WWII+Hitler+Page+ILMM

**Hitler's Rise to Power**

 * Hitler's Early Life:** Adolf Hitler, a man whose name is now known world-wide, was born on April 20, 1889 in the small Austrian town of Braunau am Inn. He was mainly raised in Linz, Austria, and was the son of a minor customs official, who happened to be a very brutal father. Hitler completely idolized his mother, and both of his parents were keen to seeing their son succeed. The young boy didn't excel in school or in his studies, and he eventually dropped out of secondary school in 1905 without a graduation certificate. He aspired to become an artist, but Hitler had failed to gain admission to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna due to the lack of passion in his art. He began painting advertisements, postcards, and other not-so-important things before falling into a depression, which was partially caused by the death of his beloved mother. He grew racial hatred, primarily on Jews, and began to see them as a threat to the “Aryan”, or German, race. His goals of becoming an artist were left behind, and Hitler suddenly had a strong interest in joining the military and holding a more powerful position in life. In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich, Germany before recalling to Austria for examination for military service, where he was rejected for being “unfit.” But with the outbreak of World War I, Hitler enlisted in the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. He was no longer a depressed, failing artist. Instead, war service transformed Hitler into a passionate, militaristic nationalist. He found a home in the army and remained with his regiment, serving as an army political agent, until April of 1920 when he left the army to work full-time for the German Worker’s Party propaganda section.


 * End of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles:** The Treaty of Versailles, which had ended World War I, left Germany with much aggression and in an almost powerless position. After being blamed for the cause of the war, Germany was faced with many reparations, the biggest being the nearly impossible debt of almost $33 billion. Along with that enormous obligation, Germany also had to reduce their army to 100,000 men with only 4,000 allowed to be officers. Their navy was limited to only 15,000 sailors and the building of any new submarines was forbidden. Prohibitions were set on items such as heavy weapons and aircraft, with many fearing that another war may outbreak if Germany had its hands on any hazardous materials. Historians indicate the ending of World War I was a direct result or cause of World War II because of the position Germany was left in at the end of the war. Left in an economic rut and severe depression, the hope of their country's survival was to find someone willing to rebuild Germany back to its original, powerful state. That was the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the soon-to-be epidemic known as World War II.


 * Rise of Hitler and the Nazis:** Hitler’s rise to power was set into motion in August of 1920 when he began his transformation of the German Worker’s Party. It was renamed the Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, shortened to NSDAP, and is most commonly known as the Nazi Party. Hitler took complete control, forming an alliance with an army staff officer named Ernst Roehm and using these advantages to become president of the Nazi Party in July of 1921. With strong beliefs of domination, Hitler led the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, which was his failed attempt to gain control of the Bavarian government. His actions had actually forced him to be sentenced to five years in prison. While there, Hitler wrote his own political autobiography titled //Mein Kampf// (My Struggle), in which he shared his thoughts and ideas on rebuilding Germany and having it become the dominant power of the world, along with basic concepts of Nazism. He was released only nine months later and convinced the German government to no longer ban the Nazi Party. Hitler’s hunger for power and domination continued to grow, and his will to achieve what he had set out to do was nearly unstoppable.


 * Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany:** In 1932, Hitler ran for president of the German republic, losing to a World War I hero named Paul von Hindenberg. Although he had clearly lost a crucial election, Hitler gained a lot more than expected. His Nazi Party made up 37% of the July elections, which made it the largest party represented. With true leadership skills that were clearly recognizable, Hindenberg appointed Hitler to chancellor on January 30, 1933. Hitler used this to his advantage and didn’t just stop with revolutionizing the Nazi Party; he soon began transforming himself into a true dictator. To enhance his ideas through his public outreaches, Hitler began using strong facial expressions, hand motions, and speaking with authority and intensity. With his newfound power, Hitler began getting rid of all other German parties except for the Nazi Party and let his hatred for Jews take over, eliminating them from any and all government institutions. On June 30, 1934, also called the “Night of Long Knives,” Hitler led charge of the murders of Ernst Roehm and any Nazi who stood in the way of his goal for total domination and control. When Hindenberg died in August of 1934, Hitler not only took over all roles of the presidency, but he became the dictator of Germany. He was now the //Führer//, or Supreme Leader, of the Third Reich.


 * Additional Points:**


 * Anti-Semitism:** Resentment towards Jews on all levels, including politically, socially, economically, and religiously. Often times there were organized attacks against Jews as the hatred and discrimination grew.


 * Propaganda:** The persuasion, whether written or spoken, of an idea to allow it to become more popular. It’s often used in the military and during war efforts and was used greatly by the Nazi Party to influence people to agree to their way of life.


 * The SS:** The SS, also known as //Schutzstaffel//, or Blackshirts, worked together with the Gestapo to set up concentration camps. These camps would hold any persons who were seen as undesirable to the German race, which were mainly political enemies and Jews.


 * Blitzkrieg:** Can be translated into “lightening war” because of its quick and rapid attacks using both German aircraft and large tanks to invade countries they wanted to overrun. It was used as Germany’s secret weapon and allowed them to easily dominate countries, especially in the early stages of World War II.


 * Josef Goebbels:** He was a master propagandist and was recruited early on by Hitler for his skills. He organized the Nuremberg Racial Laws, depriving Jews of citizenship and continued to help Hitler throughout the course of the war.


 * Primary Documents:**

//"And your Government has in its possession another document, a document made in Germany by Hitler 's government...It is a plan to abolish all existing religions--Catholic, Protestant, Mohammedan, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish alike…The clergy are to be ever liquidated, silenced under penalty of the concentration camps, where even now so many fearless men are being tortured because they have placed God above Hitler ."//

While giving a radio address on the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks out about secret Nazi plans and the cruelty that is beneath the lies that Hitler had been feeding the people of Germany. Roosevelt concludes his speech by reassuring the nation is not only physically armed, but also armed with the power that God has granted them to overcome unjust rulers like Hitler.

//"We know their choice of the method: the method of Hitler himself."//

This is an excerpt from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s state of union address in 1942, claiming that the weapon and method that would be used against America and other nations would be Hitler’s master propagandist mind. He also says that this world doesn’t provide enough room for both Hitler and God, clearly relating that to the fact that some people saw Hitler as more powerful than God himself, even though Roosevelt knew that God inevitability held more power over anyone or anything, especially Hitler.


 * Works Cited:**

Axelrod, Alan, and Charles Phillips. "Hitler, Adolf." //Dictators and Tyrants: Absolute Rulers and Would-Be Rulers in World History.// New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1995. //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=lbio0087&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 17, 2011)

Phillips, Charles, and Alan Axelrod. "causes of World War II." //Encyclopedia of Wars//. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=EWAR1729&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 17, 2011)

"anti-Semitism." //Daily Life through History//.ABC-CLIO,2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2011

Laurie, Clayton D. "propaganda during World War II." In Jeffries, John W., and Gary B. Nash, eds. //Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929 to 1945//, Revised Edition (Volume VIII). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVIII245&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 18, 2011)

Curry, George Michael. "blitzkrieg." In Jeffries, John W., and Gary B. Nash, eds. //Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929 to 1945//, Revised Edition (Volume VIII). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVIII035&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 18, 2011)

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Radio Address on the Battle of the Atlantic." Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=E09660&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 18, 2011)

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "State of the Union Address, 1942." American Presidency Project. //American History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=E13873&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 18, 2011)