Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 in Austria near the German border. He had an interest in art and politics in his youth but was rejected from art school. During World War 1 he fought for Germany and was decorated for bravery. After the war he joined the Nazi party and rose to power, becoming their leader by 1921. In 1923 he led the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in an attempt to overthrow the German government but it failed and he was imprisoned. After his release he grew the Nazi party and ran for president in 1932, losing but gaining support. He was appointed chancellor in 1933 after political maneuvering.

1. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria. The town is
near to the Austro-German border, and his father, Alois, worked as a customs officer
on the border crossing. His mother, Klara, had previously given birth to two other
children by Alois, but they both died in their infancy. Adolf attended school from the
age of six and the family lived in various villages around the town of Linz, east of
Braunau. By this time Adolf had a younger brother, Edmund, but he only lived until
the age of six. In 1896, Klara gave birth to Adolf’s sister, Paula, who survived to
outlive him.
Adolf Hitler grew up with a poor record at school and left, before completing his
tuition, with an ambition to become an artist. Alois Hitler had died when Adolf was
thirteen and Klara brought up Adolf and Paula on her own. Between the ages of
sixteen and nineteen, young Adolf neither worked to earn his keep, nor formally
studied, but had gained an interest in politics and history. During this time he
unsuccessfully applied for admission to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1913 Adolf Hitler, still a penniless tramp, moved to Munich in southern Germany.
At the outbreak of the 1st World War, in 1914, he volunteered for service in the
German army and was accepted into the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment.
Hitler fought bravely in the war and was promoted to corporal and decorated with
both the Iron Cross Second Class and First Class, the latter of which he wore until his
dying day. The day of the announcement of the armistice in 1918, Hitler was in
hospital recovering from temporary blindness caused by a British gas attack in the
Ypres Salient. In December 1918 he returned to his regiment back in Munich.
By 1921 Adolf Hitler had virtually secured total control of the Nazi party a right wing
political group; however this was not to the liking of all of the Nazis. In July of that
year, whilst Hitler was away in Berlin, the discontent members of the party proposed
a merger with a like-minded political party in Nuremburg in the hope that this would
dilute Hitler's influence. On hearing the news of the proposed merger, Hitler rushed
back to Munich to confront the party and threatened to resign. The other members
were aware that Hitler was bringing in the lion's share of funds into the organization,
from the collections following his speeches at meetings and from other sympathetic
sources. Thus they knew they couldn't afford his resignation. Hitler then proceeded to
turn the tables on the committee members and forced them to accept him as formal
leader of the party with dictatorial powers.
Up to November 1923 Hitler continued to build up the strength of the Nazi Party.
During this time he also plotted to overthrow the German Weimar Republic by force.
On November 8th 1923 Hitler led an attempt to take over the local Bavarian
Government in Munich in an action that became known as the "Beer Hall
Putsch"(More info on my other page). It went wrong and Hitler fled the scene and
was later arrested and charged with treason. After his trial for treason he was
sentenced to five years in Landsberg prison, however he had successfully used the
trial itself to gain publicity for himself and his ideas. During his term in prison Hitler
began dictating his thoughts and philosophies to Rudolf Hess which became the book
"Mein Kampf" (My Struggle).

2. Hitler was released from Landsberg prison in December 1924 after serving only 9
months of his sentence. At that time, the Nazi Party and its associated newspapers
were banned by the government and Hitler himself was forbidden from making public
speeches. However at the same time, Hitler succeeded in increasing the party
membership and developed the organization of the party throughout Germany with
the help of Gregor Strasser who was responsible for the organization of the Nazi Party
in northern Germany. During this period Hitler also created the infamous SS (more
info again on other pages) which was initially intended to be Hitler's bodyguard under
the leadership of Heinrich Himmler.
In February 1932 Hitler decided to stand against Hindenburg in the forthcoming
Presidential election. In order to do this he became a German citizen on 25th February
1932. The result of the election on 13th March 1932 gave Hindenburg 49.6 percent of
the vote and Hitler 30.1 percent (two other candidates stood). As Hindenburg failed to
win a majority a second election was called. The result of the second election gave
Hindenburg 53 percent and Hitler 36.8 percent (one other candidate stood). Thus
Hindenburg was re-elected to office and Hitler was forced to wait for another
opportunity to win power.
That opportunity came in the July elections, the Nazi Party won 13,745,000 votes
which gave them 230 out of the 608 seats in the Reichstag. Although the Nazis were
the largest party, they were still short of a majority. Hitler, however, demanded that he
be made Chancellor but was offered only the position of Vice-Chancellor in a
coalition government, which he refused.
In September 1932, the Nazi members of the Reichstag, together with support form
the Centre Party elected the prominent Nazi Herman Goering as President of the
Reichstag (equivalent to House Speaker). Using his new position, Goering managed
to prevent the Chancellor from presenting an order to dissolve the Reichstag, whilst a
vote of no confidence in the Chancellor and his government was passed. Thus having
forced the resignation of the new government, the Reichstag allowed its own
dissolution. Although losing 34 of their seats in the following election, the Nazis
retained enough influence to assure that Papen would be unable to form a new
Government and the Chancellor resigned on 17th of November 1932. After Papen's
resignation, Hindenburg still refused to appoint Hitler as chancellor fearing that a
Hitler Government would become a dictatorship. The President then tried to re-install
Papen as Chancellor, but Papen was unable to gain the support of his own cabinet,
including Schleicher who was Minister of Defence. President Hindenburg then
appointed Schleicher as Chancellor, the latter having assured the President that he
could get the support of the Nazis in the Reichstag. However, Hitler and his Nazi
party had other ideas, and Schleicher found that he was unable to win the support of
any of the parties in the Reichstag and was forced to resign as Chancellor on January
28th 1933. Finally on January 30th, 1933 President Hindenburg decided to appoint
Hitler as the new Chancellor.
Hindenburg died on August 2nd 1934, Hitler had already agreed with the Cabinet that
upon Hindenburg's death the offices of President and Chancellor
would be combined. Having already ensured the support of the Army, Hitler had
become "Fuehrer".