Adolf Hitler as an important political leader Free Essay Example

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria. His parents were Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl. Adolf was the fourth child out of six. Three years after he was born, the family relocated from Austria to Germany. Typically, Adolf Hitler and his father did not agree; the fine arts fascinated Adolf, but his father disapproved of it. Adolf Hitler was profoundly affected by the death of his younger brother, Edmund. Adolf Hitler also displayed a curiosity in German nationalism at a young age.

His mother permitted him to quit school two years following his father’s death in 1903. After he abandoned school, he moved to Vienna. Adolf was an aspiring watercolor painter in Vienna. He applied two times to the Academy of Fine Arts and was rejected both times. Hitler served in the German military during World War I.

Although Adolf was an Austrian citizen, he was still authorized to serve in the German army. He received the Iron Cross First Class and the Black Wound Badge after World War I. Adolf Hitler did not take likeness to the fact that the Germans had capitulated in 1918 during the First World War. Adolf Hitler began to adopt various anti-Semitic, nationalist, and anti-Marxist ideas whilst being an associate of the German Worker’s Party. While being involved with the German Worker’s Party, Adolf Hitler created the notorious swastika. Adolf Hitler started to compose speeches opposed to the Treaty of Versailles, Jews, and additional groups.

An abundant amount of the history of Germany is revolved around Hitler and the Nazi Party, but it is not the respectable kind of history.

The Nazi Party was primarily designated as the “German Workers’ Party” which was established via Anton Drexter and Karl Harrer. The party was to support nationalism in Germany; they additionally believed the Treaty of Versailles was a liability to Germany. The war could have been resolved without the treaty, but the party was not on the radar of anyone until Hitler joined it. He was an extremely charismatic man, and he brought numerous new members in with his speeches. The Jews were the reason the war was lost, or at least this is what Hitler said. Since the Jews were only an insignificant part of the population, this gained him several supporters. Quickly the party was renamed the “Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party”. This name is frequently abbreviated to the Nazi Party. As time went by, Hitler got more admired and more popular, and as he got recognized, so did the Nazi Party. The country was in a fragile state and needed a dependable leader like they assumed Hitler was, and he acquired leadership of the Nazi party in July of 1921. This party was everything Hitler needed to grab the publics’ attention, and he began ascending the political ladder very quickly.

The Nazi Party tried to achieve power of Germany resulting in Hitler getting five years in prison; this is where he composed his autobiography. In elections for leadership over Germany, the Nazi Party didn’t do extremely well, and their greatest percent of the ballots was 37.3%. The reason that the Nazis had considerably supplementary dominance was because of their muscle power, but they didn’t have as many supporters as certain other parties might have had. Instead of coming to power by the right technique, they forced their way to the top. Hitler had constantly been a little different, but nobody would have ever supposed it would lead to what transpires in the conclusion.

When Hitler and the Nazi party gained power over Germany on January 30th, 1933, they didn’t have complete control, but he would obtain it by March. The speed at which he gained control over the entire country was impractical. Hitler’s military training assisted him a lot in the campaigning process, and his communication with the public won over much of the population. His conventions for his campaign were more like military processions than anything else because they were prearranged, coordinated, and proficient. When he communicated to the citizens, he spoke with passion and authority in every sentence. One of the main significant part of his party was the SA; also identified as the Stormtroopers. They were an assembly of men, usually discharged from the military, that functioned to protect Hitler. Instead of doing just this, they seemed to disrupt many of the other parties’ gatherings, but there was nothing the other parties could do about it. They were being attacked by Hitler and the Stormtroopers, but they were far stronger than additional parties. For instance, Hitler was sent to prison for his part in a mob occurrence on additional political subject in September of 1921. Germany, being in such a weak state, needed a strong, dependable leader, and they understood was Hitler.

The Stormtroopers were just a single fragment of Hitler’s party that disrupted the harmony, but it was probably the ultimate one. The SA were comparable to a gang of individuals that terrorized additional political parties and inhabitants. They started out as predominantly veterans, but quickly there were more and more ferocious thugs in the assortment with them. Hitler was trying to accomplish being chancellor by intimidating several of the other parties, and I suppose it operated somewhat. The single reason Hitler gained control over the country was because of the Jews, and without them, he would have never been chancellor. After the war, the people of Germany desired somebody to blame for the devastation of their country. Instead of accusing themselves, they listened to Hitler and blamed the Jews, but in honesty, the Jews had nothing to do with it. They were the minority of the population, and they received the blame.

When the Nazis came to power, the Holocaust started along with the downfall and the introduction to the most fatal battle in human history.

The word Holocaust originally meant sacrificial offers burned on an altar, but since 1945, the term has taken on a horrific new meaning. The Holocaust entailed the genocide of 6 million Jews and other minority groups by the German Nazis throughout the Second World War. The Nazi ruler Adolf Hitler saw Jews as racially inferior and a threat to the German purity, although his reasoning and roots of his ideas are unclear.

One of the leading causes of World War II is the Holocaust. After centuries of anti-Judaism which led to anti-Semitism, the Holocaust officially started when Adolf Hitler came to power as chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. The first of the concentration camps opened in Dachau in March 1933. Within four months, an estimated 27,000 people were held in custody in the camps. Many concentrations camps were built and followed therefore after, with a total of 20,000 German camps established.

By this time, Jews comprised one percent of the overall German population. Throughout the following six years, the Nazis began controlling and rejecting non-Aryans from civil service, disbanding Jewish owned businesses and organizations. A set of rules called the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, established Jews and German blood and forbade marriage between the two. The Jews then became targets and objectives for persecution. This climaxed in Kristallnacht in November 1938, where Jewish buildings were ransacked and demolished.

After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, ghettos were established in numerous Polish cities. The ghettos integrated the Jews and effectively imprisoned them. The living circumstances in the restricted ghettos were atrocious, and illness, hunger and congestion killed the majority. The Germans expelled Jews from all over Europe to these ghettos. Meanwhile, opening in the autumn of 1939, Nazi officials chose approximately 70,000 Germans institutionalized with mental illness or debilities to be gassed to death in the Euthanasia Program. After important German spiritual leaders protested, Hitler ended the program in August 1941. Killings of the disabled persisted in secrecy, and by only four years around 275,000 people deemed handicapped had been exterminated. In retrospection, the Euthanasia Program operated as a pilot for the Holocaust.

Beginning in 1941, all Jews in German territory were distinguished with a yellow star badge. As more Jews were deported to camps, experimentations with mass destruction had been continuing at the concentration camp of Auschwitz, near Krakow. The first of the mass gassings began near Lublin at the camp of Belzec. Gassing processes by vans and chambers became popular after the Einsatzgruppe members made complaints of agony after shooting large numbers of women and children, plus it was cheaper. These mobile killings entities, Einsatzgruppen, gassed mostly Jews, Roma, and the mentally ill. Zyklon B is infamous for its use in the gas chambers at Auschwitz and other camps. At Auschwitz only, more than 2 million people were slaughtered, and as many as 12,000 Jews were killed daily.

The majority of the world was affected by World War II, especially the West. The war began September 1, 1939, and the concluding date from World War II was September 2, 1945. During these years an overwhelming multitude of actions happened in the West. Throughout the duration of the war, the world was divided between the axis powers, which were Germany, Italy, and Japan. Many nations fought against the axis power such as, Lebanon, San Marino, Belgium, Egypt, Liberia, Saudi Arabia, Bolivia, El Salvador, Luxembourg, South Africa, Brazil, Ethiopia, Mexico, Soviet Union, Canada, France, Mongolian People’s Republic, Syria, Chile, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. Whilst these nations fought against the axis powers a plethora of events were occurring in the Middle East during World War II. Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine all had a role during this duration of time and were all affected by the events that the war brought about.

Although there was much fighting in other parts of the world, the Middle East countries during World War II were busy being pro axis or neutral. This meant that the countries were either coinciding with the axis powers or they had been taken over by a higher power. For example, Egypt was pro axis before the war, but became neutral due to King Farouk conceding to British command over Egypt’s government. Like Egypt, Iraq was pro axis, and their pro axis sentiment was tied to anti-British. This did not sit well with the British and they invaded Iraq and occupied it until 1947. Since the British were occupying Iraq, their army could station and transit troops through Iraq, which was an exceptionally, outstanding advantage to have during the war. Syria, on the other hand, was governed by the Vichy forces after the fall of France. Once France became free, Syria and Lebanon were supposed to be free too, due to an arrangement that had been made. It was hard to accomplish freeing Syria and Lebanon. The power to carry off such a reoccupation was difficult for France, so the independence of Syria and Lebanon was not recognized till the end of the war.

Meanwhile in Palestine, Jews were arriving in waves in the hope of fleeing the Nazis. Military organizations such as Haganah, IZL, and Stern Gang were very active in the region. Illegal immigrations of Jews into Palestine were often carried out with these military organizations’ assistance. Immigration restrictions on the White Paper of 1939 were violated due to the wave of Jews arriving illegally in Palestine. The move of the Jews paved the way for the creation of Israel. Palestine was then set up to become a battlefield due to the immigration of the Jews.

Not only were places in the Middle East being occupied, but locations around the region of the West began to be occupied by Germans. Austria, Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, and parts of the Soviet Union were only a few of the places in the West occupied by the Germans during World War II. The occupation of these countries was a horrid time, but the liberation and end of these occupations was an occasion that would be forever remembered in history to come.

On March 12, 1938, Austria became the first nation that was annexed by Nazi Germany. Austrian Nazis conspired several times to capture the Austrian government and connect with Nazi Germany. Austria’s Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg met with Adolf Hitler with hopes of confirming Austria’s independence, but returned with Austrian Nazis added to his cabinet. Schuschnigg called for a vote on annexation, but before anything could take place, Schuschnigg gave in to the pressure and resigned shortly after. He pleaded for his country not to resist any German advances into the country.

The following day, German troops accompanied by Hitler entered Austria. Hitler allotted a Nazi government to rule and the annexation was proclaimed. Austria continued as a federal state of Germany until the conclusion of the War; the Allies declared the Anschluss void and reinstated Austria.

By the summer of the same year of annexation, the Mauthausen camp was established, it was the main Nazi camp in the country. The Germans entitled the camp a category III camp, representing the harsh regimen and punishment. Thousands of prisoners were worked to death because of the harsh punishments including forced labor work like carrying heavy solid stone slabs up 186 steps near the camp.

On November 1938, Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass, began when synagogues in the capital were destroyed and burned. Jewish buildings and businesses were ravaged and vandalized, and then the Jews were taken to the Dachau or Buchenwald camps. The reaction external to Germany on Kristallnacht was astonishment and outrage, making a storm of negative publicity in tabloids and among radio reporters that attended to isolate Hitler’s Germany from the civilized nations and deteriorate any pro-Nazi attitudes in those countries. Following Kristallnacht, the United States withdrew its ambassador permanently.

Another of the countries mentioned that was occupied by Germany was Poland. Poland had many difficulties withstanding their country because so many of their neighboring countries had succumbed to war. With their weak economy, Poland was unable to protect their country from invaders. Germany and the Soviet Union had a non-aggression treaty towards each other, but the countries became divided in 1939. After this happened, Germany attacked the Soviet Union during the summer of 1941 in order to become the sole occupier of Poland. Many people want to blame Germany for their cruelty towards the Polish Jews and other citizens, but the Soviet Union also was involved in abusing the citizens of Poland, who they were occupying over at this time. Although many Jews were killed in concentration camps, there were also many casualties that resulted from the horrible mentality of the Germans and Soviets. About 5.7 million Polish citizens were killed by the German occupiers, and only one hundred and fifty thousand Polish were murdered by the Soviet Union during their few years as occupiers. Clearly, the Germans were extremely more abusive than the Soviets, but any death is worthy of punishment. The Polish showed their resistance by organizing uprisings and riots to show their imprisoners that they were tired of being abused emotionally and physically. These uprisings include the ones in Warsaw where both the Ghetto citizens and the non-Jewish people rose up against their oppressors. The uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto began on April 19, 1943 when the inhabitants refused to obey their orders, and in retaliation, police commander SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop ordered the burning of the entire Ghetto. The last German troops were expelled from Poland thanks to the Red Army in March 1945, weeks before the final allied victory over Europe. France was another area occupied by Nazi Germany. The end of their occupation would not come until the summer of 1944. France was liberated by the successful allied operations called Overlord and Dragoon. Czechoslovakia was another country that became occupied by Germany in World War II, but the country was actually handed over to Germany peacefully. The Munich Pact was signed by, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. The Munich Pact was an agreement that handed over a portion of Czechoslovakia that contained voluminous amounts of German speakers, and this section of Czechoslovakia is what the German military began occupying in 1938. In March of 1938, the complete and total conquest of Czechoslovakia became Hitler’s next ambition. During late March, Czechoslovakia succumbed to German occupation because they were weak after the annexation of the German part of the country called the Sudetenland. The Germans rule would come to an end following the March 1945 Rhine Rivers crossing that precipitated the U.S. Army’s involvement with Czechoslovakia. Finally, the Czechoslovakians were freed after six long years of occupation in April of 1945.

In 1938, France joined Great Britain in an attempt to appease Nazi aggression. France signed the Munich Pact and helped give Germany “permission” to invade the Sudeten territories of Czechoslovakia. It was soon clear that this attempt at appeasement failed.

After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, France declared war.

France’s war against Germany did not last long. On June 22, 1940, France surrendered to Germany.

France was occupied by the Germans until 1944. June 6 of that year was D-day. A massive Allied force invaded the beaches of Normandy. D-Day, also referred to as “The Invasion of Normandy”, is considered by some to be the turning point of the twentieth century. D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944 when troops of mostly American, British, and Canadian origin landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. Originally, D-Day was set for June 5, but had to be postponed because of inclement weather. In the military, the phrase “D-Day” simply represents a day of which an operation or combat attack is intended to transpire; however, the most acclaimed D-Day would be the Invasion of Normandy. The Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy with the intent of liberating France and the rest of northwest Europe from German occupation. There were 156,000 soldiers who landed on the coastline, but by the end of the invasion ten thousand soldiers were either killed, wounded, or declared missing. D-Day was and continues to be the largest amphibious assault in all of history-virtually flooding the coast of Normandy with ships. An amphibious assault is an offensive military operation using naval ships to deliver the troops to the hostile shore or landing beach. The codename for this invasion of France was “Operation Overlord”. The overall commander for this operation was American General Dwight Eisenhower. Fifty miles of coastline in Normandy, France were used for this assault with the coastline on which the soldiers landed divided into five sections. The code names for these sectors of coastline were: Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Sword Beach, Juno Beach, and Gold Beach. Many lives were lost on these beaches, over three thousand fatalities at Omaha beach alone. Operation Overlord ended on August 19, 1944 when the Allies crossed the River Seine. In total, 425,000 troops, Allied and German were either killed, wounded, or missing by the end of D-day invasion.

Another country that became occupied by Germans was Denmark. Denmark was conquered by Germany on April 9, 1940, although Hitler was not interested in the country itself but more so for control and its air bases for future attacks on Norway. Also, Denmark was to be together with Germany to prevent an Allied invasion. Denmark was relatively easy to take over and was not a challenge, considering the soldiers’ defense lasting only a few hours and then quickly surrendered. Denmark’s government negotiated with the German invasion forces on easy terms.

Because the Danish were easy to cooperate with and Germany’s absence of interest in Denmark, the occupation went quite serenely at first. The administration stayed in office and government remained mainly in Danish hands, although the police were obliged to accommodate with the Germans. Although Denmark’s population was obviously against the occupation, there was a need to handle the condition in a pragmatic manner. This era, branded the “politics of cooperation”, continued until 1943. One of the great successes out of the peaceful collaboration was that the Danish Jews were not mistreated or wronged throughout this time.

By 1943, Denmark had become dissatisfied with the Germans and turned to strikes. The Germans in response tried to impose the death penalty but failed when the Danish government refused. On August 28, the cooperation between the two countries ended, and by October all the Jews were to be deported. This was ultimately prevented when the Jewish populations were transported to Sweden, where they were safe.

When the statement of freedom was broadcasted on the radio on May 4, 1945, people everywhere assembled into the streets waving their countries’ flags. Denmark was liberated by the British forces by the following day, but shortly after, the island of Bornholm was occupied by the Russian Army and not liberated until 1946. Austria was occupied by Soviet and American forces during April and May 1945. The Holocaust lasted until 1945, where liberations of the camps slowly removed Hitler from authority. By the culmination of the War, there were an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 survivors who lived in occupied Europe. Since many survivors saw it impossible to return home, the Allies powers created what is present day Israel as a permanent homeland for Jewish survivors in 1948.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, or U.S.S.R. for short, became involved in World War II when it was invaded by Nazi Germany on June 22,1941. Ironically, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had signed a peace agreement in 1939 promising to avoid conflict. In this pact, called the German-Soviet Nonagression Pact, they agreed to not attack each other when World War II began and for the next ten years. Articles have stated that the reason Soviet leader Joseph Stalin signed the Nonagression Pact was to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, and in addition, give his country time to make its military larger and more powerful. Adolf Hitler signed this pact for the Germans because he wanted to assure that the Germans could invade Poland unopposed. The pact was broken in June of 1941 when Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union. This secret military offensive, known by the codename Operation Barbarossa, covered a distance of two thousand miles. The Germans had a strong, reliable, and vast army for this invasion and they were extremely confident they could defeat the Soviets with ease. However, they were proven wrong. The inability of the Germans to defeat the Soviet Union in this invasion marked a critical juncture in World War II, as the Soviet triumph weakened the German military effort and rallied the Allies. In July of 1942, the Soviet Union was yet again invaded by Nazi Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad. The Russians were determined to defend the city of Stalingrad because it served as a vital industrial and transportation center. This battle stopped the German advancement into the Soviet Union, and was a catalyst that turned the tide of the war in favor of the Allied forces. This battle was one of the bloodiest in Russian history, and is regarded as one of that country’s greatest military victories.

Belgium was also an additional country that became occupied by Nazi Germany. With all the suffering that transpired in World War I, King Leopold III and the citizens of Belgium desired to be left out of World War II. Belgium was unbiased until the Germans captured their country. On May 10, 1940, Belgium was imprisoned by the Nazis. The citizens of Belgium resisted confinement; they were inexorably defeated. The Jews began to be persecuted in Belgium due to the invasion of Germans. Belgium was captured to be a location for the Germans to operate. Since Belgium borders France, Germany assumed that being situated in Belgium would provide an improved opportunity to invade. Saboteurs destroyed major railways that led from Germany to France. Belgium had a colony in the Congo of Africa where it had access to masses of uranium. Belgium gave a quantity of this uranium to the United States for the manufacturing of an atomic bomb. In 1944, Belgium was liberated from the Germans. The imprisonment by the Germans traumatized Belgium as a country along with the residents.

Germany halted exports of coke to the Luxembourg steel industry which made Luxembourg slightly hostile. Although Luxembourg was impartial, the country was captured by the Nazis on May 10, 1940. Germany captured Luxembourg to have an additional base to maneuver off of; this would enable a better opportunity to attack France. The royal family and the government evacuated to Canada, so Gustav Simon took control over the government in Luxembourg. He ridded the Luxembourg citizens of anything that was French. Citizens were informed to not use French greetings any longer. People were not permitted to wear French berets. Several Jews were extradited to Spain and France, but those countries rejected them too. Other Jews were relocated to concentration camps. The Germans cleared all Jews out of Luxembourg. The additional non-Jewish citizens went about their daily existence. They sustained their routines and anticipated every day to be liberated. Luxembourg was liberated on September 10, 1944. The citizens and the country were overwhelmed by the Germans capture and interrogation.

Switzerland was a neutral nation for both World War I and World War II. This allowed them to concern themselves with protecting their own country and inhabitants, while also serving as a neutral territory. Several historians claim that Switzerland remains prodigious because they allowed their country to be a safe haven for refugees, but in truth, the Swiss government laid out many restrictions towards the refugees and a countless amount were turned away. A person could not find refuge in Switzerland unless they were under personal threat because of their political activities; refugees could not enter Switzerland if they were escaping discrimination over their race, religion, or ethnicity, but eventually, Switzerland gave 300,000 refugees access to their designated refugee areas. They accepted about 27,000 Jews, and this act saved numerous lives.

It seems much happened in the West during World War II. The Middle East had a wide assortment of conflicts and the end of many occupations in the West took place. In Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, many exploits occurred. The end of occupations in countries inhabiting the West had a lot of fighting, killing, and freedoms. Without everything that occurred in the West, history today would be forever changed.

Hitler became chairman of the German Worker’s Party in 1921. Adolf Hitler and a Nazi paramilitary organization stormed a communal conference in a beer hall announcing that a novel government was emergent. In conclusion of his actions, Hitler was apprehended afterwards and placed in a penitentiary for a year where he composed the earliest volume of his book, Mein Kampf. This book illustrates Hitler’s strategies to convert Germany into a one race nation. In 1932, Hitler competed for presidency two times. He lost both times to Paul von Hindenburg. After coming in second place, Hitler was designated chancellor. By the uprisings, Hitler and his organization had performed, the other parties were completely intimidated, and on July 14, 1933, Hitler’s Nazi Party was the only officially permitted political party in Germany. An original decree was established stating that the presidential powers were now coalesced with the chancellor powers, so when Hindenburg died, Hitler obtained unmitigated power. The Night of the Long Knives occurred on June 30, 1934 which was the assassination of people that Hitler considered would be a threat in the future. Adolf Hitler endorsed anti-smoking campaigns. He believed in eating healthy; people’s bodies should remain unpolluted. He did not imbibe alcohol or consume meat. Adolf commenced segregating people by constructing innovative regulations where Jews could not marry non-Jews. Persecutions and exterminations transpired throughout the Holocaust if an individual happened to be Jewish, Polish, a communist, a homosexual, a Jehovah’s Witness, or a trade unionist. There are rumors about Hitler’s religion. Some people state he had Jewish or African background. One of the stories was that his father was the illegitimate child of a woman that was a maid for a wealthy Jewish man. In 1939, Germans attempted the blitzkrieg against Poland first. They corroborated it would succeed; then it was executed on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1940. The residents in Germany during World War II had grocery allowances. With the provisions being rationed, various people had more victuals during rationing than they had previously. There was a scarcity of petroleum in Germany. People were permitted to utilize warm water twice a week to manage the quantity of fuel depleted. Soap was an additional article that was limited; furthermore, there was no toilet paper. The black market thrived during World War II, since denizens were exchanging regulated merchandise. In September 1940, children were advised to evacuate Berlin, but the majority did not vacate. Germans wanted women to have more children, so the population could proliferate. Additionally, Germans exhorted women to labor more, but the Germans were ineffective. After World War II, the nation and the populace of Germany were devastated. It took an extensive period for Germany to recuperate from the downfall of the nation.

Hitler did not only ensue devastation upon the regions that were occupied by German forces. He has done many horrifying things to countries that were never taken over by his army. One of the wickedest things Hitler accomplished was the bombing of London, but there are many other things as well. Not only did he plunge a bomb down on London, he dropped thousands of them, and the first penetration was on September 7, 1940 when about 350 German bombers appeared above London being accompanied by 650 fighters. This bombing alone devastated London, but there was far worse to come in the future. In the first attack alone, over 450 inhabitants were slaughtered and 1,300 were sincerely injured, and while London was still picking up the pieces from the night before, Hitler and his men struck again. They did the same precise thing every single night for two whole months, and the people of London assumed it would never end. On December 29, nineteen churches were demolished; furthermore, this was a Sunday. Overall, around 30,000 bombs were dropped on London, and the first thirty days 6,000 people were killed. This overwhelmed London for a long time, but the occurrences ultimately ceased in May of 1941. Now London had to pick up what was left of their population or attempt to, but it would prove to take an extremely extensive period to get to where they were. Hitler supposed that defeating London from the air would devastate them, but they awaited patiently for it to stop and took it as it.

Hitler did some horrifying things to many countries and their inhabitants, and some people blame it on his childhood. Evil was inside of him the day he was born, and the day he killed himself.

The North African Campaign began in June of 1940, the campaign lasted for three years, ending during May of 1943. When the North African Campaign commenced, The Axis and Allied powers were fighting nonstop, back and forth in northern Africa. The region that is considered to be North Africa included Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Morocco, and parts of the Sahara Desert. The North African Campaign was comprised of three phases, the Western Desert Campaign, Operation Torch, and the Tunisia Campaign.

The Western Desert Campaign was the opening conflict. The Axis and Allied powers fought during this campaign in the countries of Libya and Egypt. This battle was launched when Italian General Rodolfo Graziani invaded Egypt. The Western Campaign was consisted of constant battling between the Axis powers and the Allied powers. The next phase following the Western Campaign was Operation Torch. Operation Torch involved the British and United States military forces launching an amphibious maneuver in French North Africa. The French retained control over two territories, Algeria and Morocco. These territories were the location for the landing of this operation. This battle had the code name “Torch”, this name was the result of many long arguments between the American and British strategists. These planners struggled to make a decision about the future course of action for the Allies. These arguments were ultimately settled by President Franklin Roosevelt with the decision to invade North Africa. President Roosevelt worked together with British Prime Minister Winston Church Hill during this operation. Torch’s impact was important to the outcome of the war and was later recognized as one of the most significant strategic decision the Allied leaders would make.

The next phase of the North African Campaign was the Tunisia Campaign. The Allies began this assault with another amphibious landing in eastern Tunisia in January, 1943. The German General, Erwin Rommel was cut off from his supply bases by the Americans and the British during his attempt to stall them with his defensive operations. The Axis powers were outgunned and outnumbered. The Allies made steady advances by forcing the Axis troops into a pocket along the northern Tunisian coast. The Allies captured the last remaining Axis port and six days after this occurred the Axis army surrendered. This left 267,000 German and Italian soldiers as prisoners of war. During the entire North African Campaign, 220,00 British and American soldiers were lost, while the German and Italians suffered 620,000 casualties. This Allied victory was critically important to the course of this War. The win in North Africa removed the Axis threat to middle eastern oil fields and also their threat to the British supply lines into Asia and Africa.

The reign of Nazi Germany must have certainly felt like an eternity to the groups of people who were negatively affected by its power, but the power and control that the Nazis had accumulated did eventually wean. There were many factors to the fall of Nazi Germany, including attacks made against Germany as the government was growing weaker and the death of Hitler.

The Battle of Berlin was the last major offensive of World War II leading up to Hitler’s suicide. During the Battle of Berlin, which began on April 16, 1945 and ended on May 2, 1945, Hitler assimilated himself into an underground bunker that was fifty feet below the Nazi headquarters in Berlin. The Red Army fought forces containing the German Army for control of the capital city of Nazi Germany. He married Eva Braun, whilst inside the bunker, on April 29, 1945. Multiple families of important Nazi officials joined the couple in the bunker. One of the families elected to have their children killed by cyanide. Hitler instigated the testing of cyanide pills on the family dog and its puppies. Both the doctor and Hitler desired that the pills would not fail if needed to commit suicide. When Hitler inquired the opinion of the doctor on the proper way to commit suicide, the doctor advocated a cyanide pill and gunshot at the same time.

On April 30, 1945, after Soviet troops overcame the street-to-street combat in Berlin Hitler nad Braun committed suicide in the bunker. Eyewitness accounts claim that only one gunshot was heard from the room where Hitler and Eva planned to kill themselves in. A few minutes after the shot was heard, a few people, who were living in the bunker at this time, decided to open the door and see if Hitler and his wife were dead. There were no pictures taken at the site of Hitler and Eva’s death. Historians must believe the written accounts of spectators because there is no real evidence of Hitler’s death. Witnesses claimed to have seen Hitler, with his head on a table, holding a gun in his hand, and Eva sitting in a chair facing Hitler with a cyanide pill coursing through her body. Adolf and Eva Hitler were known as dead throughout the world, but their companions in the bunker seized their bodies and burned them upon request by Hitler. The Russians were ordered to find the body of Hitler in order to be sure he was dead, but the bodies were not discovered until May of 1945. From the 4th through the 8th of May, most of the remaining German armed forces in Europe surrendered which led to the end of World War II.

The surrender document was signed on the 7th of May, 1945 in a Reims, France schoolhouse, which was being used as General Dwight Eisenhower’s temporary headquarters. The document was signed by Alfred Jodl, who was representing Admiral Doenitz at the meeting. The document was required to be printed out in the following four different languages: English, French, German, and Russian. Copies of the document had to be sent to London, Paris, and Moscow for approval. Press attended the meeting and took many pictures and took note of things that were said. It was noted that after Alfred Jodl signed the document, he addressed the crowd in the room and said, “I want to say a word. With this signature the German people and the German armed forces are for better or worse delivered into the victor’s hands. In this war, which has lasted more than five years, they both have achieved and suffered more than perhaps any other people in the world. In this hour I can only express the hope that the victor will treat them with generosity.” No one in the crowd had a response, and most of the Germans quietly left the room.

After World War II in Europe was over, the impression that the war left on many of the Europeans who were affected by it remained intact, and the horrifying aftermath was a reminder of how hard life really was during the war. 54 million people as a result of the Holocaust. Another 60 million were uprooted from their homes. There were 11 million displaced persons, and there were more civilians killed than troops. 100,000 Jewish people were left to roam, and many of them travelled back to their home country. “Hitlerism” still lingered throughout Europe, and West Germany and East Germany were separated.

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of 13 trials in Nuremberg, Germany. Starting on November 20, 1945 and ending on October 1, 1946. These trials were brought about so that the Nazi war criminals would face justice and be punished for the crimes they have committed against humanity. The defendants included Nazi Party officers, lawyers, and doctors. They were indicted on crimes against humanity and peace.

Since Hitler was an important political leader, he had multiple decoys to insure his safety, but this can cause problems when looking for the real body of Hitler. Many historians believe that Hitler escaped Germany and fled to Argentina. There is a large Nazi presence in the small villages of Argentina. There are photographs were the Nazi flag can be seen being flown at many small schools. The Nazi Youth was a big organization, and it held a large manifestation in South Ameri