Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in a small town Braunau, Austrian near to the German border. His father was Alois. Alois was a civil servant. Alois wanted Hitler to join the civil service. Hitler’s mother was Clara. She was very caring and loving and she frequently took Hitler’s side when his father’s poor temper got the better of him. Hitler was not popular at school and he made few friends. He was lazy and he rarely excelled at school work. Alois died when Hitler was thirteen and so there was no strong influence to keep him at school when he was older. After doing very badly in his exams, Hitler left school at the age of fifteen. His mother, as always, supported her son’s actions even though Hitler left school without any qualifications. His life was shattered when, aged 18, his mother died of cancer. The Vienna Academy of Art, rejected his application as "he had no School Leaving Certificate". His drawings which he presented as evidence of his ability, were rejected as they had too few people in them. He spent his time painting post cards which he hoped to sell and clearing pathways of snow. Then Hitler tried to join the Austrian Army. He failed his medical, years of poor food and sleeping rough. His medical report stated that he was too weak to actually carry weapons. In August 1914, World War One was declared. Hitler crossed over the border to Germany where he was fit to be in the German Army.There he was a regimental runner. This was a dangerous job as it exposed Hitler to a lot of enemy fire. His task was to carry messages to officers behind the front line, and then return to the front line with orders. His fellow soldiers did not like Hitler as he frequently spoke out about the glories of trench warfare. He was promoted and awarded Germany’s highest award for bravery " the Iron Cross". In all Hitler won six medals for bravery. In October 1918, just one month before the end of the war, Hitler was blinded by a gas attack at Ypres. While he was recovering in hospital, Germany surrendered. Hitler was devastated.
During this time, he served as an intelligence agent for the military authorities, in the course of which he attended a meeting of the tiny German Workers Party in 1919. He later joined the party, became its leader and changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers Party, later called the Nazi Party. In 1920, the 25 Points of the Nazi Party were proclaimed, one of which called for the removal of the Jews from German society. In 1923, Hitler was imprisoned for nine months, during which time he dictated his book 'Mein Kampf' outlining his political ideology. On his release he began to rebuild the Nazi Party and used new techniques of mass communication, backed up with violence, to get his message across. Against a background of economic depression and political turmoil, the Nazis grew stronger and in the 1932 elections became the largest party in the German parliament. In January 1933, Hitler became chancellor of a coalition government. He quickly took dictatorial powers and began to institute anti-Jewish laws. He also began the process of German militarisation and territorial expansion that would eventually lead to World War Two. He allied with Italy and later Japan to create the Axis. Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 began World War Two. After military successes in Denmark, Norway and Western Europe, but after failing to subdue Britain in 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Jewish populations of the countries conquered by the Nazis were rounded up and killed. Millions of others whom the Nazis considered racially inferior were also killed or worked to death. In December 1941, Hitler declared war on the United States. The war on the eastern front drained Germany's resources and in June 1944, the British and Americans landed in France. With Soviet troops poised to take the German capital, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin on 30 April 1945
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