Reign of Power

For what reason might a person sacrifice a group of people in order to make the world a better place? Is war the only way to get your point across? Some people in the world do not get along with one another due to differences in race, color, or religion. One group of people might think that the other is inferior based on these differences. They can show their hatred towards each other by using violence. Another thing is that in life people feel that they have to use violence in order to be supreme. They feel that in order to be respected they must be feared. One person in history that shares these feelings is, Adolf Hitler. Today, he is considered an important person in history. Three reasons why Hitler is an important person in World History are the Holocaust, the Battle of Britain, and the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

     Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria. As a youth he was nicknamed Adi, he spent his childhood in Austria. Hitler’s father, Alois Schickgruber Hitler, worked as a customs officer. Alois was married twice before he married to Klara Polzl, Hitler’s mother (Perl, Biography for Adolf Hitler). Hitler was born fourth of six children. Adolf attended school from the age of six.

     He studied at Linz and Steyr. At the age of sixteen, however, he quit school because of low academic performance and never returned. One of his dreams was to become an artist. In 1907, he applied to the painting school at the Vienna Academy of Art, but failed to pass the entrance exam. He tried to apply again at the Academy in 1908 but this time he was not even allowed to take the test. (Strokes, Early Days)

Two months later, his mom died from breast cancer. He spent the next four years in Vienna, living off the small amount of money he earned from selling postcards of his architectural drawings and the small inheritance he got from his mother. During this time, Hitler started get interested in politics and became especially influenced by pan-Germanism. To avoid military service in the Austrian army, he moved to Munich, Germany in May 1913. As soon as World War I broke out, he asked for and received special permission to serve in the Bavarian-German army.

     He proved himself a brave soldier during the war. By December 1914, Adolf was awarded the Iron Cross (Second Class). In August 1918, he was awarded the iron Cross (First Class). On October 13, 1918, a gas attack caused him to go temporarily blind. While recovering in a hospital, he heard news about the end of the war and of Germany’s defeat. After the war, the German people felt betrayed by the German government for their surrender in the war. The inflation that followed the war made living for an average German citizen very difficult.