Hitler A Study in Tyranny

Early Life Adolf Hitler was born in the small town of Braunau, Austria in 1889 He was the fourth child in his family His father was a minor customs official for the government, which required the family to move to a number of small towns in Austria His mother always indulged Hitler as a boy, and they grew very close.

Middle Years While in elementary school, Hitler was a good student, but later he did poorly in high school He did not make many friends because the family moved so often With the death of his father, he dropped out of school at the age of 14 Although he left school, Hitler did not immediately look for a job

The Teenage Years Instead, he stayed at home reading books, listening to music and painting pictures It was during this period that he decided that his life ambition was to become an artist At age 19, Adolf moved to Vienna, the capital of Austria-Hungary, to attend art school.

Hitler’s Formative Years Upon arriving in Vienna, he immediately applied to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts This was one of the most prestigious art schools in Europe His application was rejected because the school felt that he lacked talent Hitler had a number of technical problems in his painting, especially the ability to draw in perspective.

Unemployed and Wandering Upon his rejection from the art academy, Hitler was forced to take odd jobs in order to make a living in Vienna Some of these jobs included working as a carpet cleaner, shoveling snow door-to-door, and painting postcards to sell on the streets.

The Vienna Years The time Hitler spent in Vienna was significant in the evolution of his political ideas He became very interested in politics, especially German nationalistic politics Nationalistic politics centered upon the idea that German-speaking people should be in control of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire At the time, there were 14 different nationalities making up the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. 

Political Philosophy Other political ideas that Hitler began to believe in while living in Vienna included:  1. German speaking people were superior, 2. Germans were the natural leaders of Central Europe, 3. "Inferior" people should be moved out of Austria, 4. Austria should join Germany.

Lanz Von Liebenfels Hitler also was heavily influenced by the ideas of an ex-monk named Lanz Von Liebenfels Liebenfels preached a crude form of the theory put forth by Charles Darwin called " survival of the fittest." The ex-monk believed that the German race was genetically superior to all other races, and, therefore, should rule over "less genetically gifted" people.

Race Wars Liebenfels also spoke of a future race war that would be fought between the superior and inferior races. This war would require that more pure Germans be bred to fight the inferior genetic races He also identified the Jews as one of the "inferior" races.

Hitler’s Cornerstone Unfortunately, Hitler came to believe and support these biologically inaccurate ravings and theories. Furthermore, he used many of these theories to explain the problems of Germany Jewish people were soon to be blamed for all problems, real or imagined, by Hitler Many of these ideas became the cornerstones of Hitler's rule as a dictator of Germany These ideas, once committed to policy, were to have tragic results for the future of Europe

The War Years 1913 to 1918 Hitler left Austria in 1913 to avoid being drafted into the Austrian- Hungarian Army It was not that he was a coward, but that he did not wish to serve with all the "inferior" people that made up the country of his birth He moved to the German city of Munich, which was to become the birthplace of the Nazi party

Hitler Joins German Army The outbreak of the Great War in 1914 allowed Hitler to join the German Army He welcomed the war as a great adventure that would break the monotony of his life Hitler became a battalion runner, which was a very dangerous job He would run messages between the front trenches and headquarters located, behind the lines.

A Distinguished Career During the war Hitler was wounded twice, once by bullet and once by gas In all he won six medals for bravery, including the Iron Cross, one of the highest medals for bravery in the German military The irony in Hitler winning the Iron Cross was that the officer who recommended him for the medal was Jewish

Germany is Defeated When the war ended, Hitler became bitter and angry because Germany surrendered As usual, he blamed Jews and German politicians for stabbing the German Army in the back by ending the war Hitler later claimed that fighting in the Great War was the greatest experience of his life In fact, Hitler had found a true home in the army, and stayed in the military after the armistice was signed.

After the War - 1918-1923 Hitler was recruited to be a "V" man while in the post-war army "V" men were to spy upon German citizens for the army and government At the end of the war, a tremendous amount of political discontent existed Many people became members of one of hundreds of new political parties wanting control of Germany.

Hitler Gets a New Job Hitler was assigned to spy on several of these new parties and report on what they were doing or if they were dangerous One of the parties he spied upon was called the German Worker's Party It was a small party with little money, but he liked the ideas they discussed at meetings They proposed to create a German national state without Jews, communists and democrats Democrats were people who believed in electing the leader of a nation.

Hitler Takes the Party Over Hitler left the army to work full time for the party, and by 1921 he had gained control of it Over time, he reorganized the party to improve its appeal and fit his ideas Furthermore, he renamed the party the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi for short A new party symbol called the swastika was also introduced The swastika was an ancient religious symbol of North American natives, but Hitler liked the design

The Brown Shirts He reorganized the men of his party along military organization and ranks These men became known as "sturmabteilung" which translates roughly to "strong arm." The men were issued distinctive brown uniforms to stand out in public, and their role was to protect Hitler and other party members. Included with the uniforms were special badges and a victory salute, where the right arm was raised straight ahead of the body Large parades and rallies were held so Hitler's "brown shirts" could show themselves in public, and gain support for the Nazis.