Adolf Hitler

Hitler was a dictator who rose to power and, “capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent, and political infighting to take absolute power in Germany…” (History.com, History.com Editors). Hitler’s rise started with his military career. Hitler was in the military from 1913 throughout World War I. During his time in the military, he earned two decorations for bravery, one of which was the Iron Cross First Class which he wore this until he died. Like many of the Germans, Hitler had believed Germany’s defeat World War I was devastating and could be attributed to the insufficiency of non-patriotic traitors at home. This societal belief is what set the stage for Hitler’s rise to power.

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Hitler had political power in the Nazi party, “Hitler was the ideologue as well as the chief organizer of the Nazi Party” (National WWII Museum, Michal). He used this type of political power in a manipulative manner to influence people to work towards his own goals, such as a German president, “Hitler used this episode to convince President Hindenburg to declare an emergency decree suspending many civil liberties throughout Germany, including freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and the right to hold public assemblies” (National WWII Museum, Michal). Hitler also began a blood thirst for political power when, “Hitler began dismantling Germany’s democratic institutions and imprisoning or murdering his chief opponents” (National WWII Museum, Michal).

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Hitler was an obsessive person with a fixation on an Aryan race, “Obsessed with race and the idea of ethnic “purity,” Hitler saw a natural order that placed the so-called “Aryan race” at the top” (History.com, History.com Editors). This fixation has shown Hitler’s obsession it has even gone as far as Hitler taking military action against other cultures, “Einsatzgruppen, or mobile death squads, executed entire Jewish communities during the Soviet invasion, while the existing concentration-camp network expanded to include death camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau in occupied Poland” (History.com, History.com Editors).

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Was Hitler a smart person? Some might say yes, while others would say no. Hitler didn’t have the greatest academic history which was a problem with him not wanting to a be civil servant like his father, “Not wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps as a civil servant, he began struggling in secondary school and eventually dropped out” (History.com, History.com Editors). With these struggles Hitler tried applying to Vienna’s Academy of Fine arts where he was rejected. Following this rejection Hitler moved to Vienna, where he had to make a living off amateur art works. But with this being lonely, “Hitler became interested in politics during his years in Vienna, and developed many of the ideas that would shape Nazi ideology” (History.com, History.com Editors). These different things led to Hitler’s smarts of war strategy which can be shown with him being a ruler who had taken over several countries in Europe like, “On September 1, 1939, Nazi troops invaded Poland” (History.com, History.com Editors). “After ordering the occupation of Norway and Denmark in April 1940, Hitler adopted a plan proposed by one of his generals to attack France through the Ardennes Forest” (History.com, History.com Editors). These show his intent to take over Europe and the intelligence of war he had to have in order to do so.