{"id":2935,"date":"2016-02-05T19:20:10","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T19:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2935"},"modified":"2026-02-14T09:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T09:18:19","slug":"adolf-hitler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/adolf-hitler\/","title":{"rendered":"Adolf Hitler: A Detailed Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Adolf Hitler was the fascist<\/a> dictator of\u00a0Nazi Germany<\/a>\u00a0from 1934 until 1945.\u00a0\u00a0He rose to power<\/a>\u00a0as the leader of the\u00a0Nazi Party<\/a>\u00a0and is infamous for participating in the major events of both\u00a0World War II<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Holocaust<\/a>.\u00a0 Today, he is remembered as a brutal dictator<\/a> that caused the death of millions.\u00a0 For instance, he instigated World War II with the\u00a0Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939<\/a>\u00a0and carried out the Holocaust, which led to the death of over 11 million people.\u00a0 He died at the end of World War II, and changed the course of World history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ADOLF HITLER – EARLY LIFE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary.  In 1892, when Hitler was just three years old his family moved to Germany, but would soon return to Austria in 1894.  Hitler\u2019s father, Alois, farmed and developed a career in the customs bureau.  The return to Austria is also around the time that Adolf Hitler began to develop intense conflicts with his father and his school.  As a child, Adolf was known for being very moody and grew hostile and resentful towards his father for his decision to move his family. As well, Adolf\u2019s first intention in life was to become a painter and he wanted to attend classical art school, but was forced to pursue other efforts due to the wishes of his father.  After the death of his father in 1903, Hitler soon left school and moved to Vienna, Austria in 1905.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Vienna, Hitler lived an impoverished lifestyle.  He made very little money as a general labourer and by selling watercolor works of art on the streets of the city.  Also, his mother Klara, helped support him with what money she could.  He applied to enter the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1907 and again in 1908 but was rejected both times.  When his mother died in late 1907, Hitler was forced to live in hostels and homeless shelters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many events in his early life led to his hatred towards the Jewish people.\u00a0 It is believed that the beginnings of Hitler\u2019s anti-Semitism began during his time in Vienna.\u00a0 Anti-Semitism<\/a> is a hatred or prejudice towards Jewish people.\u00a0 The Austro-Hungarian Empire was made up of many different races and in his book,\u00a0Mein Kampf<\/a>, Hitler stated that it was in the Austrian city of Vienna that he developed his anger and resentment towards the Jewish people.\u00a0 Regardless, Hitler\u2019s anti-Semite views grew in intensity during his time in\u00a0World War I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ADOLF HITLER – JOINS THE NAZI PARTY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hitler left Vienna in 1913 and moved to Munich, Germany.\u00a0 It is widely believed that he fled Austria-Hungary to avoid being conscripted into the Austrian army, due to his hatred of the mix of ethnicities that existed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time.\u00a0 While in Munich, Hitler volunteered to serve in the German Army for World War I<\/a>, which had just begun.\u00a0 Hitler was appointed to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment and served as a dispatch runner on the Western Front<\/a>.\u00a0 While he was often far from the frontlines of battle, he did participate at several key World War I battles, including: First Battle of Ypres<\/a>,\u00a0Battle of the Somme<\/a>, Battle of Arras and the\u00a0Battle of Passchendaele<\/a> (Third Battle of Ypres).\u00a0 He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme by an exploding shell and spent the next two months recovering in hospital.\u00a0 He was again wounded near the end of the war, when he was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack<\/a>. \u00a0It was during his time in the hospital after the mustard gas attack that he learned of Germany\u2019s surrender to the Allied Powers<\/a>.\u00a0 For his bravery and service in the war Hitler was awarded several honors, including: two Iron Crosses, Cross of Military Merit, and the Wound Badge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the end of World War I, Hitler remained with the army and worked as an intelligence agent.  He was tasked with monitoring the activities of the German Worker\u2019s Party (DAP), but was soon inspired by the party and its nationalistic and anti-Semitic message.  In 1919, Hitler joined the party, which soon changed its name to the National Socialist German Worker\u2019s Party (NSDAP) and began using the swastika as it official image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 1921, he assumed control of the National Socialist German Worker\u2019s Party and began to work to increase its prominence in German politics.\u00a0 He did this by delivering his characteristic public speeches concerning his views on the state of Germany.\u00a0 Hitler was masterful at public speaking in that he was charismatic and impassioned when he spoke. He would\u00a0rise to power of the Nazi Party<\/a>\u00a0in Germany in the 1930s and eventually rise to become Fuhrer of the country.\u00a0 Click the link above to read more about Hitler\u2019s detailed rise to power within the Nazi Party<\/a>.\u00a0 The information below is a brief summary of the major events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ADOLF HITLER – RISE TO POWER<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After joining and taking control of the Nazi Party, Hitler famously worked to grow the popularity of the party in the country. Inspired partially by\u00a0Benito Mussolini<\/a>\u00a0in Italy, Hitler decided in 1923 that the Nazi Party would need to seize power in Germany through the use of force.\u00a0 In November of 1923 Hitler and the SA led the\u00a0Beer Hall Putsch<\/a>, which was the Nazi Party\u2019s attempt to overrun the German government and assume control for itself.\u00a0 The Beer Hall Putsch was a failure and Hitler was put on trial for treason.\u00a0 Hitler used the time in prison to consider his political strategy and write the first volume of his book\u00a0Mein Kampf<\/a> (My Struggle), which was an autobiographical account of his movement and its underlying ideology.\u00a0 Hitler\u2019s ideology at the time centered on extreme German nationalism,\u00a0anti-Semitism, anti-communism and Lebensraum (Living Space).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nazi SA members during the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. (Colorized by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After serving his time in prison, Hitler promised to only use legal means to promote his politics and within two years, support for the Nazi Party had grown.  By 1928 Nazi membership was at about 100,000 members, and they continued to gain popularity based on Hitler\u2019s promised relief to the economic struggles that were plaguing Germany.  In particular, Hitler expressed that Germany had been embarrassed by the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which was the treaty imposed on Germany at the end of the First World War.  Through Hitler\u2019s tireless effort, by 1932, the Nazi Party had 800,000 members and had become the largest party in the Reichstag, which was the German parliament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, leader of the democratically elected government on January 30th, 1933. Having become Chancellor, Hitler foiled all attempts by his opponents to gain a majority in parliament, and was presented with an opportunity in February of 1933 when the\u00a0Reichstag building was set on fire<\/a>.\u00a0 Hitler believed this was his chance to use the people\u2019s fear of communism as a means of gaining complete control of Germany.\u00a0 The fire was blamed on communists to build on people\u2019s fears that there was a communist plot underway to start a communist revolution in Germany.\u00a0 Due to public and political concerns, the day after the fire Hitler asked for and received from President Hindenburg the Reichstag Fire Decree.\u00a0 It suspended most civil liberties in Germany and was used by the Nazis to ban publications not considered “friendly” to the Nazi cause.\u00a0 This was a major step towards Hitler gaining control over Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Firemen work on the burning Reichstag, during the events of the Reichstag Fire on February 7th of 1933. (Colorized and enhanced by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u200bNext, on March 23rd, 1933, Germany\u2019s Reichstag passed the ‘Enabling Act<\/a>‘ which granted Hitler and the Cabinet the authority to enact laws without the participation of the\u00a0Reichstag\u00a0for four years.\u00a0 This allowed Hitler and the Nazi Party to ban all other political parties and Germany ceased to be a democratic country and became a dictatorship under Adolf Hitler.\u00a0 German President Paul von Hindenburg signed the Enabling Act under public pressure of a communist takeover and based on the popularity of the Nazi Party and Hitler within Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bPresident Paul von Hindenburg died on August 2nd in 1934.\u00a0 Rather than holding new presidential elections, Hitler’s cabinet passed a law proclaiming the presidency dormant and transferred the role and powers of the head of state to Hitler as\u00a0F\u00fchrer und Reichskanzler<\/em> (leader and chancellor).\u00a0 As head of state, Hitler now became supreme commander of the armed forces.\u00a0 Hitler\u2019s rise to power of Germany was complete.\u00a0 He had turned Germany into a\u00a0fascist state<\/a>\u00a0with himself as the\u00a0dictator<\/a>\u00a0that controlled the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ADOLF HITLER – WORLD WAR II<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hitler’s involvement in World War II<\/a> was huge and he was one of the main\u00a0causes of the war\u00a0when he decided to\u00a0invade Poland on September 1st, 1939\u00a0and both France and Britain declared war on Germany on September 3rd, 1939.\u00a0 However, his actions in the years right before the start of World War II are a major reason why Europe was again plunged into a major conflict.\u00a0 For example, Hitler carried out a series of aggressive actions in which he violated many of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles<\/a>.\u00a0 For instance, under his leadership Nazi Germany carried out the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n