Adolf Hitler, the man behind the Holocaust and the center of the start of the Second World War, is no longer remembered as the decorated war veteran that he was before coming into power. Today, he is remembered as a murderer, a terrorist, and a black mark on world history. Hitler was born in Austria in 1889, and only had one sibling that survived beyond childhood. Four of his siblings died young, with the oldest being 4 years old. Hitler dreamed of being an artist as a child and applied to the Vienna Academy of Art twice in his lifetime. He was never accepted.
Adolf Hitler had deep, virulent anti-Semitic views, but it isn't sure of where he learned such things. There are many theories about where his hatred spawned from, including the heritage of his grandfather, the Jewish doctor who was caring for his mother at the time of her death, as well as his residence in Vienna, which was highly anti-Semitic at the time when Hitler lived there.
Hitler's move to Germany was initially to avoid being drafted into the Austrian Army during World War I. Once he arrived, however, he actually volunteered for military service under the German Army. He became a decorated veteran for his efforts, and was furious that Germany had surrendered to the Allied Forces to end the war.
His return to Munich came with one goal: to enter politics and resolve his displeasure with the surrender that had ended the First World War. In 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party, a small anti-Semitic group that eventually evolved into the Nazi party. By 1920, Hitler was the leader of this party and changed its name. This allowed him to give public speeches and gain followers and financial backing for his ideologies and anti-Semitic politics. He was imprisoned for 9 months for trying to take over the government in a coup, and then legally built his political power to become chancellor in 1933.
The goals of Hitler were simple: to strengthen the army and expand the country's territory. This violated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, but this didn't stop him. Until 1939, he went on untouched, when finally the attack on Poland caused the Allied Forces to fight back, spawning World War II. Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust as part of his 'Final Solution' and 'New Order' ideologies, which resulted in the killing of more than 6 million Jews and over 11 million people in total. He committed suicide on April 30, 1945.
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