances were slowly reversed after 1941, and in 1945 the Allied armies defeated the German army. On the 29th of April 1945, he married his partner, Eva Braun, in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. Less than two days later, the couple committed suicide to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army.
The number of casualties during World War II was unsurpassed in warfare, and it was the deadliest conflict in history.
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Find out more on click on THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN – A Story of the Few where you can see samples of script and listen to excerpts from the score.
Isn’t history fun?
- When and where was Adolf Hitler born?
- Which military decoration did Hitler receive for his service in World War I?
- What party did Hitler join in 1919, and what was it a precursor to?
- What event in 1923 led to Hitler’s imprisonment, and for how long was he initially sentenced?
- What is the title of Hitler’s autobiography and political manifesto, and when did he dictate its first volume?
- What treaty did Hitler attack to gain popular support in Germany?
- When was Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany?
- What were the two primary groups Hitler blamed for Germany’s problems, according to his speeches?
- What event on September 1, 1939, is considered the primary cause of World War II?
- When and where did Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide?
For more information click here:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adolf-Hitler
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/adolf-hitler-1
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/adolf-hitler/
© Anthony James