Adolf Hitler

German Chancellor

In 1932 he was so bold as to submit his name for the German presidential elections of 1932. Hindenburg was elected instead.

But a year later, with German politics immobilized by in-fighting among the traditional German parties, Hindenburg turned to Hitler and his Nazi Party to form a German coalition government. Hindenburg thought Hitler was a fool whose political following could be manipulated to advance his own political agenda. But Hitler proved to be surprisingly impossible to control. Indeed, as German Chancellor, Hitler was so bold as to suspend the German constitution of Weimar (not well supported in economically depressed, post-War Germany anyway). When the German parliamentary building, the Reichstag, was mysteriously burned, Hitler used this as an occasion to hunt out the "enemies" of Germany (meaning, his own personal enemies.) Then in 1934 Hitler, through his personal bodyguard, the SS, undertook a murderous purging of his own political ranks to further strengthen his complete hold over the Nazi Party. Slowly Hitler was bringing all of Germany under Nazi power, and Nazi power under his own personal authority.

oppression.



Directing German Expansion

He played boldly to German nationalist feelings, gathering popular support as he went. In 1935 he rearmed the German army, in direct violation of the Versailled Treaty of 1919. The next year, 1936, he signed a military pact with Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. He then began to look East to acquire Lebensraum or new territories for German expansion. He began with the forced incorporation of Austria into his growing German Third Reich or Empire in 1938. He then pressured Czechoslovakia to give up lands along the German border (which contained Czechoslovakia's major defenses against an expansionistic Germany)--which the international community, under representation by English Prime Minister Chamberlain, agreed to, in order to save the world from war. Instead, it fired up Hitler's ambitions all the more.

Steps Leading to World War Two

Even though England and France had extended their protection to Poland in the form of a military treaty, Hitler was convinced that the French and English had no heart for war--after the disaster of World War One. He assumed that Poland would be an easy pick. But Russia was a threat and he knew he had to neutralize Russia in order to invade Poland. So he made a secret deal with Russian dictator Stalin to divide Poland between them. On September 3, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland from the West. Soon thereafter Russia invaded from the East, pretending at first that it was entering Polish territory as a protector. The Poles were helpless.

Sitzkrieg

Hitler proved to be somewhat right in his assessment of the French and English. He was wrong in that they declared war on Germany. Hitler was shocked. But quickly Hitler came to realize that this was a mere formality. Neither England nor France showed any real interest in engaging Germany in battle. Thus Europe entered the phase of the Sitzkrieg, or "Sitting War."



Attack on the West

In the late spring of 1940 Hitler would wait longer on the English and French to take action, and instead took action himself by suddenly invading to the West and North of Germany. He struck against the British and French by invading neutral Belgium, by-passing French defenses, catching the British expeditionary army in Europe by surprise (it barely escaped from the beaches of Dunkirk) and struck south toward Paris, capturing it in a matter of weeks. He also invaded Denmark and Norway to the North--though he continued to respect Swedish neutrality. He then turned