The Dictator: Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th, 1889 in Branau am Inn, Austria to Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl. At the age of three, Hitler and his family moved to Germany. Early in his life Hitler showed great interest in German nationalism, rejecting the authority of Austria-Hungary. The early interest of nationalism becomes Hitler’s motivation of life. Hitler did great in school in his early years, but once he advanced in school there was more competition leading to Hitler not trying in school. Once his father died, Hitler dropped out of school and at the age of 18 moved to Vienna. In Vienna, Hitler worked as a laborer and a painter. Hitler strived to become an artist, leading him to apply to the Academy of Fine Arts twice where both applications were denied. Hitler was homeless for seven years, and during those years was in deep depression. During the seven years of depression and homelessness, Hitler began to cultivate his anti-Semitism beliefs.
Once WWI abruptly started, Hitler found his opportunity and applied to serve in the German Army. Hitler was accepted in August 1914 while still a citizen of Austria-Hungary. Hitler gained the rank of corporal by earning accolades as a dispatch-runner. A dispatch-runner possibly had the worst job in the whole army, dispatch-runners had to run from bunker to bunker delivering messages while in great danger. Due to his job Hitler won several awards for his bravery. After being blinded in a mustard gas attack, Hitler was sent to a hospital where he entered into another state of depression. While Hitler was in the Hospital, Germany surrendered from WWI. Hitler attended many meetings of the German Workers’ party, which was an anti-Semitic, nationalist group as a spy for the German Army. Hitler rose through the ranks at a rapid pace and, by 1921, was the leader of the re-named National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi).
With the terrible economic situation in Germany and the rapid inflation, the Nazi party grew fast. “By 1923, the Nazi’s had 56,000 members and many more supporters.” During late 1923, Hitler attempted to stage the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch, but the attempt failed and Hitler was tried for treason where he was given a very light sentence. During his time in prison, Hitler wrote ‘Mein Kampf’, which was composed of all of his political ideas. Hitler reorganized his party by the time he was released from jail, but it wasn’t until the world depression hit Germany that the Nazis were able to attract significant followers. In the presidential elections of 1932, Hitler tallied up more than 6.5 million polls taking second in the election. Due to his large following, President Hidenburg was forced to appoint Hitler as Chancellor.
Hitler set his ideas about consolidating his power and gaining control of emergency powers by appointing Nazis. Hitler eliminated all opposition and with the death of President Hidenburg in 1934, Hitler’s power was secured. Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, and Hitler began to mobilize for war. As head of the state, Hitler had the power to do absolutely anything that he pleased, and he did exactly that In 1938, Hitler, along with several other European leaders, signed the ‘Munich Agreement’ which basically reversed parts of the ‘Treaty of Versailles’. On September 1, 1938, Germany invaded Poland, which