Adolf Hitler Research Paper Free Essay Example

“In order to shine like the sun, you first have to burn like it.” Who would of thought such an inspirational and eye opening quote could be written by someone that is to blame for 11 million deaths. This quote also is a reference to Hitler’s life. He was homeless for a while, and imprisoned for 9 months. After that, he quickly rose to power. While he promised Germany that he would restore their former greatness by winning WWII, Hitler was more focused on his intolerance and hate the Jewish religion.

6 million Jews were killed in death camps along with other races and minority groups Hitler hated. He was focused so much on killing he turned a blind eye to the war, which was ultimately his downfall. Although Hitler is widely known for the murder of millions of Jews, he also committed multiple other atrocities.

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn, an Austrian town close to the German border.

He was born to Alois and Klara Hitler. Hitler’s father was very stern, and often beat him. In 1903, Alois’s death came as a relief to Hitler. He heavily favored his mother, whose death in 1907 had a painful effect on him. Hitler at a young age wanted to be an artist, in 1907 he went to Vienna to apply at the academy of fine arts, but he was rejected. He began to develop aimlessness and racial hatred when he was in Vienna. To make money Hitler inherited money from his Aunt and he claimed an orphan’s pension.

He also sold his drawings and paintings and he considered himself to be an artist.

From a young age, Hitler was fiercely nationalistic, Hitler believed Germans to be superior race to others, and he began to grow hatred for Jews and Slavs. In 1914 when WWI broke out, Hitler immediately volunteered for the German national army. During World War I Hitler served in the Bavarian Sixteenth Regiment on the western front. He was awarded for his bravery and was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class. Hitler was wounded twice during the war, once shot in the leg and blinded by mustard gas. While recovering from the mustard gas, he was given the news of Germany’s surrender. He was angered, it was his belief that the unity of the German nation was in danger and he needed to save it. Hitler joined the Nazi political party. They shared his views of anti-semitism and they were fiercely nationalistic. They thought that the style of government that the treaty of Versailles held them in was holding back the German nation. Hitler attempted to overthrow the government during the Beer Hall Putsch, where the Nazi party attempted to gain control in Munich and Bavaria. This plan failed and Hitler was arrested for treason. He stood on trial for 24 days and was sentenced to five years in prison. On December 20, 1925, Hitler was released after only serving nine months. While in prison Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) which was very poorly written, but later became very popular among Nazis for its racist and extremist values. Hitler became the leader Nazi’s in 1930. An alliance between the industrialist Alfred Hugenberg’s Nationalist Party contributed to the Nazi electoral breakthrough. He increased seats in the Reichstag (German congress) from 12 to 107. Nazis became the second largest party.

In 1932, Hitler ran for President, narrowly losing to Paul von Hindenburg. The Nazi party kept it’s position in the Reichstag, despite a decline in its November elections. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was named Chancellor. A year later on August 2, 1934, President Hindenburg died. Hitler took over and became president., he then immediately changed the government to a full dictatorship, making him Fuhrer, or leader. Hitler was now all powerful. On September 1, 1939, Hitler and the German Army invaded Poland. Two days later France and Britain declared war on Germany, this was the start of World War II. The start of war boded well for Germany won many battles, they successfully invaded in Poland in 1939 and then France in 1940. The Nazis power controlled area from the Arctic to some of Northern Africa, to France to central Europe. Hitler then lost in the Battle of Britain in 1940 which forced him to avoid invading Britain. And then on December 7, 1941, Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, an American naval base located in Hawaii.

A day later, America declared war on Japan, and Germany declared war on America. Back in Germany, many people were being forced to work, in hard labor camps, and most of them were murdered. These places were known as concentration camps, Hitler and the Germans took millions of Jewish people away from their homes and took them to these concentration camps. The most famous of these camps was Auschwitz, which was built in 1940. Over the war had over 1.3 million prisoners, 1.1 million of these people died. The most “efficient” murder machine was the Gas Chambers. Prisoners were also killed by starvation, overwork, hanging, and shootings. Polish people, POWs and many other minority groups in Germany and the countries Hitler invaded were also killed. All of the people were executed due to the intolerance of Adolf Hitler. He became so focused murdering the millions of innocent people, who were killed just because of their religion. Altogether, Hitler murdered roughly 11 million people, because he was unable to accept their beliefs. This hate that he had for Jewish people was unbiased and completely random. He was intolerant towards almost every race that was not German. During the 1936 summer Olympics, Hitler refused to present Jesse Owens with the gold medal that he won, only because he was not German. His intolerance surpasses almost everything that Hitler was. His ignorance lead to the murder of so many people, just because he was so hateful.

Hitler and the German forces attempted to invade Russia, at the start he won several battles, but then winter hit, the Germans had to flee Russia because they were not prepared for the heavy winter. Germany’s Italian ally, Benito Mussolini, had fell, and German cities were being destroyed. In June 1944, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, where they took major victories. During this Hitler was attempted to be assassinated by some of his own officers, but survived. Hitler realized Germany was going to crumble so on April 30, 1945 in a bunker under Berlin, Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide. One week later Germany surrendered, World War II was officially over. World War II had the most casualties than any other war, over 60 million people died, including battle deaths and the deaths of civilians.

The intolerance of Adolf Hitler led to the deaths of over 11 million innocent people. Although Hitler’s intolerance for Jews outweighed the hate for any other race, it is less known that he is also responsible for the murder of 5 million other people that he was intolerant towards. Even though the Germans lost the war, millions of people still died due to Hitler’s unwillingness to accept their beliefs and religions. Adolf Hitler took his own life, rather than suffer the consequences he would have had for the responsibility of the death of millions.

References

1. ‘Adolf Hitler.’ Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 7, Gale, 2004, pp. 417-420.
2. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/ doc/CX3404703007/GVRL?u=lanc49810&sid=GVRL&xid=0e09aa87. Accessed 24 Jan. 2019.
3. Dufner, Annette. The Rise of Adolf Hitler. San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 2003.
4. Elliott, B. J. Hitler and Germany. London, Longman, 1966.
5. Hoffmann, Peter. ‘Hitler, Adolf.’ World Book Student, World Book, 2019,www.worldbookonline.com/student-new/#/article/home/ar258000. Accessed 24 Jan. 2019.
6. Taylor, David. Adolf Hitler. Chicago, Heinemann Library, 2002.