Adolf Hitler, European_History, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - European History

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler and his regime had a devastating effect on the twentieth century. Hitler’s third Reich (1933-1934) was supposed to last for 1000 years but only lasted twelve. This evil man legalised the destruction of an entire race of people. He plunged “the world into one of the bloodiest and most destructive wars in history.” (Shirer, 1961) Hitler was a genius but an evil genius. He had the ability to convince millions of German’s of his ideas to extent the power of Germany over Europe, to unite all Germans in a nation and to destroy millions of Jewish people. Even with his disturbing ideas Hitler still fascinates people. How could a man be filled with so much hatred to think that people must be perfect to be of one race? Hitler believed that “the finest thing men could do was to go to war and conquer foreign places. Peace he decided was a bad thing for mankind. It corrupted men and made them soft.” (Shirer, 1961, p. 18) Hitler’s rise to power was influenced by several events in his life, starting as early as when he was a boy, his entry into the military and his leadership of the Nazi Party. In this paper you will learn about all the aspects that made Hitler such a powerful man and the events that made him reach total power or dictatorship. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau, Austria. It was located across the Inn River from Germany. At the time of his birth, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of the important empires in Europe. The Austrians dominated the empire. Hitler thought of himself as a German. He considered himself as good as any German born in Germany. His father was stern and short-tempered. His mother was a gentlewoman devoted to her husband and her children. Hitler quarrelled with his father about what he would grow up to be. Hitler had an unbending will that was to carry him far in the world. As a child, Adolf lost all interest in school; he became bored in all subjects except he had a passion for history, but he soon quit school at 16. In 1903, at age 18 Hitler failed the entrance exam to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He always believed himself to be an artist and believed he had been denied acceptance to the school because of his stupid teacher. Instead of pursuing a career in art, Hitler became a vagabond and earned money through his painting. Later in life, Hitler admitted that the years of 1909-1913 were the worst years of his life. Hitler did a lot of thinking and began to believe that Germans were the master race and thought of them as more intelligent and skilful than any other race. Hitler developed a hatred for Jews, believing that they were outsiders and did not belong in the Germanic Empire. In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich because he could not stand the mixture of races in Vienna. World War One began and Hitler enrolled himself in the army, as a messenger on the western front and rose through the ranks to become Corporal. As the war ended and Germany was defeated, Hitler announced he must save Germany! Immediately after Germany’s defeat in World War One and after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, many anti-republican groups were formed. “The treaty held Germany responsible for the war. It stripped the nation of much territory and restricted the German army to 100 000 men… but the harshest part was the demand that Germany pay huge reparations… these sums demanded were so great it made peace difficult.” (World Book, 2000, p. 265) Hitler joined the National Socialists German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party. Hitler gave the party its own flag with the hooked cross known as the swastika. The Nazis called for the union into one nation of all Germans, including the Austrians and German minorities in Czechoslovakia and other countries. They demanded that citizens of non-German or Jewish origin be deprived of German citizenship, and they called for the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles. (Hitler, 2000, p. 266) With Hitler’s great speaking power, his party gained momentum and he gained supporters. He claimed the Nazi Party “would restore the economy and assure work for all, and lead Germany to Greatness.” (Word Book, 2000, p. 266) Hitler soon recruited young men to join his private army. They dressed in brown suits and carried the name of the Storm Troopers, or the SA. These men wore the swastika upon their arms and were used to battle against the communists and other parties who opposed the Nazis and their ideas. By October 1923, the SA had an army of 15,000 men armed with rifles and machine guns. November 8th, 1923, Hitler “proclaimed a Nazi revolution or a putsch,”(The History Place, 1998) which came to be known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Supported by 2500 Storm Troopers carrying machine guns and rifles, Hitler tried to capture the Barvarian government but failed. In trying to do so, sixteen Nazis were killed. Hitler was charged and sent to trial for treason. As many might have suspected this was not the end of his political career. Through this trial he became a well know figure from massive press coverage. In court Adolf was most professional, he acted as if he was a lawyer. The judges let him speak at great lengths and interrupt others at free will. He could even cross-examine witnesses. This trial consisted of 24 long days of arguments. This was Hitler closing argument. The man who is born to be a dictator is not compelled. He wills it. He is not driven forward, but drives himself. There is nothing immodest about this. Is it immodest for a worker to drive himself toward heavy labor? Is it presumptuous of a man with the high forehead of a thinker to ponder the night until he gives the world an invention? The man who feels called upon to govern a people has no right to say, ‘If you want me or summon me, I will cooperate.’ No! It is his duty to step forward. The army that we have now formed is growing day to day. I nourish the proud hope that one day the hour will come when these rough companies will grow to battalions, the battalions to regiments, the regiments to divisions, that the old cockade will be taken from the mud, that the old flags will wave again, that there will be a reconciliation at the last great divine judgement which we are prepared to face. For it is not you, gentlemen, who pass judgement on us. That judgement is spoken by the eternal court history… Pronounce us guilty a thousand times over: the goddess of the eternal court of history will smile and tear to pieces the State Prosecutor’s submissions and the court’s verdict; for she acquits. (Hitler, 1924.) With this most remarkable and persuading statement the three judges became so taken by him in the courtroom that one of the judges had to persuade the others that he was indeed guilty. Hitler was sentenced for five years but eligible for parole in six months. Hitler was taken to Landsberg fortress for his prison sentence on April 24, 1924. Visitors could arrive and leave at their convenience. The cell was also private and spacious. Pacing back and forth in his cell, he continued expressing his ideas, while Hess took down every word. The result would be the first volume of a book, Mein Kampf, outlining Hitler's political and racial ideas in brutally intricate detail, serving both as a blueprint for future actions and as a warning to the world. (The History Place, 1998, pg. 1) Hitler was released from his prison cell about nine months after his sentence. The German economy was stable and most people had food and jobs. The government outlawed the Nazi party so most of the members joined other nationalist parties. Once again Hitler began to reorganise his party and the government agreed to lift its ban on the Nazi party. Hitler first gained support in the small towns and industrial groups and set up an elite party guard called the Schutzstaffel or the SS. to protect their party from the Communists. In the 1930’s the depression affected Germany and once again the country goes hungry. The government agrees to reschedule reparation payments. Hitler used this to his advantage; he campaigned against the reparation payments and gained much support. Adolf returned to his old arguments and but toned down his speeches against the Jewish community. Hitler promised to get rid of the communists and reunite all German speaking parts of Europe. During 1932, elections were held. In these elections Hitler captured the crowds with his amazing speaking power and the Nazis received 38% of the votes, more than any other party. This was good enough for Hitler to be chancellor of Germany. Hitler needed a plan to get rid of all the communists in the Reichstag (this is the name of the parliament building in Munich), and to get more Nazis in. Goring, a friend of Hitler’s and the Minister of Interior for Prussia devised a plan. With Hitler’s approval he would burn the Reichstag edifice and blame it on the communists. Hitler agreed. By a strange coincidence on February 27th, 1933 Marinus van der Lubbe of Holland, a communist, decided to burn the Reichstag. He broke in at 9 p.m., took off his shirt and lit it on fire. He went around trying to light anything flammable in the building, but on the same day the Nazi Karl Ernst with a group of storm troopers travelled into the Reichstag through an underground tunnel from Goring’s house. They littered the floor with gasoline, lit it and fled the building. With the fortunate turn of events the Nazi Goring accused the communists of setting the Reichstag on fire and Hitler used it to his advantage. Hitler said: Every communist official should be shot. All communists must be hanged this very night. All friends of communists must be locked up. And that goes for Social Democrats and the Reichbanner as well. (The History Place, Adolf Hitler, 1933) A few days later the SA and SS broke into communist homes and hangouts, bringing them to a barrack where they were beaten and tortured. Elections were held for a new Reichstag on May 5, 1933. Hitler did not receive quite 50% of the vote as wanted but the after the election the Communist deputies were arrested or not admitted to the Reichstag. This gave the Nazis the majority of seats. The Nazis passed a law giving “the government full dictatorial powers and, in effect, suspended basic civil and human rights for four years.” (World Book, 2000, p. 267.) Freedom of the press, labour unions and political parties were banned. On August 1934, President Hindenburg died. Hitler became the Fuhrer und Reichskanzler who was leader and chancellor of Germany. The reign of terror was just beginning. Adolf Hitler was obsessed with power. It did not matter who stood in his way he found a way to reach his goals. Hitler was a genius who was able to convince friends, people of the government and people of Germany to become Nazis. With his great speaking ability he convinced the German people he would bring them economic stability. Unfortunately for the world, in 1934 Hitler became the dictator of Germany. His plans for the rest of Europe were only beginning. Bibliography: VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY “Adolf Hitler.” World Book Encyclopedia(2000). Vol. 9, pp. 264-268. Berwick, Michael. The Third Reich. England: Wayland, 1971. Gilfond, Henry. The Reichstag Fire. United States of America: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1973. Jarman, T.L. The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany. New York: The New York Library, Inc., 1956. Shirer, William. The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler. New York: Random House of Canada, Limited, 1961 “The Rise of Adolf Hitler.” Online. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/index.html. Accessed January 14, 2001.

Word Count: 2020