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Adolf Hitler
Dictator of Germany, 1933-1945

Quick Facts

Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany on January 31, 1933. His rise to power was meteoric and largely due to his gifts as an orator. His leadership of the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party propelled the party to complete mastery of Germany from a small unknown party in southern Germany. Hitler became the undisputed and unchallengeable leader of the Nazi Party in the early 1920s and led a failed armed putsch in 1923, which came to be known as the Beer Hall Putsch. He was sentenced to a light prison term for the failed putsch and from his cell dictated his famous autobiography Mein Kampf (My Struggle). Upon his release from prison, Hitler resumed his leadership of the party but with a change of attitude toward the democratic government of Germany: he sought not to overthrow the government by force but instead worked to be democratically and legally elected to office. As he worked toward this goal, Hitler also built a violent and militaristic wing of the party known as the S.A or Brown Shirts. Led by former army captain Ernst Rohm, the S.A. used violence and intimidation to battle and intimidate the Nazi's political opponents-especially the Communists. Under the leadership of Rohm, the Brown Shirts were preparing for the coming revolution where the Nazi Party would take control of Germany.

The Nazi Party that Hitler led did not grow quickly. It appealed primarily to disgruntled World War I veterans and German Nationalists. Hitler masterfully used his oratory gifts and propaganda to stir up the attendees of Party rallies and meetings against the democratic Weimar Republic, the hated Treaty of Versailles, and especially the Jews, whom Hitler had a pathological hatred for and blamed for Germany's loss of the Great War. Still, the party grew slowly until 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. The ensuing economic hardship gave Hitler the opportunity he had been waiting for. As economic conditions in Germany worsened, Hitler began to receive support from previously unsupportive sections of the population, including wealthy industrialists and the middle class. This support was essential, and Hitler used it to good advantage. With each passing election, the Nazi Party won more and more seats in the Reichstag. Eventually, the party became too strong to ignore, and on January 31, 1933 the aging German President Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany.

Upon gaining control of Germany, Hitler and his party leaders set about Nazifying Germany and German society. Practically no aspect of society was left untouched. Churches were disdained and in some cases even prohibited. The Hitler Youth was formed to reeducate children and adolescents in party doctrine. The Nazi party was essentially a racially based party, and foretold of a great upcoming battle of the Aryan "Master Race" against their mortal enemy: The Jews. Jews were mercilessly persecuted, and official pogroms and government discriminations were enacted. Other religious groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, were persecuted also, in addition to Gypsies. Many political enemies or other "undesirables" were imprisoned in concentration camps. Essentially, any one who did not believe in or who spoke out against the Nazi Party was labeled as an undesirable. The Party censored German radio and film and the media. Books were burned that did not meet party approval. The German secret police-The Gestapo-was everywhere, headed by Heinrich Himmler. In essence, the entire nation underwent a massive transformation to prepare for the upcoming struggle and to assume mastery over the "inferior" races.

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In addition to these elements, Hitler also introduced great public works projects such as the building of the Autobahn. Unemployment was drastically reduced, and many in Germany hailed Hitler as the savior of Germany. The military was also rebuilt, although at first in secret, as a strong German military was prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles. Eventually, though, Hitler would simply ignore the Treaty of Versailles altogether and rebuild the German military in the open. The other European powers did nothing to stop this military rebuilding, thus beginning their ill-fated policy of appeasement.  As the economic plight of the German people began to improve, Hitler enjoyed more and more support. He became a mythical, cult like figure, known simply as The Fuehrer (The Leader). He was revered by many in the population, and the cruel and systematic persecution of Jews and others were written off by many as the product of Hitler's underlings, and was not believed to be sanctioned by Hitler or that Hitler even had any knowledge of these actions. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but Hitler actively sought to distance himself from these happenings so that his hold over the German people could not easily be broken.

The rebuilding of the German military also helped to restore national honor to Germany. Most Germans viewed the Treaty of Versailles as excessively harsh, and the nation itself was left with a sense of humiliation and shame at the treaties imposition on Germany. Hitler enjoyed widespread support from much of the population concerning the rebuilding of the military. As the military gained strength, however, Hitler found himself more and more at odds with the S.A. leader Ernst Rohm. Rohm envisioned that the S.A. itself would be the German military, but the German military leaders would have nothing to do with Rohm or the S.A. Hitler realized that he needed the established military more than he needed Rohm and the S.A. In 1934, in what became known as the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler had Rohm and other S.A leaders murdered, as well as other political opponents and undesirables. The remaining elements of the S.A were merged with the S.S, all under the command of the fanatically loyal Heinrich Himmler.

While rebuilding the German military, Hitler planned for his war for Aryan Supremacy. Hitler also considered Bolshevism to be an enemy of National Socialism, and he considered the Slavic peoples, including Russia, to be inferior races destined for enslavement to their Aryan masters, and their land taken for Lebensraum-living space for the German people. Hitler's ultimate goal was to unite the ethnic Germans under one Reich, and then to fight for the supremacy of the German Master Race. In the late 30s, Hitler began to unite the German speaking peoples. First was Austria, his own native birthplace. Hitler considered Austria to be German and believed that Austria was indeed a part of Germany. On March 12, 1938, Hitler officially annexed Austria into the German Reich. The Austrian government protested but was too weak to stop the process. The other European powers simply looked the other way thus continuing their policy of appeasing Hitler to avoid war. Next came Czechoslovakia. In the western portion of the country were three million ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland. Hitler sought to annex this portion, returning the ethnic Germans to the German Reich and then destroying the rest of Czechoslovakia. On September 30, 1938, Hitler received approval from Britain and France to occupy the Sudetenland. The next day, October 1, the German army began its occupation. Once again the European powers, as with Austria only months before, appeased Hitler. As for the rest of Czechoslovakia, the Eastern portion, Slovakia, threw in its lot with Hitler and declared independence, leaving only the center section, Bohemia and Moravia. By March 15, 1939, these remaining sections of Czechoslovakia were taken and occupied by Hitler. These annexations and occupations, sometimes called by historians The Bloodless Conquests, were made possible by Hitler's high-handed diplomacy and sheer bluff. France and Britain wanted to avoid war so badly that they simply appeased the ruthless Hitler, each time believing his promise of no more territorial claims.

Hitler next turned his eye toward Poland.  Hitler had previously signed a non-aggression pact with Poland in 1934, just after coming to power. Poland, however, had received after the Great War the German provinces of West Prussia, Upper Silesia, and Poznan. This rankled many Germans, and Hitler was determined to return these provinces to the German Reich. He believed that France and Britain, in order to avoid war, would once again let him have his way. He believed wrong. First, Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with the hated Soviet Union in summer 1939. This alleviated Hitler's fear of Soviet intervention in Poland, and also bought time against fighting an unwanted two front war in the event that Britain and France also intervened. Hitler's armies invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Most historians date this invasion as the beginning of World War II. Britain and France stood by their ally Poland and declared war on Germany. Europe-and soon the world- was once again at war.

Under Hitler, Europe and Germany both were devastated by the war. Germany was brought to complete ruin. But perhaps Hitler's most enduring and destructive legacy is that of the Holocaust. Hitler's pathological hatred of the Jews and his obsession with racial theory culminated in the systematic and barbaric extermination of approximately 6 million men, women, and children. The exact number is unknown, and probably always will be. These are only the numbers of holocaust victims, and does not include the innocent civilians, on all sides, killed or wounded during the war. Hitler envisioned a thousand year Reich, with the Aryan Master Race enslaving the "inferior" races. Hitler's Reich lasted for 12 years and 3 months. On April 30, 1945, with the Allied armies closing in, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. On May, 8, 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.

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Copyright © 2006 by Robert V. Maxey. This article may be reproduced only for educational and academic purposes and only if properly cited. No commercial use or license is granted without the express written consent of Robert V. Maxey.

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