Hitler
A Fuhrer responsible for Second World War
In
1914 First World War broke out in Europe. It went up to 1918. The main
belligerents during this war were Allied countries and Central Powers. The
group of Allied countries included England, France, Italy, etc. The main
Central Powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. During First World War
Hitler joined German Army and fought against Allied Powers. He was injured
during the First World War. He was very upset when Germany lost First World
War. After the First World War Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany
which put lots of financial burden and restrictions on Germany. Germans
considered the Treaty of Versailles as lopsided and exploiting. Hitler was very
much against the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler
was a good orator. He used to impress audience with his speeches. He became the
member of Nazi Party and afterwards became the most important leader of it.
Hitler started criticising France and put forward the thought of racial supremacy
of Germans being true Aryans. He systematically promoted hatred against Jews in
the minds of Germans. He started assuring German public that if he comes to
power he would make Germany great again. He heavily criticised the
democratically elected government in post First World War Germany.
Hitler
was involved in anti government activities in Germany. Hence, he was arrested
and put in to jail. While in jail he wrote his autobiography titled ‘Mein
Kampf’ meaning ‘My Struggle’ which
contained his aggressive thoughts. In spite of several grammatical errors this
book became popular among Germans.
Nazi
Party was becoming popular slowly and steadily in Germany. In 1932 elections
Nazi Party emerged as the single largest party but couldn’t acquire majority in
the parliament. Hitler even tried to become the President of Germany but he was
defeated by Paul von Hindenburg. A mistake of Von Papen, the then Chancellor of
Germany to ask Hitler to join his government as Vice Chancellor cost him and
Germany heavily. Because Hitler put pressure to appoint him as Chancellor and
Von Papen was demoted to the post of Vice Chancellor.
After
becoming Chancellor Hitler took steps to eliminate his and Nazi Party’s rivals.
In short he finished the opposition parties and after the death of President
Hindenburg declared himself as the Supreme leader of Germany concentrating the
powers of President, Chancellor and Commander-in-Chief of German armed forces.
The
Secret Police Department of Hitler pressurised and terrorised those who were
opposed to Hilter’s Nazi regime. Not only so, Hitler even erected special camps
in order to literally jail the opponents. It was nothing short of but a virtual
death of democracy.
Hitler
knew very well that in order to strengthen his regime he needs to improve
economic condition of Germany. Economically, Germany was in precarious
situation thanks to First World War and the Great Depression of 1929. Emphasis
was given on increasing production of various goods and subsequently to export
it. Jobs were created for unemployed. Housing was provided to needy people.
Health services were improved.
As
far as religious policy of Hitler was concerned he had great dislike for Roman
Catholics. Roman Catholic run schools were shut down. Like Roman Catholics
Hitler and Nazis literally hated Jews. They considered that Jews were
responsible almost for all the problems Germany suffered from, including the
First World War and Germany’s defeat in that War. Hitler considered Germans as
pure Aryans and looked down upon Jews as belonging to inferior race and blood.
Having such views about Jews Hitler systematically implemented the policy of
persecuting Jews. This policy is infamous in History as Anti-Semitism. Several thousand Jews were killed by Nazi
regime as a part of this policy. Hence, lots of Jews left Germany during the
period of Nazi rule. The killings of Jews by Hitler is also called as Holocaust.
Through
education the Nazi ideology and propaganda was promoted. The most important
qualification for becoming teacher was to believe in Nazi thought. Loyalty to Hitler and Nazis was
systematically cultivated among youth and students. They were taught to hate
Jews and take pride being Germans i.e. people of superior blood.
As
far as foreign policy of Hitler was concerned it was very aggressive. Hitler
was not interested in continuing the membership of League of Nations. He knew
that if Germany continued to remain the member of the League of Nations then it
would have to follow the international norms in respect with her foreign policy.
This was the reason Hitler gave up Germany’s membership of the League of
Nations in spite of signing Four-Power Agreement or Pact.
Hitler
was able to recover the famous Saar Basin for Germany around 1935. Hitler
always cherished the dream of uniting Austria with Germany. He probably had
emotional attachment for this union of Austria and Germany because he was
Austrian German. He made quite a few efforts to bring Austria under German
control and was at last successful to do so in 1938. One of the major successes
of Hitler in his foreign policy was that he was able to convince a power like
England to allow Germany to produce the necessary equipment for German
Navy. Hitler or Germany along with Italy
and Japan formed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis. The common thing among these three
countries was that they were having Dictatorial governments. Perhaps, this was
one of the common threads which brought these countries together.
Hitler
was a very shrewd politician. He did not have great love for Soviets and Stalin
but in order to achieve his long term aggressive goals he signed an agreement
with Soviet Russia. This agreement is known as Nazi-Soviet Pact. Later on
Hitler conveniently violated this Pact during the years of Second World War.
Hitler
since the beginning was interested in acquiring the neighbouring territories
and expanding the German empire. He always had his eyes on Czechoslovakia. He
invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and annexed it. He also violated an
agreement with Poland and invaded it on September 1, 1939. This Polish invasion
of Germany triggered the most destructive War in human history till date i.e.
Second World War.
Hitler
due to his aggressive foreign policy pushed Germany and the World into Second
World War. This war caused unimaginable destruction to property and human loss.
Hitler committed suicide on 30th April 1945 and Germany also lost the Second
World War subsequently.