Hitler’s rise to power has left the world in awe. His name deeply reverberates with the turbulent war that took place from 1939 to 1945 as the man that killed more than six million Jews under the pretext of Nazism— a highly devastating ideology that uplifted the German race.
In plain terms, Hitler earned himself a seat beside the world’s deadliest men —Stalin, Leopold, etc, all of which committed grave atrocities against humanity. The rise of Hitler’s thoughts has a footing in his ordeals as a child; the people he encountered and how they implicated various points in his life. Not only did he have a flair for power, but he also lived in it by extending his subconscious towards the light of loathing the Jewish race, and the superiority of the German race.
Power can be soft or hard, it can also mean attaining triumphs of dominance. Hitler’s definition of power swirled around conquests, superiority, and hate. He sought to divert the balance of power —at the time — into the palms of Germany. One may call it to revenge for the poor treatment of Germany after the First World War.
HITLER’S EARLY LIFE
Like many children, Adolph; the Austrian, was a bundle of innocence wrapped in goodwill and intellect. He was born on April 20, 1889, in Austria to Alois and Klara. Hitler spent most of his childhood in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. He did not want to become a civil servant like his father, as a result, he barely survived secondary school and dropped out after his father’s death in 1903.
He wanted to be an artist but was rejected by the Vienna School of Fine Art. After the death of his mother, in 1908, he moved to Vienna. There he sold paintings, lived in isolation, and read many books. Upon reading he cultivated his political ideas on Nazism.
After he moved to Munich, he participated in the First World War as a volunteer in the infant regiment. He was awarded two decorations for valour, for his achievements while in Belgium. One of the decorations was a rare Iron Cross First Class, which he wore till his death. But, Hitler did not leave the war unscathed. At the juncture of his recuperation, he heard of Germany’s defeat, sequestration, and armistice.
Asides from the irritation he felt for Germany’s loss, he attributed the loss to traitors — Jews — a myth he gallantly carried and used to construct a portion of his intentions.
RISE TO POWER: ADOLPH HITLER
Hitler’s rise to power is exemplified in himself, he was a well-read individual, a voracious orator, and a firm man. He wowed the Germans with convincing speeches on Nazism and rose the ranks steadily. In 1921, he became the leader of the Nazi party. He became a revolutionary, effortlessly opposing the leaders at the time, who he regarded as insufficient. He led marches and rallies, and in one attempt, tried to overthrow the government; this ultimately saw him in prison.
While there, he wrote on German nationalism, a predisposition of Jewish hate, in what he called “Mein Kampf”. And while he caressed himself in a fancy prison by the mountains, the first volume was published in 1925. He would finish the second volume after his release. Initially, the book did not yield much, but by 1940, many Germans had purchased the book, making it close to having as many sales as the Bible.
As Hitler progressed, he became obsessed with the hegemony of the German race, something he felt was a call of nature. On this stand, he built his notions of German expansion, and German dominance over other inferior races. As he worked on reshaping the Nazi party, he would become more engrossed in world domination.
At this time, Germany was in a grim state. Economic growth moved at a very slow pace, the Great Depression hit harshly. Not only that, the economic havoc was dire because of Germany’s seclusion from the international system, with many sanctions and an armistice that only lasted for twenty years. In 1932, Hitler ran for president, under the Nazi party, but failed to get up to fifty per cent of the vote. In 1933, he became the chancellor of Germany. This marked the beginning of the Third Reich; Hitler’s appellations boasted of it lasting for a Millennium.
With the Nazi party in control, all opposing persons were rescinded, Hitler was announced as the sole consolidation of all powers and the Nazi party was deemed as the only party in Germany. With the process of his autocracy complete, Hitler shifted his plans toward the rest of Europe.
He started a long series of two-way diplomacies, persecution of Jews and enactment of his beliefs. His want for power steadily increased as he formed allies, for Germany on a high pedestal. He ensured the permeation of Nazism through inclusion in German education, burning of books, forcing Germans to adopt the party systems and permission for antisemitism.
His strategy was so successful that this power quest led him in the direction of a Second World War. The war is revered by many as an unfathomable feat. A climax of his rise to power and synchrony of his death.
As Hitler rose to fame and power, he gained allies and enemies. The mass murders have attributed him to one of the worst beings that lived on the earth. His quest for power overshadowed his humanity, a huge part of him that diminished in his childhood. In 1945, Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin.