Adolf Hitler

**Adolf Hitler** (April 20, 1889-April 30, 1945) was the chancellor of Nazi Germany from 1933-1945, preceding Karl Doenitz. He was friendly with Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco. Alongside Benito Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito, he was one of the three leaders of the Axis Powers during World War II. He was a Roman Catholic much like Mussolini and Franco. He also had a passion for dogs, cats, wolves, foxes, and birds of prey, as well as art (especially painting). During the Great Depression and WWII, he was responsible for his soldiers killing over 6,000,000 Jews as well as LGBT members and disabled people in what was known as the Holocaust. He blamed the Jews for causing the Great Depression as they seemed to be suffering the least from it. He also believed the Indo-European or “Aryan” race to be superior. He died in 1945 from committing suicide.

## Biography

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Branau-am-Inn in Austria-Hungary. When he was three years old, Hitler and his family moved to the German Empire where Hitler served in the German Army during World War I where during a battle he had to cut his mustache in order to apply a gas mask during a gas attack, this is where he would get his famous mustache from. When the German Army surrendered to the Allied Powers in November 11, 1918, Hitler was shocked.

#### Rise to Power

Hitler declared that the Jews, Marxists, and civilian leaders were the cause of Germany's defeat in the war and roused tons of German nationalism through his speeches. He created the Nazi Party and pushed for it to be recognized through the years. In 1923 he failed to start a coup in an event which is known as the Beer Hall Putsch. For this he was sent to prison and during his time there he wrote a book called *Mein Kampf*  which was an autobiographical text containing events in his life. in 1925, the Nazi Party was legalized and Hitler was released from prison. By 1933 Hitler had won the election and became chancellor, renaming the state from the Weimar Republic to Nazi Germany. In 1933, Hitler was given full control of politics in Germany due to a fire at the Reichstag Building.

#### World War II

Through the 1930's, Hitler allied with several other fascist nations such as Italy, Japan Bulgaria, and, Romania, quickly building his regime to become one of the biggest and most feared in the world. Finally on September 1, 1939, Hitler launched his invasion of Poland who was an ally of Britain and France. After this total war broke out across Europe from 1939-1941, with Nazi Germany conquering several nations including France, Denmark, Norway, the Baltics, Ukraine, Belarus, and part of Russia. In 1942, Hitler demanded that Jews, Slavs, disabled people, homosexuals, Romanis, and political dissidents all be killed. Over all, Hitler's army would murder over 11,000,000 people, mostly in concentration camps that were set up all over Nazi territory. In the early 1940's, the tables would turn as the United States entered the war and brought with them, more men. By 1944, Hitler's leadership had become poor which led to a German Resistance forming, growing larger and larger as the days went on and that year a group of Germans attempted to kill him but failed. Eventually, Germany began losing territory to the Allies and Germany's government collapsed.

## Death

On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide with his wife, Eva Braun. Hitler's death led to an end of most major conflict in Europe.