Hitler
did not do particularly well in school, leaving formal education in
1905. Unable to settle into a regular job, he drifted. He wished to
become an artist but was rejected from the Academy in Vienna.
Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in the small Austrian town of
Braunau to Alois Hitler who later became a senior customs official and
his wife Klara, who was from a poor peasant family.
At primary school, Hitler showed great intellectual potential and was
extremely popular with fellow pupils as well as being admired for his
leadership qualities. However, competition at secondary school was
tougher and Hitler stopped trying as a result.
He also lost his popularity among his fellow students and instead preferred to re-enact battles from the
Boer war
with younger children. At the age of 15, he failed his exams and was
told to repeat the year but he left without a formal education instead.
At the age of 18, he moved to Vienna with money inherited after his
father's death in 1903, in order to pursue a career in art, as this was
his best subject at school. However his applications for both the Vienna
Academy of Art and the School of Architecture were rejected.
It was supposedly at this time that Hitler first became interested in
politics and how the masses could be made to respond to certain themes.
He was particularly impressed with the anti-Semitic, nationalist
Christian-Socialist party.
During the First World War he volunteered to fight for the German
Army and gained the rank of corporal, earning accolades as a
dispatch-runner. He won several awards for bravery, including the Iron
Cross First Class.
In October 1918, he was blinded in a mustard gas attack. Germany
surrendered while Hitler was in hospital and he went into a state of
great depression, spending lots of time in tears. After the war ended,
Hitler's future seemed uncertain.
In 1919, Hitler attended his first meeting of the German Workers'
party, an anti-Semitic, nationalist group as a spy for the German Army.
However, he found he agreed with Anton Drexler's German nationalism and
anti-Semitism. He disagreed with how they were organised leading him to
make a passionate speech. Hitler quickly cemented his reputation as an
engaging orator through his passion about the injustices faced by
Germany as a result of the
Treaty of Versailles.
It soon became clear that people were joining the party just to see
Hitler make his speeches, which would leave the audience in a state of
near hysteria and willing to do whatever he suggested.
He quickly rose through the ranks and, by 1921, was the leader of the re-named
National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi).
With terrible economic conditions and rapid inflation, support for
Hitler's party grew. By 1923, the Nazi's had 56,000 members and many
more supporters.
On 8 and 9 November 1923, Hitler staged the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch. He
hoped to force the Bavarian government to work with the Nazis and march
together on Berlin. The attempt failed but, although Hitler was tried
for treason, the judge gave him a very light sentence.
While in prison, Hitler wrote 'Mein Kampf', which formulated his
political ideas. He reorganised his party on his release from jail, but
it was not until the world depression hit Germany that the Nazis were
able to attract significant followers.
By 1930, the Nazis were polling around 6.5 million votes. In the
presidential elections of 1932, Hitler came second. On 30 January 1933,
President Hindenburg was forced to appoint
Hitler as Chancellor, given his popular support.
In office, Hitler set about consolidating his power, appointing Nazis
to government and gaining control of emergency powers. He eliminated
all opposition, in the name of emergency control and, with the death of
Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler's power was secured.
Hitler put Germany's unemployed to work on a massive rearmament
programme, using propaganda and manufacturing enemies, such as the
Jews, to prepare the country for war. Initially, Hitler's actions were ignored by his powerful neighbours, as they believed
appeasement was the only way to avoid a war.
In 1936, Hitler invaded the Rhineland, which had been demilitarised at
Versailles. He then proceeded to annex Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. Under the Munich Agreement of 1938, the West accepted this.
In 1939, Hitler made an alliance with Russia (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) and with Italy (Pact of Steel). On 1 September 1939,
Hitler invaded Poland and the Second World War began as a result. In April 1940, Denmark and Norway were also taken.
France quickly followed.
Hitler had conquered much of Western Europe, now he
turned his sights East. In 1941, despite the alliance, Germany invaded Russia under
Operation Barbarossa.
It was one of his greatest mistakes. With the German advance slowed by
the Russians 'scorched earth' policy, the German army found themselves
in the Russian winter without an adequate supply line. In 1943, they
started their long retreat.
At the same time, the Western Allies were pushing hard, and began to
advance on Germany. In response, Hitler withdrew almost entirely. It was
reported he was increasingly erratic and out-of-touch.
In 1944, there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt and, in
response, Hitler stepped up the atmosphere of suspicion and terror.
Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945, with his long term girlfriend
Eva Braun, who he is thought to have perhaps married at the last minute. Germany's surrender followed soon after.
By the time author Vincent Gaddis coined the phrase “Bermuda
Triangle” in a 1964 magazine article, additional mysterious accidents
had occurred in the area, including three passenger planes that went
down despite having just sent “all’s well” messages. Charles Berlitz,
whose grandfather founded the Berlitz language schools, stoked the
legend even further in 1974 with a sensational bestseller about the
legend. Since then, scores of fellow paranormal writers have blamed the
triangle’s supposed lethalness on everything from aliens, Atlantis
and sea monsters to time warps and reverse gravity fields, whereas more
scientifically minded theorists have pointed to magnetic anomalies,
waterspouts or huge eruptions of methane gas from the ocean floor.
