Hitler and Nazi Germany (1933 - 1945)
Adolf Hitler
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Although he initially headed a coalition government, he quickly eliminated his government partners. At this time Germany's borders were still determined by the Treaty of Versailles, the peace treaty between Germany and the allied powers of the United Kingdom, France, United States, Italy, and Japan at the end of the First World War. To the north, Germany was bounded by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east, it was divided into two and bordered Lithuania, The Free City of Danzig, Poland and Czechoslovakia; to the south, it bordered Austria and Switzerland and to the west, it touched France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Rhineland and Saarland. These borders changed after Germany regained control of the Rhineland, Saarland and the Memelland and annexed Austria, the Sudetenland and Bohemia and Moravia. Germany expanded into Greater Germany during the Second World War, which began in 1939 after Germany invaded Poland, triggering the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany.
Germany conquered and occupied most of Europe and Northern Africa during the Second World War. Millions of Jews and other minorities were persecuted and killed, particularly during the Second World War, amidst the Holocaust. Despite an alliance with other nations, mainly Italy and Japan, that together formed the Axis powers, by 1945, Germany had lost the war and ceased to exist. It was subsequently occupied after the war by the victorious allied powers of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States, and France.
Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
Adolf Hitler, 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945, was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), popularly known as the Nazi Party. He was the ruler of Germany from 1933 to 1945, serving as chancellor from 1933 to 1945 and as head of state (Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the Nazi Party (DAP) in 1919 and became leader of NSDAP in 1921. Following his imprisonment after a failed coup in Bavaria in 1923, he gained support by promoting German nationalism, anti-semitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. He was appointed chancellor in 1933, and quickly established and made reality of his vision of a totalitarian, autocratic, single party, national socialist dictatorship. Hitler pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for Aryan peoples, directing the resources of the state towards this goal. His rebuilt Wehrmacht invaded Poland in 1939, causing the United Kingdom and France to declare war against the Third Reich, leading to the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe.
Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers occupied most of Europe, and most of Northern Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onwards and in 1945 Allied armies invaded Germany from all sides. His forces committed numerous atrocities during the war, including the systematic killing of as many as 17 million civilians, an estimated six million of whom were Jews targeted in a genocide known as the Holocaust.
During the final days of the war in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun. Less than two days later, the two committed suicide.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the Nazi Party (DAP) in 1919 and became leader of NSDAP in 1921. Following his imprisonment after a failed coup in Bavaria in 1923, he gained support by promoting German nationalism, anti-semitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. He was appointed chancellor in 1933, and quickly established and made reality of his vision of a totalitarian, autocratic, single party, national socialist dictatorship. Hitler pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for Aryan peoples, directing the resources of the state towards this goal. His rebuilt Wehrmacht invaded Poland in 1939, causing the United Kingdom and France to declare war against the Third Reich, leading to the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe.
Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers occupied most of Europe, and most of Northern Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onwards and in 1945 Allied armies invaded Germany from all sides. His forces committed numerous atrocities during the war, including the systematic killing of as many as 17 million civilians, an estimated six million of whom were Jews targeted in a genocide known as the Holocaust.
During the final days of the war in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun. Less than two days later, the two committed suicide.
