Epictetus brief biography of adolf hitler

He was twice rejected from his application to study art, and after struggling to survive in Vienna, in , he moved to Munich. In his early life, he imbibed the anti-semitic feelings which were common for the times but displayed little political interest. On the outbreak of the First World. Against this backdrop of defeat and threat of turmoil within Germany, Hitler turned to politics and set up a fledgeling political party — the NSDAP Nazi party with its mixture of nationalistic and fascist policies.

In , Hitler led his small Nazi party in an attempted seizure of power — known as the Munich beer hall putsch. The putsch failed, and Hitler was sentenced to a lenient jail sentence. On his release, Hitler then turned his attentions to gaining electoral support and contesting the elections of Weimar Germany. The onset of the Great Depression provided fertile ground for his radical and extremist policies.

With the help of his powerful rhetoric and his own private militia, Hitler led the Nazi party to victory in the elections. He was made Chancellor and in , on the death of Hindenburg, he was made the President in , Hitler declared himself the supreme leader and ended all pretence to democracy. Ranks of SA men served as guards inside the building, while large groups outside opposing the proposed legislation shouted slogans and threats towards the arriving members of parliament.

The Act passed by a vote of —94, with all parties except the Social Democrats voting in favour. The Enabling Act, along with the Reichstag Fire Decree, transformed Hitler's government into a de facto legal dictatorship. At the risk of appearing to talk nonsense I tell you that the National Socialist movement will go on for 1, years! Don't forget how people laughed at me 15 years ago when I declared that one day I would govern Germany.

They laugh now, just as foolishly, when I declare that I shall remain in power! Having achieved full control over the legislative and executive branches of government, Hitler and his allies began to suppress the remaining opposition. The Social Democratic Party was made illegal, and its assets were seized. On 2 May , all trade unions were forced to dissolve, and their leaders were arrested.

Some were sent to concentration camps. By the end of June, the other parties had been intimidated into disbanding. On 14 July , the Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany. Hindenburg died on 2 August As head of state, Hitler became commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Immediately after Hindenburg's death, at the instigation of the leadership of the Reichswehr , the traditional loyalty oath of soldiers was altered to affirm loyalty to Hitler personally, by name , rather than to the office of commander-in-chief which was later renamed to supreme commander or the state.

In early , Hitler used blackmail to consolidate his hold over the military by instigating the Blomberg—Fritsch affair. Hitler forced his War Minister, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg , to resign by using a police dossier that showed that Blomberg's new wife had a record for prostitution. On the same day, sixteen generals were stripped of their commands and 44 more were transferred; all were suspected of not being sufficiently pro-Nazi.

Hitler took care to give his dictatorship the appearance of legality. Many of his decrees were explicitly based on the Reichstag Fire Decree and hence on Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The Reichstag renewed the Enabling Act twice, each time for a four-year period. In August , Hitler appointed Reichsbank President Hjalmar Schacht as Minister of Economics, and in the following year, as Plenipotentiary for War Economy in charge of preparing the economy for war.

Wages were slightly lower in the mid to late s compared with wages during the Weimar Republic, while the cost of living increased by 25 per cent. Hitler's government sponsored architecture on an immense scale. Albert Speer , instrumental in implementing Hitler's classicist reinterpretation of German culture, was placed in charge of the proposed architectural renovations of Berlin.

Hitler officiated at the opening ceremonies and attended events at both the Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Summer Games in Berlin. In a meeting with German military leaders on 3 February , Hitler spoke of "conquest for Lebensraum in the East and its ruthless Germanisation" as his ultimate foreign policy objectives.

Britain, France, Italy, and the League of Nations condemned these violations of the Treaty but did nothing to stop it. Hitler called the signing of the AGNA "the happiest day of his life", believing that the agreement marked the beginning of the Anglo-German alliance he had predicted in Mein Kampf. Germany reoccupied the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in March , in violation of the Versailles Treaty.

Hitler also sent troops to Spain to support Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War after receiving an appeal for help in July At the same time, Hitler continued his efforts to create an Anglo-German alliance. In October , Count Galeazzo Ciano , foreign minister of Mussolini's government, visited Germany, where he signed a Nine-Point Protocol as an expression of rapprochement and had a personal meeting with Hitler.

On 1 November, Mussolini declared an "axis" between Germany and Italy. Hitler abandoned his plan of an Anglo-German alliance, blaming "inadequate" British leadership. He ordered preparations for war in the East, to begin as early as and no later than In the event of his death, the conference minutes, recorded as the Hossbach Memorandum , were to be regarded as his "political testament".

In February , on the advice of his newly appointed foreign minister, the strongly pro-Japanese Joachim von Ribbentrop , Hitler ended the Sino-German alliance with the Republic of China to instead enter into an alliance with the more modern and powerful Empire of Japan. Hitler announced German recognition of Manchukuo , the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria , and renounced German claims to their former colonies in the Pacific held by Japan.

The men agreed that Henlein would demand increased autonomy for Sudeten Germans from the Czechoslovakian government, thus providing a pretext for German military action against Czechoslovakia. In April Henlein told the foreign minister of Hungary that "whatever the Czech government might offer, he would always raise still higher demands Germany was dependent on imported oil; a confrontation with Britain over the Czechoslovakian dispute could curtail Germany's oil supplies.

On 14 March , under threat from Hungary, Slovakia declared independence and received protection from Germany. In private discussions in , Hitler declared Britain the main enemy to be defeated and that Poland's obliteration was a necessary prelude for that goal. Hitler initially favoured the idea of a satellite state, but upon its rejection by the Polish government, he decided to invade and made this the main foreign policy goal of He had repeatedly claimed that he must lead Germany into war before he got too old, as his successors might lack his strength of will.

This plan required tacit Soviet support, [ ] and the non-aggression pact the Molotov—Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin , included a secret agreement to partition Poland between the two countries. This, along with news from Italy that Mussolini would not honour the Pact of Steel , prompted Hitler to postpone the attack on Poland from 25 August to 1 September.

On 1 September , Germany invaded western Poland under the pretext of having been denied claims to the Free City of Danzig and the right to extraterritorial roads across the Polish Corridor , which Germany had ceded under the Versailles Treaty. The fall of Poland was followed by what contemporary journalists dubbed the " Phoney War " or Sitzkrieg "sitting war".

Hitler instructed the two newly appointed Gauleiters of north-western Poland, Albert Forster of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and Arthur Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland , to Germanise their areas, with "no questions asked" about how this was accomplished. Greiser soon complained that Forster was allowing thousands of Poles to be accepted as "racial" Germans and thus endangered German "racial purity".

On 15 May , Himmler issued a memo entitled "Some Thoughts on the Treatment of Alien Population in the East", calling for the expulsion of the entire Jewish population of Europe into Africa and the reduction of the Polish population to a "leaderless class of labourers". On 9 April, German forces invaded Denmark and Norway. On the same day Hitler proclaimed the birth of the Greater Germanic Reich , his vision of a united empire of Germanic nations of Europe in which the Dutch, Flemish, and Scandinavians were joined into a "racially pure" polity under German leadership.

These victories prompted Mussolini to have Italy join forces with Hitler on 10 June. France and Germany signed an armistice on 22 June. Britain, whose troops were forced to evacuate France by sea from Dunkirk , [ ] continued to fight alongside other British dominions in the Battle of the Atlantic. Hitler made peace overtures to the new British leader, Winston Churchill , and upon their rejection he ordered a series of aerial attacks on Royal Air Force airbases and radar stations in southeast England.

On 7 September the systematic nightly bombing of London began. The nightly air raids on British cities intensified and continued for months, including London, Plymouth , and Coventry. Hitler's attempt to integrate the Soviet Union into the anti-British bloc failed after inconclusive talks between Hitler and Molotov in Berlin in November, and he ordered preparations for the invasion of the Soviet Union.

In February, German forces arrived in Libya to bolster the Italian presence. In April, Hitler launched the invasion of Yugoslavia , quickly followed by the invasion of Greece. By early August, Axis troops had advanced km miles and won the Battle of Smolensk. Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to temporarily halt its advance to Moscow and divert its Panzer groups to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kiev.

Four days later, Hitler declared war against the United States. Overconfident in his own military expertise following the earlier victories in , Hitler became distrustful of his Army High Command and began to interfere in military and tactical planning, with damaging consequences. Over , Axis soldiers were killed and , were taken prisoner.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio , placed in charge of the government, soon surrendered to the Allies. On 6 June , the Western Allied armies landed in northern France in one of the largest amphibious operations in history, Operation Overlord. Between and , there were numerous plans to assassinate Hitler , some of which proceeded to significant degrees.

Hitler narrowly survived because staff officer Heinz Brandt moved the briefcase containing the bomb behind a leg of the heavy conference table, which deflected much of the blast. Later, Hitler ordered savage reprisals resulting in the execution of more than 4, people. By March , at least seven indictments had been filed against him.

Recognising the strength and determination of the Red Army, Hitler decided to use his remaining mobile reserves against the American and British armies, which he perceived as far weaker. Roosevelt on 12 April , but contrary to his expectations, this caused no rift among the Allies. In the ruined garden of the Reich Chancellery, he awarded Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth , who were now fighting the Red Army at the front near Berlin.

Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the salient , while the German Ninth Army was ordered to attack northward in a pincer attack. During a military conference on 22 April, Hitler inquired about Steiner's offensive. He was informed that the attack had not been launched and that the Soviets had entered Berlin. Hitler ordered everyone but Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl , Hans Krebs , and Wilhelm Burgdorf to leave the room, [ ] then launched into a tirade against the perceived treachery and incompetence of his generals, culminating in his declaration—for the first time—that "everything is lost".

By 23 April, the Red Army had surrounded Berlin, [ ] and Goebbels made a proclamation urging its citizens to defend the city. Berlin surrendered on 2 May. The remains of the Goebbels family, General Hans Krebs who had committed suicide that day , and Hitler's dog Blondi were repeatedly buried and exhumed by the Soviets. There is no evidence that any identifiable remains of Hitler or Braun—with the exception of dental bridges—were ever found by them.

Hitler's death was entered as an assumption of death based on this testimony. If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevisation of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!

The Holocaust and Germany's war in the East were based on Hitler's long-standing view that the Jews were the enemy of the German people, and that Lebensraum was needed for Germany's expansion. He focused on Eastern Europe for this expansion, aiming to defeat Poland and the Soviet Union and then removing or killing the Jews and Slavs. The genocide was organised and executed by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich.

The records of the Wannsee Conference , held on 20 January and led by Heydrich, with fifteen senior Nazi officials participating, provide the clearest evidence of systematic planning for the Holocaust. On 22 February, Hitler was recorded saying, "we shall regain our health only by eliminating the Jews". Between and , the Schutzstaffel SS , assisted by collaborationist governments and recruits from occupied countries, were responsible for the deaths of at least eleven million non-combatants, [ ] [ ] including the murders of about 6 million Jews representing two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe , [ ] [ i ] and between , and 1,, Romani people.

Food supplies would be diverted to the German army and German civilians. Cities would be razed, and the land allowed to return to forest or resettled by German colonists. Hitler's policies resulted in the killing of nearly two million non-Jewish Polish civilians , [ ] over three million Soviet prisoners of war , [ ] communists and other political opponents, homosexuals , the physically and mentally disabled, [ ] [ ] Jehovah's Witnesses , Adventists , and trade unionists.

Hitler never spoke publicly about the killings and seems to have never visited the concentration camps. The laws banned sexual relations and marriages between Aryans and Jews and were later extended to include "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring". The principle relied on absolute obedience of all subordinates to their superiors; thus, he viewed the government structure as a pyramid, with himself—the infallible leader —at the apex.

Rank in the party was not determined by elections—positions were filled through appointment by those of higher rank, who demanded unquestioning obedience to the will of the leader. His cabinet never met after , and he discouraged his ministers from meeting independently. Hitler dominated his country's war effort during World War II to a greater extent than any other national leader.

He strengthened his control of the armed forces in , and subsequently made all major decisions regarding Germany's military strategy. His decision to mount a risky series of offensives against Norway, France, and the Low Countries in against the advice of the military proved successful, though the diplomatic and military strategies he employed in attempts to force the United Kingdom out of the war ended in failure.

Nevertheless, he continued to believe that only his leadership could deliver victory. Hitler created a public image as a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the nation. It was rumoured among contemporaries that Geli was in a romantic relationship with him, and her death was a source of deep, lasting pain.

Hitler was born to a practising Catholic mother and an anti-clerical father; after leaving home, Hitler never again attended Mass or received the sacraments. Conway states that Hitler was fundamentally opposed to the Christian churches. Hitler viewed the church as an important politically conservative influence on society, [ ] and he adopted a strategic relationship with it that "suited his immediate political purposes".

Hitler was more pragmatic, and his ambitions centred on more practical concerns. Researchers have variously suggested that Hitler suffered from irritable bowel syndrome , skin lesions , irregular heartbeat , coronary sclerosis , [ ] Parkinson's disease , [ ] [ ] syphilis , [ ] giant-cell arteritis , [ ] tinnitus , [ ] and monorchism.

Waite proposes that Hitler suffered from borderline personality disorder. Sometime in the s, Hitler adopted a mainly vegetarian diet , [ ] [ ] avoiding all meat and fish from onwards. At social events, he sometimes gave graphic accounts of the slaughter of animals in an effort to make his guests shun meat. Prescribed 90 medications during the war years by his personal physician, Theodor Morell , Hitler took many pills each day for chronic stomach problems and other ailments.

For peace, freedom and democracy never again fascism millions of dead warn [us]. According to historian Joachim Fest , Hitler's suicide was likened by numerous contemporaries to a "spell" being broken. Kershaw describes Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil". Germany suffered wholesale destruction, characterised as Stunde Null Zero Hour.

Rummel , the Nazi regime was responsible for the democidal killing of an estimated Historian Friedrich Meinecke described Hitler as "one of the great examples of the singular and incalculable power of personality in historical life". Roberts , Hitler's defeat marked the end of a phase of European history dominated by Germany. He contends that without Hitler, the de-colonisation of former European spheres of influence would have been postponed.

Hitler exploited documentary films and newsreels to inspire a cult of personality. He was involved and appeared in a series of propaganda films throughout his political career, many made by Leni Riefenstahl , regarded as a pioneer of modern filmmaking. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.

In other projects. Dictator of Nazi Germany from to Austria until Stateless — Germany from Eva Braun. German Army from Army Group A Adolf Hitler's voice. This article is part of a series about. Rise to power. Nazi Germany Cabinet Economy German rearmament. World War II. Crimes against humanity. Electoral campaigns. Image and legacy. See also: Hitler family.

Hitler's father, Alois , c. Hitler's mother, Klara , s. Early adulthood in Vienna and Munich. See also: Paintings by Adolf Hitler. Main article: Military career of Adolf Hitler. Main article: Political views of Adolf Hitler. Beer Hall Putsch and Landsberg Prison. Main article: Beer Hall Putsch. Rebuilding the Nazi Party. Main article: Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

Appointment as chancellor. Reichstag fire and March elections.

Epictetus brief biography of adolf hitler

Main article: Reichstag fire. Day of Potsdam and the Enabling Act. Main article: Enabling Act of Main article: Nazi Germany. Main article: Economy of Nazi Germany. Rearmament and new alliances. Main articles: Axis powers , Tripartite Pact , and German re-armament. Early diplomatic successes. See also: Germany—Japan relations. Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Main article: Death of Adolf Hitler. Main articles: The Holocaust and Final Solution. Main article: Hitler family. See also: Sexuality of Adolf Hitler. Main article: Religious views of Adolf Hitler. Hitler took this title after the death of Paul von Hindenburg , who had been serving as President. Kershaw , p. Would Fight". The San Francisco Chronicle.

Aigner, Dietrich In Koch, H. Aspects of the Third Reich. London: MacMillan. ISBN Doyle, D February Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. PMID Bauer, Yehuda Rethinking the Holocaust. New Haven: Yale University Press. Beevor, Antony Berlin: The Downfall London: Viking-Penguin Books. Bendersky, Joseph W Hitler spent much of his time at Berchtesgaden during these years, and his half-sister, Angela Raubal, and her two daughters often joined him.

After Hitler became infatuated with his beautiful blonde niece, Geli Raubal, his possessive jealousy apparently led her to commit suicide in Devastated by the loss, Hitler would consider Geli the only true love affair of his life. He soon began a long relationship with Eva Braun , a shop assistant from Munich, but refused to marry her.

The worldwide Great Depression that began in again threatened the stability of the Weimar Republic. Determined to achieve political power in order to affect his revolution, Hitler built up Nazi support among German conservatives, including army, business and industrial leaders. In , Hitler ran against the war hero Paul von Hindenburg for president, and received With the government in chaos, three successive chancellors failed to maintain control, and in late January Hindenburg named the year-old Hitler as chancellor, capping the stunning rise of an unlikely leader.

Rare and never-before-seen amateur films offer a unique perspective on the rise of Nazi Germany from Germans who experienced it. How were millions of people so vulnerable to fascism? Though the Nazis never attained more than 37 percent of the vote at the height of their popularity in , Hitler was able to grab absolute power in Germany largely due to divisions and inaction among the majority who opposed Nazism.

On March 23, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, giving full powers to Hitler and celebrating the union of National Socialism with the old German establishment i. His autocratic power now secure within Germany, Hitler turned his eyes toward the rest of Europe. In , Germany was diplomatically isolated, with a weak military and hostile neighbors France and Poland.

In a famous speech in May , Hitler struck a surprisingly conciliatory tone, claiming Germany supported disarmament and peace. By early the following year, he had withdrawn Germany from the League of Nations and begun to militarize the nation in anticipation of his plans for territorial conquest. When the year-old Hindenburg died on August 2, military leaders agreed to combine the presidency and chancellorship into one position, meaning Hitler would command all the armed forces of the Reich.

As part of Hitler's "Final Solution," the genocide enacted by the regime would come to be known as the Holocaust. Deaths and mass executions took place in concentration and extermination camps including Auschwitz -Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau and Treblinka, among many others. Other persecuted groups included Poles, communists, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and trade unionists.

Prisoners were used as forced laborers for SS construction projects, and in some instances they were forced to build and expand concentration camps. They were subject to starvation, torture and horrific brutalities, including gruesome and painful medical experiments. Hitler probably never visited the concentration camps and did not speak publicly about the mass killings.

However, Germans documented the atrocities committed at the camps on paper and in films. In , Hitler, along with several other European leaders, signed the Munich Pact. The treaty ceded the Sudetenland districts to Germany, reversing part of the Versailles Treaty. As a result of the summit, Hitler was named Time magazine's Man of the Year for This diplomatic win only whetted his appetite for a renewed German dominance.

In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. By July, Hitler ordered bombing raids on the United Kingdom, with the goal of invasion. On June 22, , Hitler violated the non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin , sending a massive army of German troops into the Soviet Union. The invading force seized a huge area of Russia before Hitler temporarily halted the invasion and diverted forces to encircle Leningrad and Kiev.

The pause allowed the Red Army to regroup and conduct a counter-offensive attack, and the German advance was stopped outside Moscow in December Honoring the alliance with Japan, Hitler was now at war against the Allied powers, a coalition that included Britain, the world's largest empire, led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill ; the United States, the world's greatest financial power, led by President Franklin D.

Roosevelt ; and the Soviet Union, which had the world's largest army, commanded by Stalin. Initially hoping that he could play the Allies off of one another, Hitler's military judgment became increasingly erratic, and the Axis powers could not sustain his aggressive and expansive war. The German army also suffered defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad , seen as a turning point in the war, and the Battle of Kursk As a result of these significant setbacks, many German officers concluded that defeat was inevitable and that Hitler's continued rule would result in the destruction of the country.

Organized efforts to assassinate the dictator gained traction, and opponents came close in with the notorious July Plot , though it ultimately proved unsuccessful. By early , Hitler realized that Germany was going to lose the war. On January 16, , Hitler moved his center of command to an underground air-raid shelter near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

Hitler's bunker was furnished with framed oil paintings and upholstered furniture, fresh drinking water from a well, pumps to remove groundwater, a diesel electricity generator and other amenities. At midnight, going into April 29, , Hitler married his girlfriend, Eva Braun , in a small civil ceremony in his underground bunker. Around this time, Hitler was informed of the execution of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

He reportedly feared the same fate could befall him. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, , fearful of being captured by enemy troops. Hitler took a dose of cyanide and then shot himself in the head. Eva Braun is believed to have poisoned herself with cyanide at around the same time. Their bodies were carried to a bomb crater near the Reich Chancellery, where their remains were doused with gasoline and burned.