The Wars and Conflicts of Adolf Hitler

Hitler

Adolf Hitler

  

Adolf Hitler was the dictator of Germany for 12 years. While it is well-known that Hitler led Germany into World War Two, it is not as well known that there were several other conflicts that Germany engaged in as the leadup to the Second World War. Also, Hitler himself was a German Army veteran of World War One. Below is a listing of the Wars of Adolf Hitler

 World War One (1914-1918)--Adolf Hitler, though born an Austrian national, joined the German army upon the outbreak of war in 1914. He had moved to the southern German region of Bavaria in 1913, and joined a Bavarian military unit. Hitler served in the German Army on the Western Front in Belgium and France. He later served as a regimental runner in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment, and was twice decorated for bravery. Hitler received the relatively common Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914 and Iron Cross, First Class, in 1918. In 1916, Hitler was wounded in the groin area/ left thigh area during the Battle of the Somme, and returned to the front in March 1917. On October 15, 1918, Hitler was admitted to a field hospital, temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack. Hitler was still in hospital when Germany surrendered to the Allies on November 11, 1918.

After the war, Hitler returned to Bavaria, still a member of the army. At one point he guarded Russian prisoners of war awaiting repatriation, but in July of 1919, Hitler was appointed a Verbindungsmann (police spy) of an Aufklärungskommando (Intelligence Commando) of the German Army. Hitler's assignment was to both influence other soldiers politically, and to infiltrate a small political party, the German Workers' Party (DAP). In examining this party, Hitler was drawn to the party's anti-semitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Marxist agenda. Hitler joined the DAP, becoming the 55th member to join the party. In order to appeal to more potential recruits, the party changed its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist German Workers Party.. Hitler quickly rose through the ranks of the the Party, and his unique speaking style and his vocal hatred of Jews, Marxists, and others who he claimed had betrayed Germany drew more members to the party. In 1923, Hitler believed that the his Party was strong enough, and popular enough, to overthrow the Bavarian state government. Thus, the first of Hiter's conflicts began, as the Hitler's forces staged an attempted putsch, or quick overthow of a government, in the Bavarian capital of Munich.

The Bavarain police met the putsch with gunfire, and Hitler was arrested and convicted of treason. During his imprisonment, Hiter wrote his famous book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), in which he detailed his plans to create a Germany that would wipe rise from the ashes of the defeat in the First World War, and would eliminate the Jews. Upon his release from prison, Hitler rebuilt his party, took part in the electoral process (and also had his Party thugs engage in bloody street battles with any political group that got in their way). By 1933, Hitler's Party performed well enough in elections that German President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as the German Chancellor. After Hindeburg's death in 1934, Hitler declared the office of president vacant, and made himself the Fuhrer, or leader of Germany.   

 

 

Below is a list of the Wars of Adolf Hitler following World War One:

 

Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch (Nov. 8-11, 1923)--Political agitator Adolf Hitler led his National Socialist Party in an attempted overthrow of the Bavarian government. The police crushed his uprising, and Hitler was sentenced to prison.

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)--Hitler's Germany and Fascist Italy send troops and air power to help Fascist Spanish rebel Francisco Franco defeat Spanish Republican forces.

German Annexation of Austria (March 12-13, 1938)--Germany invades and annexes Austria.

German Annexation of the Sudetenland (1938)--Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia in order to gain control of the German-speaking Sudeten border region. Britain and France allow Hitler to seize the Sudetenland.

German Annexation of Bohemia and Moravia (March 10-16, 1939)--Hitler completes his takeover of defenseless Czechoslovakia. The eastern part of the nation became an "independent" satellite of Germany called Slovakia.

World War II (1939-1945)--The European portion of World War II officially began on Sept. 1, 1939 with the German invasion of Poland. The European war ended in May, 1945 with the complete defeat and occupation of Germany by the Allies. Germany was eventually split into the democratic West Germany and the Communist East Germany until the East German collapse in 1989 and the re-unification of Germany in October, 1990.

 

Note:

Adolf Hitler's name is often misspelled as "Adolph Hitler."

 


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