Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler[a] (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the
dictator of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party,
[c] becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934.[d]
During his dictatorship, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He
was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the
Holocaust, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.
Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna later
in the first decade of the 1900s before moving to Germany in 1913. He was decorated during his service
in the German Army in World War I. In 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor
of the Nazi Party, and in 1921 was appointed leader of the Nazi Party. In 1923, he attempted to seize
governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was sentenced to five years in prison, serving just
over a year of his sentence. While there, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political
manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). After his early release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by
attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism and anti-communism
with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. He frequently denounced international capitalism and
communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy.
By November 1932, the Nazi Party held the most seats in the Reichstag but did not have a majority. No
political parties were able to form a majority coalition in support of a candidate for chancellor. Former
chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservative leaders convinced President Paul von Hindenburg to
appoint Hitler as chancellor on 30 January 1933. Shortly thereafter, the Reichstag passed the Enabling
Act of 1933 which began the process of transforming the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany, a one-
party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. Upon Hindenburg's death
on 2 August 1934, Hitler succeeded him, becoming simultaneously the head of state and government
with absolute power. Hitler sought to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to
counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by France
and the British Empire. His first six years in power resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great
Depression, the abrogation of restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I, and the annexation of
territories inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which initially gave him significant popular support.
One of Hitler's key goals was Lebensraum (lit. 'living space') for the German people in Eastern Europe,
and his aggressive foreign policy is considered the primary cause of World War II in Europe. He directed
large-scale rearmament and, on 1 September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France
declaring war on Germany. In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. In December
1941, he declared war on the United States. By the end of 1941, German forces and the European Axis
powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. These gains were gradually reversed after 1941, and
in 1945 the Allied armies defeated the German army. On 29 April 1945, he married his long-term
partner, Eva Braun, in the Führerbunker in Berlin. On the following day, the couple committed suicide to
avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army. In accordance with Hitler's wishes, their corpses were burned.
The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw describes Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil".
[3] Under Hitler's leadership and racist ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of
about six million Jews and millions of other victims, whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen
(subhumans) or socially undesirable. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an
estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians died
as a result of military action in the European theatre. The number of civilians killed during World War II
was unprecedented in warfare, and the casualties constitute the deadliest conflict in history.

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Adolf Hitler[a] (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the

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