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1-Page Summary of Adolf Hitler
Overview
Adolf Hitler was born in Austria and wanted to be an artist or architect. However, he wasn’t able to study art so he went to Vienna. He didn’t have a place to live for years but eventually became a politician.
Hitler was picked up by a certain group of people in the military. He spewed anti-Semitic rhetoric and blamed Jews for Germany’s problems. Hitler also had a following, and soon he tried to overthrow the government in Munich. This failed, so Hitler went to prison for nine months. While there, he wrote his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After being released from prison after one year, Hitler continued his rise to power with help from Hermann Goring and Rudolf Hess among others. The Great Depression gave him another chance at gaining power when his party became second largest party in parliament; this made him Chancellor of Germany under President Hindenburg. Soon after that came the “Night of Long Knives” where many opponents were killed including Ernst Rohm, who led the SA (Sturmabteilung), which was an organization similar to Hitler’s Brown Shirts.
Leaders of the British government, such as Anthony Eden and former Prime Minister Lloyd George, are fascinated by Hitler. They think he’s a strategic opponent to the Soviets. Since Britain is at war with Germany anyway, they allow him to occupy Austria and Czechoslovakia for his own purposes. In 1939, Hitler invades Poland and starts a war with Britain and France. He signs a non-aggression pact with the Soviets in 1940, but then breaks that pact when he attacks Norway later that year. After defeating France in June 1940, Hitler can’t bring Great Britain under its new leader Winston Churchill to surrender either through military action or negotiation (Churchill famously says “we will fight them on the beaches”). So instead of trying to conquer all of Europe before attacking Russia again like Napoleon did earlier in history, Hitler decides not only to attack Stalin directly, but also tries an invasion from North Africa. This fails as well because it takes too long for German troops there to get reinforcements from Italy. By 1943, Germany has lost control over most of Europe except for some parts on the Eastern Front where they’re fighting against Russian forces. Meanwhile their ally Japan is losing ground against American forces who have been stationed there since Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. However, things go much better for both sides elsewhere : America defeats Japan in 1944 after taking islands close enough together so that bombers can reach Tokyo from one island while fighters based on another island protect them from Japanese planes ; meanwhile Russians surround Berlin and other major cities until finally capturing them following years of bitter fighting which killed many Germans including civilians. The Soviet Union ends up winning World War II overall despite suffering more casualties than any other country involved due to Nazi aggression towards it first before turning eastward towards invading countries like Poland or even just threatening people near Germany itself like Denmark or Romania (which were neutral during WW2).
Prologue, Part 1, Chapters 1,2,3
The 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment is in the trenches of Belgium. A gas attack happens and many soldiers are blinded, including Adolf Hitler. He stays in a hospital for four years before he realizes that Germany has been defeated by Russia and revolution has happened at home. Now he decides to become a politician.
Adolf Hitler’s father, Alois Schicklgruber, is born illegitimate. He becomes a civil servant and changes his last name to Hiedler. His son Adolf is born in 1889; Klara Polzl gives birth to him after being married for only six months. When he’s three years old, the family moves from Passau to Linz because of financial issues. His half-brother Alois Jr., who was separated from their mother before she gave birth to Adolf, runs away when he is 16 years old and doesn’t return until seven years later when his father dies suddenly at age 60.
