The First World War had just ended. Germany lay in ruins.
The people were desperately grasping for a new leader—a saviour, someone to restore the glory of Germany, to rebuild the country, and to retrieve all that was lost in ‘The Great War.’
This was the perfect environment for anyone looking to grasp power. One particular man noticed this weakness and did not let it slip by unattended.
That man was Adolf Hitler.
Hitler's Early Involvement in Politics
Like many young Germans, Adolf Hitler fought in the First World War. When the news reached him that Germany was defeated, Hitler was in hospital recovering from a war wound. Like many other Germans, he blamed not the enemy but Germany's own leadership.
If only they had had a better government, all this needless damage and embarrassment could have been spared.
Preying upon the people’s vulnerability—and seeing an opportunity to grasp power—Adolf Hitler turned to politics.
He joined what was then called the German Workers’ Party, and quickly rose through the ranks. But he struggled to secure the very highest position in the party. So he threatened to leave altogether if they wouldn't let him lead. That threat was enough.
Hitler got his way. Once he was the leader of the party, he renamed it the National Socialist German Workers’ Party—commonly known as the Nazi Party—and made the infamous swastika their logo.
The Nazi's Attempt to Seize Munich
Inspired by Mussolini's success in overthrowing the government in Rome, Hitler formulated a similar plan. He would march on Munich—an influential German city—and seize control.
One evening, he and 600 men stormed a meeting some politicians were holding. Wielding a revolver, Hitler forced them to agree to join his rebellion—then he let them go. Meanwhile, some of Hitler’s men had taken control of the army headquarters and newspaper offices.
The next day came the grand—supposedly "triumphal"—procession into Munich. However, against his word, one of the politicians had called in police and army reinforcements.
A scuffle followed, during which sixteen of Hitler’s men were killed and more were arrested.
Adolf Hitler himself fled but was caught two days later and arrested. He was put on trial for High Treason and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The coup had failed; the Nazi party was banned, and Hitler was imprisoned.
That could have been the end of the story—and don’t we wish it was!
Hitler is Released and Becomes Chancellor
It is not immediately apparent as to why Hitler was released after only serving nine months of his five-year sentence, but it may have been on the condition of something like "good behaviour".
Upon his release, Hitler immediately resumed his leadership of the Nazi party and was as determined as ever to gain political control—but this time he used a different strategy. Hitler turned to relatively peaceful, democratic means, and by 1932, the Nazis had grown to be a major player in German elections.
In 1932 Hitler ran for president against war hero Paul von Hindenburg.
Hitler failed, but this did not dampen his efforts for full control. He continued to raise support in the background, displaying himself as the strong leader Germany needed to undo the damage and lead the nation into the glory that was rightfully hers.
Von Hindenburg eventually succumbed to public and internal pressure and appointed Hitler chancellor. But von Hindenburg still held the remaining position of authority—that of president.
Not until that position was vacant could Hitler gain full control.
Securing Total Power
Sure, Hindenburg was in the way, but Hitler wasn’t going to let that stop him from securing as much power as possible.
He was still limited by factors like the parliament, the law, and the constitution. They all must be put beneath him. But how?
A convenient opportunity soon presented itself.
The German Reichstag (parliament building) caught fire. Some sources suggest the Nazis themselves lit the blaze. We may never know for sure, but we do know that Hitler blamed the communists for the fire.
This was the perfect excuse to pass a law to keep his opponents in check. Parliament passed the law. But it still wasn’t enough for Hitler so in 1933, he passed the Enabling Act, which gave him emergency powers—permitted him to pass laws without parliamentary oversight and override the constitution.
To him, the problem was solved.
To the rest of the world, the problem was just beginning.
It was under these powers that Hitler ordered the first concentration camp to be constructed for communists and political opponents. It was under these powers that Hitler decreed that the Nazi party “constitutes the only political party in Germany.”
It was under these powers that all the atrocities of the Third Reich were committed.
On 2nd August 1934, von Hindenburg passed away. Instantly, Hitler grabbed his position and combined the presidency and chancellorship into the position of one, supreme, dreaded Führer (father).
The Second World War Begins
Now that he had consolidated total power over the parliament, the armed forces, and the nation, and now that he had secured full internal control, Hitler turned his eyes to the world.
At first, Germany’s advances were a roaring success.
Hitler made some military advancements toward neighbouring nations. Of course, he wasn’t declaring war—oh no!
He was simply retrieving land that was rightfully theirs in the first place.
Hitler made a “non-aggression” pact with Russia, and together they invaded Poland—one from the east and one from the west.
Poland quickly fell and Hitler rapidly expanded his territory.
Within one year, half of Europe had either been conquered or convinced to join them. After defeating France, Hitler sealed his alliance with his long-time role model—Italian dictator Mussolini.
With that alliance, Italy declared war on France and Britain.
Adolf Hitler's First Defeats
Having conquered half of Europe, Hitler turned his attention to that perilous rival across the channel—Great Britain.
He harassed Britain with continuous bombing. But, despite the devastating havoc wrought, Britain’s superior technology and fierce determination overcame the Germans.
It was here, in 1941, that Germany experienced their first defeat.
So Hitler turned East—to Russia. True to his nature, he defied his “non-aggression” pact by invading them in June 1941.
Despite the initial success, Hitler was confronted with a problem nearly directly opposite to that he faced in Britain—not advanced technology, rather primitive weaponry but in stupendously vast amounts.
The bitterly cold temperatures literally froze German tanks in their tracks. Lack of food, medical supplies, and winter clothing put the Germans in a perilous position.
A horrific battle ensued, in which about a million people were killed. Finally, on February 4, 1943, the Germans surrendered to Russia.
North Africa and the D-Day Landings
So Hitler suffered his third major defeat, and not long after another in North Africa. The Allies were gradually pushing back and recovering land.
Then, on 6 June 1944, 156,000 Allied troops landed on the shores of German-occupied France, marking the beginning of the end of the war. They progressed through Europe, liberating towns and cities creeping nearer and nearer Berlin.
As the Western Allies closed in from the west, Russia was advancing on the east.
From January 1945, Hitler holed himself up in a bunker under Berlin. His health was declining and he was increasingly reliant on various medications. Remarkably, despite their losses, the Germans fought on to the bitter end.
But their capital was in ruins, the people were starving, and it was only a matter of time before the glorious Reich would be utterly annihilated.
The Allies Close In
By April 28, 1945, the Allies were barely one mile from the Reichstag.
At midnight, Hitler got married. The next afternoon, news reached him Mussolini had been executed by the Italian Resistance. Possibly fuelled by this incentive not to fall into enemy hands, and the inevitability of the oncoming doom, on April 30, Hitler shot himself and his new bride ate poison.
As instructed, their bodies were taken out, doused in petrol, and burned.
On 2 May, Berlin fell to the Allies. A week later, on 7 May 1945, Germany unconditionally surrendered on all fronts, but not before wreaking havoc in the most devastating war the world had ever seen.
The aftermath of Hitler’s ‘solution’ was so incomparably worse than the problem he allegedly came to power to solve.
Not only was Germany now a relic of its former glory, but Hitler was dead, and the world around them lay in ruins.
Select Further Reading
C. Mitchell, "Was Adolf Hitler the total master of the Third Reich, or was he a ‘weak dictator’?", History's Page, accessed 17 September 2024, https://www.historyspage.com/post/was-adolf-hitler-the-total-master-of-the-third-reich-or-was-he-a-weak-dictator.
History.com editors. “Adolf Hitler.” History, Original: 29 October 2009, Updated: 29 June 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/adolf-hitler-1#section_18.
J. Llewellyn et al, “The downfall of Nazism”, Alpha History, accessed 16 March 2024, https://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/downfall-of-nazism/
Wikipedia, “Adolf Hitler,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler.
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