Hitler Rise to Power Terms

a. A megalomaniac is an egoist who is obsessed with their power.

b. The Third Reich means the third empire or regime in Germany. This was the name given
to Hitler’s empire before it ended in 1945.
c. An Anti-Semitic is a person who is hostile towards people for being Jewish.
d. The Bolsheviks were radical left communists in Russia who later went on to gain power
and create the Soviet Union.
e. The National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi) was a German party that promoted
national socialism under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.
f. A chancellor is the head of government in Germany.
g. A ruler and often tyrant who has complete control over a state. They generally make all
the rules and decisions in a country.
h. Goose stepping is a marching step German soldiers used in Nazi Germany.
i. Nazi death camps were prison camps used for execution and forced labour. The main
victims of these camps were Jews during the holocaust and Russians after Operation
Barbarossa.
j. A ruler/dictator who is cruel, oppressive, and brutal.

Summary

Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 to Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl. His place of birth was Braunau am
Inn, Austria. In childhood, Adolf Hitler was a bright and popular kid. He had high marks in
school and was often praised by his teachers. He was also spoiled by his mother since all his
siblings had died in infancy. Despite his mother’s love towards him, Alois Hitler had a terrible
temper and would often beat Adolf. Alois had done the same to Adolf’s half brother Alois Hitler
Jr. until he ran away at the age of 14.

After primary school, Hitler’s father enrolled him Realschule despite Hitler wanting to attend a
classical high school to become an artist. After being enrolled, Hitler’s grades quickly slipped
into chaos. He did not like the school his father put him in, and he started to do poor. Hitler
says in his book Mein Kampf that he intentionally did poor so his father would allow him to
drop out and pursue an art career. Adolf Hitler was open with his father about wanting to
become an artist, but Alois hated the idea and beat him for it. In 1903, Alois died of pleural
effusion. After his father’s death, Hitler’s mother Klara then let him drop out of school. He
then enrolled in another school a year later. He then went on to complete a repeat of the final
exam and left with no ambition to seek higher education.

In early adulthood, Hitler left home in 1907 to study fine art in Vienna. Unfortunately for him,
he would end up being rejected twice. In the same year, his mother died whom was the only
person he loved. In the following years, Hitler became homeless and made his money selling
paintings and doing labour. It may have been during this time that Hitler had gotten some of
his extremist ideologies. The mayor of Vienna was an anti-Semitic German nationalist. In
addition, German nationalism was a popular idea in the district Hitler lived. In 1913, Hitler
moved to Germany and avoided military service in Austria-Hungary. However, when WW1
broke in 1914 Hitler volunteered for the German army. At first, Hitler was an infantry man. He
had fought in the First Battle of Ypres in which nearly all his regiment ended up dead or missing.
Hitler was promoted to Lance Corporal and became a message-runner. During this time Hitler
had escaped death several times. There were different instances where he had moved from a
spot right where a shell had exploded seconds later. However, Hitler was hit by shrapnel during
the Battle of the Somme. He was hospitalized back in Germany where he would recover.

During his time back, Hitler realized and was appalled that there was an anti-war attitude. He
concluded that it was Jews who were causing this by undermining the war effort. This further
fueled Hitler’s hatred for Jews. In 1917, Hitler went back to the front lines. By this point Hitler
had gotten 5 medals including the Iron Cross for his bravery. In October 1918, Hitler was
blinded by a British gas attack. He went home again a month later to fully recover in a hospital.
On November 10th, Hitler found out that Germany had surrendered to the Triple Entente. Not
only was Hitler devastated at the loss, but it grew his hatred.

After Germany’s defeat, their army was forced to greatly reduce its numbers and Hitler could
no longer be a soldier. However, he continued to work as an undercover agent. Hitler was
tasked with reporting on communist parties in the nation. The German Workers Party had used
red flags and had “workers” in the name, so it was suspected to be communist. However, it
ended up being far right and holding many of Hitler’s beliefs. He later joined the party and
eventually rose to the top, as he was an astonishing speaker. Later, Hitler would change the
name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi) and remake the flag with a
swastika. He would then create the Storm Detachment (SA) to protect Nazis at rallies and
meetings. The SA also intimidated political rival and battled communists on the streets.
 Since a large percent of German’s military was cut leaving massive amounts of former soldiers
unemployed, many of them that agreed with Nazi beliefs joined the SA.

In November 1923, Hitler and his party tried to overthrow the government. After WW1, the
Treaty of Versailles made Germany pay massive reparations to the allies. To do this,
Germany’s central bank printed off tons of money and loaned it to the government. However,
printing more money does not make more of it, but rather decrease its value. Therefore, it led
Germany to one of the most destructive inflations in history. A single piece of bread became
200,000,000,000 marks; money was completely worthless. Due to this economic crisis, it made
it exceedingly difficult to pay the allies their reparations. In retaliation, the French occupied an
industrial area full of factories called the Ruhr. Germans in the Ruhr were treated very harsh,
with 130 being killed during the French occupation. The rest of Germany was outraged by this,
and Hitler thought it would be the perfect time to lead a revolution. Inspired by Mussolini, Hitler
stormed a beer hall and called for a revolution. He then marched down the streets with
supporters in an attempt to overthrow the government. However, the coup failed and Hitler was
arrested for treason.

Hitler could have been sentenced to prison for life, but the right-wing judges sympathized with
him and only sentenced him to 5 years (which he served 8 months.) The whole incident with
Hitler had gain him fame as it was reported all over Germany. Despite this, the Nazi party still
struggled to gain support. However, this changed when economic depression came across the
world in 1930. Unemployment rates boomed and more Germans became furious with the weak
democratic government. Hitler’s message of returning Germany to its former glory became
continually more popular throughout Germany, and in 1932 the Nazis became the biggest party.
Hitler then decided to run for president but ended up losing with 36.7% of the vote. However,
the president did end up appointing Hitler to be chancellor.

A couple months after Hitler became chancellor, President Hindenburg died which lead to
Hitler’s ultimate rise. Hitler introduced the Enabling Act to parliament which would allow him to
make all laws and decisions. The law passed, and Hitler became the dictator of Germany. This
would eventually lead to the rapid rise and second fall of Germany through WW2.