Anthony Clifton

The Rise of Hitler

The rise of Hitler sparked a terrible act of war and inhumanity. It caused the German
government to become corrupt and overall a world power. Within this time, Italy and Japan had
formed an alliance called the Axis Powers. When Japan launched the surprise attack on Pearl
Harbour, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, on America, it officially started World War II.

In 1919, Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. This made many

consequences; as a result, Germany. After losing World War I the country progressively
got increasingly poor. Nonetheless, the country paid huge reparations and overall lost
power and prestige. The worldwide depression had hit the country especially hard, The
Germans lacked confidence in their weak government, known as the Weimar Republic. These
conditions provided the chance for the rise of a new leader. While preparing for the upcoming
election, Hitler developed a remarkable skill at this sort of manipulation and marveled at his own
ability to bend crowds to his will. His success as a demagogue laid in his ability to say what the
disaffected masses wanted to hear, to speak their language, to capture and exploit a
psychology of despair and invest it with a new hope for a phoenix-like resurgence of the nation.
He was able as no one else to give voice to popular hatreds, resentments, hopes, and
expectations. He spoke more stridently, more vehemently, more expressively and appealingly
than any of those with a similar ideological message.
By 1932, Hitler had enough support to run for president of Germany, though he lost the election
to Paul von Hindenburg. However, on January 30,1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as
chancellor of Germany. Within a year and a half, Hindenburg had died and Hitler was able to
take over both the position of president and chancellor and combine them into one position of
supreme leader, the Fhrer. After legally gaining power in Germany, Hitler quickly began
solidifying his position by putting those that disagreed with him into concentration camps. He
created massive amounts of propaganda that strengthened German pride by blaming all their
problems on communists and the jews. Soon, the Nazi party controlled everything: the news
media, arms, police, the armed forces, the judiciary system, communications, travel, all levels of
education from kindergarten to universities, all cultural and religious institutions. Political
indoctrination started at a very early age, and continued by means of the Hitler Youth with the
ultimate goal of mind control. Children were exhorted in school to denounce even their own
parents for derogatory remarks about Hitler or Nazi ideology.
Beset by a dwindling supply of manpower and ever-increasing Allied aerial and ground attacks,
the once mighty German military machine slowly began to unravel. The war of conquest Hitler
had launched in 1939 had now evolved into a struggle to save Nazi Germany itself from
annihilation. Above all, the Germans feared the colossal Russian army steadily inching its way
toward Germany from the east. After the fall of Stalingrad, German troops in Russia had

managed to regroup and go on the defensive but were continually losing ground.The expansion
of objectives was a significant factor in Germany's failure at Stalingrad. It was based on a sort of
victory fever and an underestimation of Soviet reserves. In summer 1943, Hitler decided to
gamble for victory one last time in Russia, and stave off disaster for Nazi Germany. On April
29th, he married his mistress. He and his new wife spent less than forty hours together in the
bunker. Der Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid
shelter, however, in the afternoon of April 30th, individuals heard a gunshot from the study. Hitler
had shot himself, and it was assumed that his new wife poisoned herself.
The World War came to an end with the Russians and Americans victorious. Germany had been
defeated and America had to pay reparations on the destroyed German cities. Americas
economy thrived and everything was well again. That was the end of the bloodiest conflict in all
of history.