Adolf Hitler in 1933
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20 1889 in Austria but lead the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was the chancellor of Germany 1933 to 1945, and also served as head of state from 1934 until 1945. He served as a runner in the First World War which was a very dangerous job as he was often exposed to enemy fire. He died on 30 April 1945 at the age of 56 by committing suicide with his mistress-turned-wife Eva Braun.
After his imprisonment because of a failed coup in 1923, he was appointed chancellor in 1933, and quickly established a totalitarian and fascist dictatorship. Hitler pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum for Germany, directing the resources of the state toward this goal. He invaded Poland in 1939, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.
Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers occupied most of Europe and large parts of Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onward and in 1945 Allied armies invaded Germany from all sides. His forces committed numerous atrocities during the war, including the systematic killing of about 17 million civilians including the genocide of an estimated six million Jews, a crime known as the Holocaust.
Hitler was a very cunning man. He made an alliance with Japan, pressured Austria into unification with Germany and made a triumphant entry into Vienna on 14 March. He also intensified a crisis over the German-speaking Sudetenland districts of Czechoslovakia.
Unfortunately, he was also a very stubborn person. On the 3rd of March 1938, the British Ambassador Neville Henderson met Hitler and presented on behalf of his government a proposal for an international consortium to rule a large part of Africa where Germany would be assigned a leading role. However, Hitler had to promise not to have a war to change the frontiers.
Hitler was more interested in Lebensraum in Eastern Europe then in participating in international consortiums, so he rejected the offer, using the excuse that he wanted the former German African colonies returned to the Reich, not an international consortium running Central Africa.
Also, He argued that it was outrageous that Britain should try to impose conditions on German conduct in Europe as the price for territory in Africa. Hitler ended the conversation by telling Henderson he would rather wait twenty years for the return of the former colonies than accept British conditions for avoiding war.
This was a HUGE mistake because a war really did start (World War II if you do not know) and Germany lost. Furthermore, Hitler would not surrender even though he knew that Germany had lost. He kept pushing until he committed suicide. He should have just accepted the British proposal so he would not have to end his life after just 40 hours after marrying his knew wife.
In conclusion, I still think that although Hitler was a great leader, he wasn’t a good leader. He was way too stubborn for his own good.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler
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