Adolph Hilter was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria to father Alois, who was a customs official, and mother Klara. His father was illegitimate, and originally had the surname Schicklgruber, which he later changed to Hitler, which was the name of his Alois Hitler’s adoptive father. Later in his life this would come back to haunt Hitler, as his political opponents were quick to point out that he was in fact not a "real" Hitler. It is also rumoured that he was partially Jewish, because it is alleged that his grandmother Maria, who had been a servant girl in a Jewish household and became pregnant. This allegation is however disputed because Jews had been expelled from the city of Graz, where she worked, in the 15^th Century and were not allowed to return until later than Maria Schicklgruber became pregnant. Hitler never knew with certainty who his grandfather was; for this reason he continually attempted to conceal details of ancestry.

Hitler’s young life saw much sadness and many deaths of his immediate family. Of Hitler’s 5 Siblings, four died in childhood, only he and his Sister Paula survived.. His father died on 03 January 1903, and his mother died on 21 December 1907 of breast cancer.

Young "Adi", as he was nicknamed, moved around often due to his father’s occupation, moving from Braunau then to Passau, to Lambach and Leonding bei Linz for his primary schooling; he was a good student in primary school. He started his secondary schooling in Linz in 1900, initially failing miserably and having to repeat his first year. He later characterized this as a "Lernstreik" or learning strike, as he felt he was being forced into a future career as a civil servant, whereas he had aspired to become a painter.

He stayed in the Linz secondary school until 1904, when he transferred to the secondary school in Steyr and was schooled there between 1904-1905. Hitler’s father was a very strict disciplinarian, although probably not stricter than typical for the time, and Hitler hated and respected him at the same time. His mother, on the other hand, was very doting, and he was very devoted to her.

After 1905, Hitler led a Bohemian lifestyle, and surviving on a partial government pension granted because he was "half-ophaned", and partly from money from his mother. In 1907 and 1908 he applied twice for entry exams to the Vienna Art Academy (Wiener Kunstakademie) but was not accepted due to lack of artistic talent.

After his mother’s death, Hitler survived on a full orphan’s pension for several years, moving to Vienna in 1909 and living in hostels and flophouses, as his money slowly dwindled. In Vienna he was exposed to the anti-semetic politics espoused by Jörg Lanz, Georg Ritter von Schönerer und Dr. Karl Lueger; and began to embrace the concepts of the Aryan master race. He also became an avid fan of opera and Richard Wagner. In 1910 his pension had come to an end, but he inherited money from an aunt, which kept him going financially. In 1913 the inheritance from his father’s estate was paid to him, and he moved to Munich. However, when the First World War broke out in August 1914, he signed on as a volunteer in the Bavarian Division.

During the First World War, Hitler was awarded the Iron Cross second class, the Iron Cross first class, and was wounded twice Although he was a good soldier, he was disliked by fellow comrades due to his completely blind loyalty to officers and superiors. He was blinded by a gas attack on 13 October 1918 and spent the rest of the war in a military hospital. There is now speculation that this blindness was caused by a hysterical reaction due to the defeat of Germany in the war. He was diagnosed by a military psychologist as psychopathic that should not be given leadership functions; his company leader similarly described Hitler as hysterical, and not suitable for officer material.

After the war Hitler remained in the army, which was mainly engaged in suppressing socialist uprisings breaking out across Germany, including Munich, where Hitler returned in 1919. He took part in "national thinking" courses organised by the Education and Propaganda Department (Dept Ib/P) of the Bavarian Reichswehr Group, Headquarters 4 under Captain Mayr. A key purpose of this group was to create a scapegoat for the outbreak of the war and Germany's defeat. The scapegoats were found in "international Jewry", communists and politicians across the party spectrum.

In July 1919, Hitler, because of his intelligence and oratory skills, was appointed a V-Mann (Verbindungsmann is the German term for a police spy) of an "Enlightenment Commando" by the Reichswehr, for the purpose of influencing other soldiers towards similar ideas and was assigned to infiltrate a small nationalist party, the German Workers' Party, which he joined in September 1919. Here Hitler met Dietrich Eckart, an anti-Semite and one of the early founders of the party.

Hitler was discharged from the army in 1920 and began participating full time in the party's activities. He soon became its leader and changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP), usually known as the Nazi party .

Hitler had discovered he had two remarkable talents, one for public oratory and another for inspiring personal loyalty. His street-corner oratory, attacking Jews, socialists and liberals, capitalists and Communists, began attracting adherents. Early followers included Rudolf Hess, Hermann Göring, and Ernst Röhm, head of the Nazis' paramilitary organisation, the SA. Another admirer was wartime General Erich Ludendorff. Hitler decided to use Ludendorff as a front in an attempt to seize power in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, in an abortive coup later known as the "Hitler Putsch" or "March to Berlin" of November 8, 1923, when the Nazis marched from a beer hall to the Bavarian War Ministry, intending to overthrow Bavaria's right-wing separatist government and then march on Berlin. The army quickly dispersed them and Hitler was arrested. To protect his own position, Hitler appointed Alfred Rosenberg as temporary leader of the group.

Hitler was tried for high treason and in April 1924 was sentenced to five years' imprisonment at Landsberg prison, where he received favoured treatment from the guards and had much fan mail from admirers which included many women. While at Landsberg he dictated his political book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to his deputy Rudolf Hess. The first volume, called eine "Abrechnung" (payback) was later published and became the platform of the Nazi party (by the late 1930s nearly every household in Germany had a copy of it). Meanwhile, considered relatively harmless, Hitler was given an early amnesty and released in December 1924. By this time the Nazi party had dwindled down to a bare existence and Hitler began a long effort to rebuild it.

A key element of Hitler's appeal was his ability to convey a sense of offended national pride caused by the Treaty of Versailles imposed on the defeated German Empire by the Allies. Germany had lost territory in Europe and its colonies, had to admit to sole responsibility for the war and pay a huge reparations bill totaling $6,600,000 (32 billion marks). Most Germans bitterly resented these terms, but early attempts to gain support by blaming these humiliations on "international Jewry" were not particularly successful with the electorate. The party learned quickly and soon a more subtle propaganda emerged, combining anti-Semitism with an attack on the failures of the "Weimar system" and the parties supporting it.

The Road to Power

The political turning point for Hitler came with the Depression which hit Germany in 1930. The democratic regime established in Germany in 1919 (the Weimar Republic) had never been accepted by conservatives and was openly opposed by fascists. The Social Democrats and traditional parties of the centre and right were unable to cope with the shock of the Depression. In the September 1930 elections the Nazis suddenly rose from obscurity to win more than 18% of the vote along with 107 seats in the Reichstag, becoming the second largest party in Germany.

Hitler appealed to the bulk of German farmers, war veterans and the middle-class, who had been hard-hit by both the inflation of the 1920s and the unemployment of the Depression. The urban working classes generally ignored Hitler's appeals and Berlin and the Ruhr towns were particularly hostile. The 1930 election was a disaster for Heinrich Brüning's centre-right government, which was now deprived of a majority in the Reichstag.

Meanwhile in December 1931 Hitler's niece Geli Raubal was found dead in her bedroom in his Munich apartment (his half-sister Angela and her daughter Geli had been with him in Munich since 1929), an apparent suicide. Geli was much younger than he was, she was his niece and she used his gun, drawing rumours of a relationship between the two. There is still speculation regarding the circumstances of her death, which is generally viewed as an event of lasting turmoil for Hitler.

While Brüning's austerity measures were bringing little economic improvement, the government was anxious to avoid a presidential election in 1932 and hoped to secure Nazi agreement to an extension of President Paul von Hindenburg's term. Hitler refused and ultimately competed against Hindenburg in the 1932 presidential election, coming in second on both rounds of the election. He attained more than 35% of the vote during the second round in April.

Hindenburg dismissed the government, appointing a new one under the conservative Franz von Papen, which immediately called for new Reichstag elections. In July 1932 the Nazis had their best election showing yet, winning 230 seats and becoming the largest party in the Reichstag. Since the Nazis and the communists now together controlled a majority of the Reichstag, the formation of a stable government of mainstream parties had become impossible. After a vote of no-confidence in the Papen government, supported by 84% of the delegates, the new Reichstag was dissolved and new elections were called.

Papen and the Centre Party (Zentrumspartei) began negotiations to secure Nazi participation in the new government but Hitler set high terms, demanding the Chancellorship along with the President's agreement that he be able to use emergency powers. The offer was rebuffed, and combined with the Nazis' failure to win working class support, some Nazi supporters were alienated. During the November 1932 elections the Nazis lost votes although they remained by far the largest party in the Reichstag. Since Papen had failed to secure a majority, Hindenburg dismissed him and appointed General Kurt von Schleicher, who promised he could secure a majority government by negotiations with both Social Democratic labour unions and the dissident Nazi faction led by Gregor Strasser.

Papen and Alfred Hugenberg (Chairman of the German National People's Party, the DNVP, before the Nazis became Germany's principal right-wing party) conspired to persuade Hindenburg to appoint Hitler Chancellor in a coalition with the DNVP, promising they would be able to control him. When Schleicher was forced to admit failure in his efforts to form a coalition and asked Hindenburg for yet another Reichstag dissolution, Hindenburg fired him and appointed Hitler Chancellor, Papen Vice-Chancellor and Hugenberg Minister of Economics in a cabinet which included only three Nazis, Hitler, Göring and Wilhelm Frick. On 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler was officially sworn in as Chancellor in the Reichstag chamber with thousands of Nazi supporters looking on and cheering.

In the March 1933 elections the Nazis received 44% of the vote. The party gained control of a majority of seats in the Reichstag through a formal coalition with the DNVP. After the Reichtag was set on fire (and the communists blamed for it) the Enabling Act gave Hitler dictatorial authority, passed by the Reichstag after the Nazis expelled the Communist deputies. Under the Enabling Act the Nazi cabinet had the power to pass legislation just as the Reichstag did. The Act further specified that the cabinet could only approve measures submitted by the Chancellor (Hitler) and that it would lapse after four years time or upon the installation of a new government. The Enabling Act was dutifully renewed every four years, even during World War II.

A series of decrees followed soon after the passage of the Enabling Act. Other parties were suppressed and all opposition was banned. In only a few months Hitler had achieved authoritarian control. President Paul von Hindenburg died in early August 1934. Rather than have new presidential elections, Hitler's cabinet passed a law combining the offices of President and Chancellor, with Hitler holding both offices (including the President's decree powers) as "Leader and National Chancellor." This consolidation was approved by the electorate in mid-August 1934. Then, in an unprecedented step, Hitler ordered every member of the military to swear a personal oath of allegiance to him.

Having secured supreme political power without an electoral mandate from the majority of Germans, Hitler went on to gain their support and remained overwhelmingly popular until the very end of his regime. He was a master orator and with all of Germany's mass media under the control of his propaganda chief, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, he persuaded most Germans he was their saviour from the Depression, the Communists, the Versailles Treaty and the Jews.

Hitler oversaw one of the greatest expansions of industrial production and civil improvement Germany had ever seen, mostly based on debt floatation and expansion of the military. Nazi policies towards women strongly encouraged them to stay at home to bear children and keep house. The unemployment rate was cut substantially, mostly through arms production and sending women home, letting men take their jobs. Given this, claims that the German economy achieved near full employment are at least partly artifacts of propaganda from the era. Hitler also oversaw one of the largest infrastructure improvement campaigns in German history, with the construction of dozens of dams, autobahns, railroads and other civil works. Hitler's policies emphasised the importance of family life: Men were the "breadwinners", womens' priorities were "church, kitchen and children."

Hitler's government sponsored architecture on an immense scale, with Albert Speer becoming famous as the first architect of the Reich. In 1936 Berlin hosted the summer Olympic games, which were opened by Hitler and choreographed to demonstrate Aryan superiority over all other races.

Although Hitler made plans for a Breitspurbahn (broad gauge railroad network), they were preempted by World War II. Had the railroad been built, its gauge would have been three meters, even wider than the old Great Western Railway of Britain.

For the unpersuaded, the SA, SS and Gestapo (secret state police) were given a free hand. Thousands disappeared into concentration camps. Many thousands more emigrated, including about half of Germany's Jews.

By 1934 Ernst Röhm's SA had become unpopular with most of the other influential political and military groups in Germany. Hitler ordered his lieutenant Himmler to murder Röhm and dozens of other real and potential enemies during the night of June 29-June 30, 1934, the Night of the Long Knives.

Under the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, Jews lost their German citizenship and were expelled from government employment, the professions and most forms of economic activity. They were also subject to a barrage of hateful propaganda. Few non-Jewish Germans objected to these steps. Restrictions were further tightened later, particularly after the 1938 anti-Jewish operation known as Kristallnacht. From 1941 Jews were required to wear a yellow star in public. Between November 1938 and September 1939 more than 180,000 Jews fled Germany and the Nazis seized whatever property they left behind.

In March 1935 Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles by reintroducing conscription in Germany. He set about building a massive military machine, including a new Navy (the Kriegsmarine) and an Air Force (the Luftwaffe). The enlistment of vast numbers of men and women in the new military seemed to solve unemployment problems but seriously distorted the economy.

In March 1936 he again violated the Treaty of Versailles by reoccupying the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland. When Britain and France did nothing, he grew bolder. In July 1936 the Spanish Civil War began when the military, led by General Francisco Franco, rebelled against the elected Popular Front government of Spain. Hitler sent troops to support Franco and Spain served as a testing ground for Germany's new armed forces and their methods, including the bombing of undefended towns such as Guernica, which was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in April 1937, prompting Pablo Picasso's famous eponymous painting (see Guernica (painting)).

An Axis was declared between Germany and Italy by Galeazzo Ciano, foreign minister of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini on October 25, 1936. This alliance was later expanded to include Japan, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. They were collectively known as the Axis Powers. Then on November 5, 1937 at the Reich Chancellory, Adolf Hitler held a secret meeting and stated his plans for acquiring "living space" (Lebensraum) for the German people.

On 12 March 1938 Hitler pressured his native Austria into unification with Germany (the Anschluß) and made a triumphant entry into Vienna. Next he intensified a crisis over the German-speaking Sudetenland district of Czechoslovakia. This led to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, which British prime minister Neville Chamberlain hailed as Peace in our time. At Munich, Britain and France had weakly given way to his demands, averting war but failing to save Czechoslovakia. As a result of the summit Hitler was Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1938.

Hitler ordered Germany's army to enter Prague on 10 March 1939, claiming territories ceded to Poland under the Versailles Treaty. Britain hadn't been able to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union for an alliance against Germany and on 23 August 1939 Hitler concluded a secret non-aggression pact (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) with Stalin. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact specifically called for the division of Eastern Europe between Germany and the USSR

World War II began on Sept 1 1939 with the German invasion of Poland. Despite fierce resistance, the polish military was smashed by the German blitzkrieg. Warsaw fell to the Germans on 27 September and Stalin moved quickly to seal Poland’s doom and claim his share of the spoils by invading from the east in accordance with the deal he had struck with Hitler in August of that year. Much to Hitler’s surprise, the western powers declared war on Germany 2 days after the invasion started. Germanys rapid success in Poland, however, ensured her ability to redeploy the Wehrmacht to the Reich’s western frontier. Spring of 1940 saw the German war machine rage through western Europe conquering Denmark, Norway, and the low countries in quick succession.

The end for France came quickly as well. Anticipating a German thrust south of the Ardennes forest and along the front of the famed Maginot Line, French forces were totally unprepared for the audacious plan devised by Hitler and his generals, code named Fall gelb. This operation called for an offensive along the French-Belgian border straight through the heart of the Ardennes, which the allies thought impassable by tanks. By 12 May, German panzer crews found themselves on the banks of the Meuse, the French government was forced to flee Paris, and all French troops were forced to withdraw to the Loire River, thus breaking their communications with the British expeditionary force. France sued for peace only days after the disaster. It was the pinnacle of Hitler’s career and his popularity in Germany was at a high point. He had avenged his nation’s defeat in the first world war, thoroughly humiliated the French, and drove the British from the continent. On June 23, 1940 he toured Paris in triumph.

After the defeat of then-hated France, Hitler ordered a bombing campaign of England to impress upon her the futility of resistance to the new European order. He even had his generals draw up preliminary plans for an all out invasion of the island kingdom appropriately entitled Operation Seelöwe. However, the British became increasingly resolute in the face of nazi terror bombing and the invasion never became a reality not least because Hitler’s future ambitions lay in the east.

Despite their cooperation, both Hitler and Stalin watched one another warily along their newly conquered frontiers. Their non-aggression pact was a scrap of paper to both men which would be discarded when no longer of any utility. It had been Stalin’s wish that the West exhaust itself in the battle of France thus opening the door for Soviet domination of the continent. Even as France fell, Stalin still hoped for a protracted nazi campaign to bring England to its knees. This did not materialize, but German troop build up along the Soviet border did. Stalin ignored reports from his own intelligence services of the German concentration and remained steadfast in his belief that it he who had hoodwinked Hitler and not vice-versa. As it happened, Hitler beat him to the punch.

Hitler considered the Soviet Union to be the ideological antithesis to his third Reich. and its destruction necessary for the future well being of the German people. As the standard bearer of "Jewish Bolshevism", the Soviet state represented everything Hitler despised. His dream (shared by many Nazi officials) was to push this Red, Asiatic horde away from German territory and to guarantee Lebensraum or "living space" to his countrymen.. To achieve these ends, Hitler concluded that all it would take is one swift kick "to bring the whole rotting structure crashing down". It almost did.

Hitler’s grandest of schemes began early on 22 June, 1941; over one million men, thousands of tanks and aircraft crossed the Soviet border. Success was immediate. Red army formations were chopped to pieces and refugees swelled the roads east panicked by the irresistible nazi advance. Major Russian cities such as Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, Smolensk, and Minsk (among others) fell to the Germans within a few months. Red army casualties were horrific and included some 3 million prisoners. Hitler’s legions, however, soon became victims of their own success. Their armored spearheads had over extended themselves leaving behind them large pockets of red army personnel that needed to be mopped up and German supply lines became unmanageable. Moreover, by November 1941, the weather turned into a greater enemy than the Russian foe as roads became mired in mud. The advance ground ahead slowly but by December the Germans were within range of Moscow. Only the onset of one of Russia’s worst winters in a century coupled with renewed defensive vigor on the part of the Red Army stopped the nazi offensive frustratingly close to Moscow’s suburbs. The Russian Winter took a heavy toll on the Wehrmacht, which was unprepared for a protracted war.

Neither Hitler nor his high command had expected this development since all had expected the war to be a short one; expectations has been so high, that the Wehrmacht was completely unprepared for winter conditions and even clothing was inadequate for winter conditions. Machines broke down and frostbite casualties were devastating, sapping some formations of a significant amount of their strength. Leningrad in the north was determined to hold out against a German siege. More serious, however, was the arrival of fresh Russian troops from the Siberian army. They launched a ferocious counterattack on the overextended Wehrmacht. Hitler issued his infamous order that winter to stand firm and not yield an inch of ground but the Germans were forced to retreat away from the Soviet capital harried by the Russians at every step. Hitler’s refusal to allow his generals to conduct a strategic retreat, however, may have saved his army from a Napoleonic catastrophe.

Hitler has often been criticized for his stubbornness and meddling in the affairs of his general staff but the question remains as to how justified this criticism was. Its clear that, at least on some occasions, Hitler had a better grasp of the overall strategic situation then many of his generals did. This is true particularly for the period 1940-1943. For instance, Hitler’s decision not to retreat before Moscow , a decision often maligned by his detractors for the suffering it inflicted on his troops, could possibly have been the best course to follow. The spectre of Napoleon’s Russian debacle hung over around the Wehrmacht’s neck like an albatross. Hitler was keenly aware of the total moral collapse that could ensue if the strategic withdrawal suggested by his generals did not go perfectly as planned. Indeed, considering the intense pressure applied by the Red Army, this withdrawal may have easily degenerated into a disastrous rout. Historians have also questioned Hitler’s decision to clear pockets of Soviet troops in the German rear before turning toward Moscow against the advice of his generals. It must be remembered that these pockets of Soviet troops bypassed by the panzer spearheads included hundreds of thousands of Red Army personne,l who could have caused severe problems for Wehrmacht had they not been reduced. In the end, despite the beating his armies took from the Russian winter and the Soviet winter offensive, they emerged in the spring with relatively high morale and the initiative on the eastern front.

The opening round of spring, 1942, saw an abortive Soviet offensive that ground to a halt in the area of Kharkov. After some initial success the Russian advance was pinched off by German counterattacks on its flanks, resulting in massive Soviet casualties, thousands of prisoners, and the loss of hundreds of tanks. Fall Blau, the German spring offensive of 1942, was launched in the wake of the Soviet failure at Kharkov. This operation was not, as Hitler’s generals desired, a renewed offensive on Moscow. Instead it called for a two-pronged offensive in southern Russia with Stalingrad on the Volga river and the Caucasus oil fields as its objectives. Hitler reasoned correctly that the war in the east would now be a long one and once again displayed a grasp of the overall situation that was better than that of the general staff. The fall of Moscow could very well have been as meaningless as it had been in 1812 and the economic disadvantages facing Germany in a protracted conflict were in need of a remedy particularly now that the United States had entered the war.

The Caucasus oil fields offered such a remedy and the conquest of Stalingrad would interdict enemy oil and other supplies moving up the Volga toward the Moscow front thus hampering the Soviet war effort. Case blue went very well for the Germans initially. They made rapid progress across the Asian steppe but rather than trying to stem the nazi tide the Russians retreated in good order denying the Germans the spectacular envelopment victories of 1941. Rostov and and the Crimean fortress of Sevastopol fell after heavy fighting, and by September the German 6th army was at the outskirts of Stalingrad and its destiny. Stalin ordered the Soviet 62nd army defending his namesake on the Volga to hold to the last man. After several weeks of intense street fighting, the Germans held 90% of the city but the cost had been extremely high, with the Russians holding on fanatically to a small strip of riverbank. Soviet reinforcements continued to trickle into Stalingrad from the far side of the Volga to make up for their horrific losses. Division after division was chewed up in the inferno but they kept Hitler’s attention focused on the epic struggle in the city while Soviet reserves massed on the 6th army’s flanks. Meanwhile, the areas to be hit by the Soviet counterattack were being stripped of German troops to help take the city.

On 19 Nov 1942 disaster struck. The poorly supplied axis satellite troops holding 6th army’s flanks fought desperately but were quickly overrun by the Soviet steamroller. North and south of the city, the Soviets broke through and encircled 6th army. The magnitude of the disaster wasn’t lost on the generals of Army Group South who advocated an immediate breakout attempt. Paulus, commander of 6th army, gave mixed messages to Hitler and the general staff as to whether 6th army had enough strength to make a break out attempt. Moreover, Hitler became convinced by Göring that his Luftwaffe could supply 6th army by air. Precious time was wasted and options disappeared quickly. As the Soviets tightened their hold on 6th army, it became clear that they would have to endure a siege. A relief effort was launched but was unsuccessful and the Luftwaffe proved incapable of supplying the army adequately, but did manage to evacuate thousands of wounded and specialist troops. The rest of the army, some 200,000 men (of which 90,000 surrendered to the Soviets in Feb 1943) were lost after a brutal siege lasting 3 months.

Hitler forbade Paulus from surrendering, even when all hope was lost for 6th army. All parties concerned deserve blame for the loss of 6th army, but Hitler’s insistence that they not surrender might not be the irrational order of a megalomaniac, or that of a man who has lost touch with reality as is sometimes claimed. The 6th army’s sacrifice at Stalingrad saved Army Group South from an even greater Soviet victory. It took the Red Army some 3 months to reduce the Stalingrad pocket, allowing other German formations in the Caucasus to redeploy and avoid a similar fate. If 6th army had capitulated any earlier, all German forces south of Stalingrad and east of Rostov would have been cut off with consequences for the entire German position in Russia. The disaster at Stalingrad, however, was a huge blow to German morale and the morale of Adolf Hitler; its impact on his psyche can not be overstated. That winter, the Russians pushed the Wehrmacht back along most of the front and finally broke the 900 day siege of Leningrad while significant numbers of German troops sat idly by in France on Hitler’s order awaiting the Allied invasion that wouldn’t materialize for another 2 years. To add to the Reich’s woes, Rommel had been defeated at el Alamein and the Axis position in Africa had become untenable.

Spring 1943, brought a respite from the Soviet offensives and saw a brilliant counterattack by general Mannstein near Kharkov. However, it was now that Hitler would make his worst decision of the war. Wishing to regain the initiative, Hitler gave the go ahead to operation Zitadel scheduled for the summer of that year, rather than switching to the strategic defensive as Mannstein advised. Hitler himself said that it made his "stomach sick even to think about this attack". While not an utter failure, Zitadel cost the Germans dearly in well-trained panzer crews and other troops for very little gain. The Soviets, while suffering heavily, could replace their losses. The tide had turned for the better for the Russians on the eastern front.

From winter 1943 through 1944 the Wehrmacht reeled under the hammer blows of the Soviet war machine. The Soviets reclaimed more and more territory with each offensive while the Germans found themselves jumping from one defensive line to another as each became untenable in turn. The western Allies invaded France in June of 1944 (D-Day) making defeat all but certain for Hitler’s Reich. As the Reich’s fortunes dwindled, so did Hitler’s mind. He began to make increasingly ridiculous demands of his troops, sometimes even deploying divisions that did not exist, and suspected his generals of plotting against him. Such bizarre behavior did little to bolster the army’s spirits and cabal of officers (including the brilliant Rommel) made an attempt on his life with a suitcase bomb in the summer of 1944. Hitler escaped unharmed but this incident cemented his paranoid delusions. He trusted virtually no one and surrounded himself with lackeys who would not dare question his directives no matter how irrational. If his men could not carry out his orders it was out of disloyalty and he commented bitterly that the German people were failing him.

It is generally assumed that Hitler was suffering from a mental illness towards the end of the war that took a heavy toll not just on his mind but body as well. He became a hypochondriac and complained about all sorts of ailments.

As the Allies closed in on Hitler and Germany in 1945, it was clear that Germany could never win the war, now being attacked from every side by fresh Allied troops. Germany would now prove almost defenseless, with the most beautiful of her cities mercilessly bombed by the Allies, like Dresden on Valentines Day 1945.

On 19 March, 1945, Hitler gave the so-called "Nero Order", which called for the destruction of German infrastructure as the Wehrmacht pulled back. On April 22 1945 suffered Hitler a fainting spell, as Berlin war clearly surrounded and would soon fall. Hitler refused to leave Berlin, and now contemplated how he best could commit suicide. On 29 April 1945, he married his girlfriend Eva Braun, and one day later both committed suicide, taking poison, while Hitler also shot himself in the head. Both bodies were burned.

Although Hitler will be remembered for his brilliance as a politician and statesman, his revitalisation of the German economy after World War I and his military prowess at the beginning of World War II, what will never be forgotten ist his darkest side, which is known to-day as the Holocaust; which was one of the worst genocidal campaigns and human tragedies in the world’s history.

Hitler was an extreme anti-Semite, and Jews were treated abominably in the Third Reich, first having shops attacked and looted, and then being ghettoized or deported. After Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Jews and others considered undesirable were systematically exterminated by the state in concentration camps. This would be called by the Germans "die Endlösung der Judenfrage" or the final solution to the Jewish question.

The institutionalisation of the Final Solution was sealed at the Wannsee Conference on 20 January 1942, where it appears that the central planning of the Holocaust was conducted. Participants in this conference were, among others, Heinrich Himmler, Adolph Hitler, Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann, who was later known as the executioner of the Third Reich.

The numbers of people who were murdered in the holocaust remains unknown, and only estimates can be given. It is generally accepted as fact that between 5.25 and 6 million Jews were sent to their deaths in the concentration camps, as well as 6 million non-Jews. Aside for Jews, Poles were exterminated in large numbers,  as well as Russians, Gypsies, homosexuals, etc.

What differentiates the holocaust from other mass murders is the calculating and businesslike efficiency that the executions were carried out with. Many victims were sent to gas chambers disguised as showers, killed by a gas known as Zyklon B, whereas many others were shot to death, died due to the deplorable conditions in the camps, or were used for cruel medical experiments, for which Dr. Josef Mengele particularly stands out.

It is difficult to really know what Germans and non-Germans really knew about the Holocaust as it was happening. Although it was well-known that Jews and other groups were being persecuted in Germany, the extent of this was probably largely unknown at the time.

Post World War I
The road to power
The Third Reich
Economics and culture
Repression
Rearmament and new alliances
Prelude to War

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