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Lauren R. Preston
April 30, 2017

His Struggle: How Hitler Changed Germany

Adolf Hitler, originally of Austrian descent, is seen today as one of the most notable and,

to most, feared historical figure in recent history. Biographies and documentaries of the life and

effective manipulation of Adolf Hitler on the German people is still a widely debated topic.

When examining the history of Germanys role especially in World War II in comparison to

those nations such as Japan, the Soviet Union, and the Allied nations, it can be debated further

how one nation could become what it did within a few short years and how one man played an

extensive role in this transformation. Three, key aspects can be seen as playing a definitive role

in Hitlers ability to come near total world conquest: the knowledge of manipulation,

psychology, and image-making, or propaganda.

Adolf Hitler lived a majority of his early life in Austria. He was soon left as an orphan.

Although Hitler feared and disliked his father, he was a devoted son to his mother, who died

after much suffering in 1907. (Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Early Life). With an

orphaned Hitler left with barely a secondary education, he spent a fair amount of time in Vienna

where he strove to become an artist. However, he was twice denied entrance into The Academy

of Fine Arts, thus preventing his ambitions.

Hitler already showed traits that characterized his later life:

loneliness and secretiveness, a bohemian mode of everyday
existence, and hatred of cosmopolitanism and of the multi-
national character of Vienna.
(Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Early Life)

Hitler moved to Munich in 1913 where the following year, he was screened for the

Austrian military. Once again, Hitler was unsuccessful due to his physical state. Shortly
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following the outbreak of World War I however, he gained access to entrance into the 16th

Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. He was rewarded the Iron Cross, First and Second Class,

and was convinced of the heroic virtues of war. (Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Early Life).

The waves of historic events seemed to have grown

so smooth that the future really seemed to belong
only to the peaceful contest of nations; in other
words, a cozy mutual swindling match with the
exclusion of violent methods of defense.
(Hitler, Mein Kampf).

There was chaos in Munich following Germanys defeat in World War I. One factor of

this chaos besides the unprecedented defeat was the stipulations highlighted in the Versailles

Treaty. Some of the results of the treaty included German occupied zones being forcibly taken

and given to the Allies. Germany was required to pay for war reparations. A clause dubbed the

War Guilt Clause required Germany to publicly admit to holding sole responsibility over causing

World War I. One reason for these harsh stipulations was the dread of the future and the fear that

ultimately, Germany would eventually retaliate as it was especially recognized by the French that

the Germans would return. (Murray, 2009).

As to the Germans, right from the beginning,

from 1919 on, there was a deep bitterness, not
at the Treaty of Versaillesthat was the exc-
usebut at the fact that they had lost the war.
The sense was that somehow history had been
unjust and the world had ganged up on Germ-
any, that Germany had been completely mis-
treated.
(Murray, 2009).

Upon being discharged from the military, Hitler worked politically in Munich in the

months of May to June in 1919. In September of the same year, he joined the German Workers

Party. Hitler officially left the army in 1920 when he was put in charge of the party propaganda

and wishing in general to devote himself more towards the movement. This same year, the name
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changed from the German Workers Party officially to the National-sozialistische Deutsche

Arbeiterpartei, more commonly known as the Nazi Party.

Hitler became a fiery speaker on the beer-hall circuit and was willing to risk the

humiliation of low turnout by organizing rallies in large spaces (Pappas, 2016). Hitler was

said by some peers and observers that in person, he remained to have a cold presence. According

to a peer, in front of an audience Hitler had the ability to milk an audience and shape it and

get it to feel. (Pappas, 2016).

If Hitlers speaking abilities gave him the roots to

flourish in the early Nazi Party, the chaos and res-
entment of Germany at the time were the soil that
made his growth possible.
(Pappas, 2016).

Discontent and resentment towards the loss of the war became widespread, especially in

Bavaria where resentment towards the republican government in Berlin was strong. Meanwhile,

in 1921 Hitler had continued to gain widespread popularity amongst the members of the Nazi

Party and was named the Nazi Party leader with a wide array of powers at his command.

This growing popularity would eventually lead to the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in which

the Nazi Party attempted to convince Bavaria into enticing an all-out national revolution against

the unpopular Weimar Republic. Though this incident remained a failure, with Hitler serving

nine months in prison, he used this time span to gain even further popularity by writing and

publishing the first volume of his autobiography Mein Kampf (My Struggle) which depicted

not only his early life but his general ideas concerning such topics as World War I, the

government, and race inequality. The book became an instant bestseller.

The publication of Mein Kampf ultimately highlighted aspects of Hitlers characteristics

that were seen in his future propaganda tactics about the Aryan race and Jewish inferiority.

If we were to divide mankind into three groups,

the founders of culture, the bearers of culture,
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the destroyers of culture, only the Aryan could

be considered as the representative of the first
group.
(Hitler, Mein Kampf).

Mainly, Hitlers biological ideas for the future of Germany were that of racial

purifications with the exemplification of the Aryan and the lowering in value of inferiors. The

basis of Jewish commercial policy is to make matters incomprehensible for a normal brain.

(Trevor-Roper, Hitlers Table Talk). He claimed that racial purity was inherent in all living

organisms. (Richards, Was Hitler a Darwinian?).

Propaganda against the Weimar Republic during the Great Depression proved

advantageous for the Nazi Party. The Nazi Party became the second largest in the nation and in

1933, President Hindenburg offered Hitler the position of chancellorship. In this role, Hitler had

the ultimate ability to establish an absolute dictatorship. the Enabling Bill, giving full powers

to Hitler, was passed in the Reichstag by the combined votes of Nazi, Nationalist, and Centre

party deputies (Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Dictator 1933-39). Hitler gained

increasing popularity with the notion that he assisted in economic recovery and a lower

unemployment rate, though this was mainly because the world economy was in the process of

exiting the Great Depression years. However, this notion helped Hitler win the votes for the

presidency after the death of Hindenburg.

The partys rise to power was rapid. Before the

economic depression struck, the Nazis were prac-
tically unknown, winning only 3 percent of the
vote to the Reichstag (German parliament) in
elections in 1924. In the 1932 elections, the
Nazis won 33 percent of the votes, more than
any other party. In January 1933 Hitler was
appointed chancellor, the head of the German
government, and many Germans believed that
they had found a savior for their nation.
(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Hitler Comes to Power).
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Upon his succession to the dictatorship, Hitlers goal firmly remained in eastward

expansion. Before such expansion was possible, it was necessary to remove the restrictions

placed on Germany at the end of World War I by the Treaty of Versailles. (Adolf Hitler:

Dictator of Germany, Dictator 1933-39). To do this, Hitler started by promoting his talents of

propaganda and ensuring that he was a man of peace towards the allied powers of Britain and

France. His insistence on Germanys only desire to be towards peace and the removing of

inequalities remained his ultimate argument that allowed him to maneuver through the Treatys

stipulations.

Gradually, Hitler extended his influence worldwide and granted powers to Germany that

had previously been revoked due to the Treaty of Versailles. Through a consistent debate that

Hitler was merely for equal rights and peace, he was able to achieve rights for Germany such as

the reclaiming of zones and territories taken by the allies following World War I as well as

achieving a naval treaty with Britain which ensured that Germany had the right to construct itself

a considerably sized navy. (Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Dictator 1933-39).

Meanwhile the alliance with Italy, foreseen in

Mein Kampf, rapidly became a reality as a result
of the sanctions imposed by Britain and France
against Italy during the Ethiopian war. In October
1936, a Rome-Berlin axis was proclaimed by Ital-
ian dictator Benito Mussolini; shortly afterward
came the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan; and
a year later all three countries joined in a pact.
Although on paper France had a number of allies
in Europe, while Germany had none, Hitlers
Third Reich had become the principal European
power.
(Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Dictator 1933-39).

Hitlers ultimate goal remained conquest and expansion. He therefore dispensed with all

those of his officials who had not wholeheartedly accepted this to be Germanys ultimate

purpose in the immediate future. Hitler began by attempting to unify Nazis from surrounding
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areas such as those in Austria whom he wished to be a part of the Austrian government. When

the Austrian chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg, refused this request, Hitler invaded Austria and

settled the matter through annexation.

A deciding event for Germany and the Allies came with Hitlers attempt to invade and

expand German influence into Czechoslovakia. Hitler attempted to annex the area known as the

Sudetenland to Germany. This led to a serious conflict with the Allied powers and Italy.

The intervention by Mussolini and British prime

minister Neville Chamberlain appear to have
been decisive. Hitler accepted the Munich
Agreement on September 30. He also declared
that these were his last territorial demands in
Europe.
(Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Dictator 1933-39).

Only a few months following Hitlers declaration that the Sudetenland zones would be

his last demand for Germanys expansion in Europe, he proceeded to occupy what remained of

Czechoslovakia yet un-invaded. He followed that by expanding into a zone in Lithuania and after

that, Poland.

Poland resisted Hitler with the knowledge that Britain and France guaranteed back-up to

the nation should an invasion occur. Meanwhile, a non-aggression pact was signed between the

Soviet Union and Germany. Germanys invasion of Poland on September 1 was proceeded by an

official declaration of war from Britain and France, thus beginning World War II.

In his foreign policy, Hitler combined opport-

unism and clever timing. He showed astonish-
ing skill in judging the mood of the democratic
leaders and exploiting their weaknesses-in spite
of the fact that he had scarcely set foot outside
of Austria and Germany and spoke no foreign
language. Up to this point every move had been
successful. Even his anxiety over British and
French entry into the war was dispelled by the
rapid success of the campaign in Poland. He
could, he thought, rely on his talents during the
war as he relied on them before.
(Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Dictator 1933-39).
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Hitler began his life as an Austrian and soon was orphaned which resulted in his inability

to finish school. This shaped the rest of his life in a variety of ways. Through later serving in the

Bavarian army during World War I, Hitler experienced firsthand the physical and mental

casualties that Germany experienced. Becoming a member of the German Workers Party, later

the Nazi Party, Hitler quickly rose to fame and became the most influential propaganda speaker

for the Party. This allowed him to extend his influence to multiple Germans, to rise to chancellor

of Germany, and to the dictatorship. His skillset in psychology and manipulation also allowed

him to maneuver through the stipulations originally set through the Treaty of Versailles and

ultimately caused Germanys entrance into World War II.

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Works Cited

FootNotes. "The Gathering Storm: From World War I to World War II." Foreign Policy
Research Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Hitler, Adolf, and James Vincent Murphy. Mein Kampf. USA: Createspace Independent
Platform, 2016. Print.

Hitler, Adolf, and Hugh R. Trevor-Roper. Hitler's Table Talk. 1941 - 1944 / Adolf Hitler.
London: Weidenfeld Et Nicolson, 1953. Print.

"Hitler Comes to Power." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Knapp, Wilfrid F., and John Lukacs. "Adolf Hitler." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia
Britannica, Inc., 02 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Pappas, Stephanie. "Hitler's Rise: How a Homeless Artist Became a Murderous

Tyrant." LiveScience. Purch, 18 Apr. 2016. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Richards, Robert J. "Was Hitler a Darwinian?" Was Hitler a Darwinian? (n.d.): n. pag. The
University of Chicago. Web.