Adolf Hitler Life and Strategies Essay

Introduction

This research paper critically analyses the life of Hitler as the president of Germany and the extent he went to conquer the whole world which he sought to do. It considers step by step on his rise to power and how he started war, how he advanced and his defeat. It also touches on his ideas and how he advocated for Jew’s free society that is in Germany. His successes and failures which made him to loose the war has also been covered.

Early Life of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April 1889 in Austria near the German boarder. He was a German politician and also the leader of National Socialist German Workers. He did well in school and this made his parents to see a bright future before him. His leadership qualities in school made him popular to his classmates. His consideration to become a monk was as a result of his religious beliefs which he acquired from his childhood.

He liked to dominate over other pupils and giving orders and this made him to loose his popularity. His dream for becoming an artist was the centre of his conflict with his father who wanted Hitler to become a civil servant (Bischof 1993).

He attended Catholic school. His father died when he was young and he survived by orphan’s pension and his mothers support, that was in Vienna. By pursuing his Fine arts in Vienna he was rejected because of his inability to paint and they directed him to the field of architecture. But this to him appeared impossible because for one to join the Architecture school one had to have attended the building school and also a high school degree was required.

After his mother’s demise in December 21st 1907, His life was in struggle to an extent of being a painter in Vienna for survival. Later he ran out of money and the academy of Arts rejected him to pursue artistic work.

Chancellor Hitler

Hitler became legally the Chancellor of Germany after being appointed by president Pawl Von Hindenburg in 1933. He headed the coalition government but later made the Hindenburg figurehead and consequently doing away with his non-Nazi partners. The Nazi regime was able to make Germany to prosper again and reduced mass unemployment. Still there was more spending which was directed to military and all labor unions and strikes were suppressed. This prosperity made Nazi more popular and no opposition was evident or no one dared to challenge Nazi rule. All liberal socialist and communists were put into exile by deployed police who were sent by the government of the time.

Hitler as a chancellor made sure that the government powers were centralized to him self and the state governments were demolished and Reich governors was put into place. Reich governors appointed city and towns representatives and in this exercise of appointing mayors Hitler had to approve.

All civil organizations and branches of the government were controlled by the party except the protestant and catholic churches. Hitler was so popular to an extent of being idolized by Nazi state and they called him Fuhrer (leader). When it came to interests and decision making, Hitler was not that broad and the two would overlap (Shaaron & Victoria, 1998).

All the demands of Hitler resulted to war any time they were not honored. This was a strategy he used and after the gain he would move to the next goal. This strategy worked well after Germany resigned from League of Nations and reflected the treaty and did all what the treaty was against.

Hitler made alliance with Benito Mussouni and he sent military aid to Spanish civil war. During this period Germany took over most of Europe and it’s after invasion of Poland that made Britain and France to declare war. This was the core reason that made the start of Second World War.

Hitler’s Political View

He denied the parliamentary democracy and advocated for self determination of the nation. He believed that a nation would manifest itself clearly when Minas are brought fourth together. He never believed that the leaders who are elected through ballot boxes can be representative of the people. He argued that development of leadership cannot be constructed within a short time but would take years or even decades.

He believed that Internationalism cannot bear real values of human cultures and believed that those who became international are those without creative ability like Jews, those had self reservation but individually they had no cultural abilities.

He regarded Jews as old enemies and he believed they hated Germans as Germans hated them. This idea made him to view Jews as the one would make him not to win the war hence he advocated for wiping off all Jews in Europe.

He was up to destroy Marxism and believed that his prosperity would be determined by the absence of Marxism. He also believed that without him war against Marxism would still continue, that was the core reason he regarded Marxism as the enemy of the people.

According to Hitler communism was brought by social democracy and it is through communism that would bring death and destruction of the nation and he vowed to fight democracy to death.

Weimar Republic

It was after the first world war that Germany lost and its monarchy came to a standstill and it proclaimed for a republic. After the constitution was put into place the president had political and military power and also there was presence of democracy. It was during this time that national election was held to elect representatives of national assembly. During this time Germany government accepted the Versailles Treaty which came up with terms that made Germany to pay the damages caused in the First World War (Weinberg, 2006). This also made Germany to loose some of its territory and colonies. Germany felt humiliated by the terms and Hitler believed that though humiliations still Germany had a very great destiny towards its greatness.

Weimar Republic was defined by government from Bavaria and through this Hitler declared to get rid of communists and the Jews. The Nazi party got up with the attention in their attempt to take Bavarian government and through this struggle to seize power in Munich made Hitler to be arrested and charged with treason.

Hitler in World War 1

Hitler was brave and this enabled him to serve in France and Belgium army and received honors which were very rare. Even after all those honors he was never promoted because his regimental staffs believed that he lacked leadership skills. Hitler got an injury in the war during some battle (Shaaron & Victoria, 1998). He was admitted in the hospital after being affected by a mustard gas attack and he became temporarily blind. It is during this experience that the issue of saving Germany became evident in his mind. By protecting Germany he believed that Europe’s Jews were to be destroyed but he did not have the slightest knowledge on how to do it.

During wars, Hitler admired Germany so much and later became a citizen and a patriot and believed that the war to his life was one of the greatest experience he ever had in life. Germany was deprived many advantages by a Versailles Treaty which also affected its economy. It was through the Treaty that Poland was recreated and the treaty also laid the blame of honors wars to Germany (Bischof 1993). But Germany considers the treaty as humiliation because its armed forces were to be limited according to the treaty. The numbers of battleships was only supposed not to be more than six, no sub-marines was allowed, no air force, and even the number of army was to be not more than 100,000.

Hitler and Nazi

Hitler after the treaty got a good reason to build up Germany they took the treaty as a good condition that is political and social to seek for power. Hitler remained in the army even after 1st world war and returned to Munich. He was later appointed as the police spy of intelligence commando to influence soldiers to enter the German Workers’ Party (GAP). Hitler joined the party and was really impressed by the party’s idea which favored anti-Semitic and active government with non-Jews. Hitler’s oratory skill was the core reason why he was invited to this party. And he got the privilege of being in the executive committee and one of the founding members. The party had to change its name to National Socialist German Work’s Party (NSDAP) so as to increase its appeal.

Hitler participated fully in the party after he was discharged from army in 1920. Later he became a good speaker in large crowds. Through his speaking skills he directed his speeches towards his rival politicians who perceived the idea of non-socialism and more so against Marxism and Jews. NSDAP advocated for removal of Jews from the society because they believed that the Jews were responsible domestic problems which were found in Germany.

Their goal was to completely remove the Jews. It is through this that Hitler and nationalist groups wanted to overthrow the Bavarian government (Shaaron & Victoria, 1998). Hitler was arrested, tried and sentenced to five years but he was only released after nine months. This made him to be transformed and became more tactful in politics. He also learned that it was not a matter of force alone which could lead him up to the political ladder and also through undermining the Weimar constitution, mass movement and intimidation.

The ban on Nazi Party was lifted and was allowed to speak in public. In 1928 elections, Nazi was unpopular and won very few seats but later in 1930 Nazi vote increased astronomically. The industrial magnates supported NSDAP financially and they were reassured by Hitler’s success and they trusted the party. Hitler later acquired citizenship and ran for presidency. He won the election four times more than communist candidates. It is after Hitler became president that he enjoyed domestic and international successes and abandoned the treaty and started building a large army (Weinberg, 1994).. For him to hold grip in the army he dismissed the senior general and took a central command of armed forces to implement his ideologies.

Hitler’s Battle Journey to Ussr

The Second World War was dominated by German Blitzkrieg tactics. They attacked airfields, communication military installations. Poland was overrun within one month, Denmark and Norway were defeated in less than two months. Later Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg and France were overthrown in six weeks. Britain itself stood firm but by June 1940 France was defeated.

Hitler’s first setback came when he tried to prevent Luftwaffe from control of English aerial security channel. This made him to turn to North Africans and Balkans where Italy was defeated; his army was able to defeat Greece, Yugoslavia, and the Crete Island and was also able to drive away the British from Cyrenaica.

The decision to invade Soviet Russia was as a result of his belief that this would prevent Britain from succeeding in continuing the war. He believed that after he took his step in Russia it would be a war of destruction of Jews in Europe. This according to Hitler would take the communist rule into the grave.

According to Shaaron & Victoria (1998), the war reached to the United States and due to USA support of Britain, Hitler declared total war to Germany’s enemies who stood behind British-American-Soviet alliance. British refused German control of Europe, this drove Hitler to implement ‘the solution of Jewish question’ which he believed to annihilate the Jews under German rule. Hence the invasion of Russia was to conquer the East so that he may have the platform to destroy the Jews and their biological roots.

As Hitler expected Russia did not collapse, he underestimated the depth of military which Russians would deploy and the spirit of fighting in Russian people. In stead he dismissed them as inferior peasants (Weinberg, 1994). He did this by concentrating his attacks in Moscow and moved to seize Ukraine. He did a great mistake to announce that he had taken Russia and they would never rise again. By doing this he disregarded the fact that the winter was on the way and his troops would be condemned by the winter.

Hitler dismissed his key commanders after they sought permission to withdraw from the war, he took full control of the military operation and never took heed to any advice which was contrary to the picture he had in his mind which was to conquer the world.

Hitler as moved to defensive when the US became part of the war. But still he refused to abandon the war or accept defeat even after it was clear that he was loosing the battle. Hitler’s health was affected by drugs he was taking and this made him unable to appear to public frequently and this affected his effectiveness. And this made it apparent that the German defeat was visible. Germany itself did not have enough resources to continue with the struggle (Bischof 1993). The generals after Hitler refused to withdraw, became frustrated and sought to pave way for negotiations but this failed and Hitler had to revenge to those conspirators by executing them. By 1945, the defeat was evident and he believed that if he did had to go down he would go down with the entire Germany.

Hitler noted that the time had reached when no further attack was possible toward Berlin, and afterwards he married Eva Braun in a civil ceremony. Later the next day he was informed that Benito Mussouni who was his close friend and Italian dictator had been assassinated. Hitler was more determined and he avoided to be captured. Soviet troops by now did street to street combat and were very close to where Hitler was and this made Hitler to commit suicide by shooting himself.

Hitler’s Successes

• Hitler was able to assemble talented individuals for his top hierarchy and influenced them towards his ideologies. They were very capable and were German leaders who participated in the 2nd world war.
• Hitler was able to use bullying successfully to defeat Austria and Czechoslovakia even without executing any fight towards them (Weinberg, 2006).
• He used blitzkrieg techniques rather than conventional French warfare technique to conquer France, Poland and many other European countries.
• Hitler had a great approval from German people because of his charisma even when his party was at its ebb.
• He made German to be temporarily the strongest nation in Europe from scratch. This was as a result of the treaty which restricted Germany from having strong military forces. And he did this by having a navy and air force from scratch.

Hitler’s Failures

• He failed to attack England after Dunkirk. This would have given him an upper hand because he had the vigour of war and had instilled fear among other European nations and this would have also instilled fear toward England and forces like USA could not have offered the support to England.
• He decided to attack Russia before he was through with England. This affected his military power because of the divided military hence weakening his military. This gave England an upper hand and never gave in to Germany.
• Hitler underestimated the power and strength of Russians and he post poned his attack on Russia.
• He did not concentrate all his forces toward Moscow rather he split his attacking military hence his attacks was not able to unleash terror toward Russians in full blast (Weinberg, 2006).
• Hitler did not continue producing arms after the wear began which is always expected but this became as a result of worry towards public domain and their standpoint. He felt that they were making too much sacrifices. On the other hand England continued producing war machines, like planes.
• Hitler never considered Jews in the war rather he was against them, therefore Jewish men had fought bravely for German in First World War, and if he had considered them they would have been of great importance due to their scientific minds which would have contributed towards the war (Weinberg, 1994).
• In other countries like Russia and England they mobilized women into the efforts of replacing men who were not available because of military service. This affected the economy because men were not replaced and this really had adverse effect towards Germany.

Reasons for War

Hitler involved himself into the war which brought about the 2nd world war for various reasons; some for his personal conquest and as countries conquest.

• They believed that they were humiliated by the treaty which restricted them from having a big armed force, union with countries like Austria was forbidden and also Germans were forced to live in Czechoslovakia and Poland. This made Hitler believe that they never lost in the war and wanted Germany to be great again.
• Germany population was growing quickly and this raised the need to expand its territory and this was only possible to conquer land in Eastern Europe.
• Hitler believed that Aryan race was superior and were to rule over others so he had the right to invade Europe and to make other Germans slaves.
• In Russia it was ruled by communists, which was not the case with Nazis who were fascists and he continuously blamed communists for Germany’s defeat in 1st world war, hence he wanted to defeat the communists.

Summary

As we have seen from the above research Hitler was an evil man as far as his ideologies were concerned but politically and military he was a genius. We cannot discredit the whole issue of Hitler’s life but we have seen that there are some lessons we can learn from his life. His strategies in war can be shifted in the success of economy by making sure that the success of any country depends upon the individuals who are at the top in hierarchy of making valid decisions. Hitler’s issue of working with German leaders could have excelled if only he took heed to their guidance. There is no man who is indispensable (Weinberg, 2006).

But every person in the society has his part to play for example the Jews had advanced in science and Hitler could have taken advantage of Jews innovation to win the Second World War. But his failures are really appreciated otherwise the whole world would be under dictatorship as he had planned. In essence Hitler’s decision to conquer the whole world was a fantasy because of limited resources Germany had, and this derives that war brings more destruction than negotiation. If he had done this through out consultation, no shedding of blood could have happened and we would be laying tribute on Hitler.

Reference List

Bischof, G. (1993). “The Historical Roots of a Special Relationship: Austro-German Relations between Hegemony and Equality“. In Unequal Partners, ed. Harald von Riekhoff and Hanspeter Neuhold. San Francisco: Westview Press,.

Shaaron, C& Victoria, C. (1998). Women under the Third Reich: A Biographical Dictionary. London: Greenwood Press Publisher.

Weinberg, G. (1994). Review of Klaus Reinhardt, and Karl B. Keenan ‘Moscow—The Turning Point. The Failure of Hitler’s Strategy in the winter of 1941–1942’.Central European History, 27, (pp 251-253). London: Cambridge University Press.

Weinberg, G. (2006). Adolf Hitler. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation.