Germany escalated in 1 944 and the Axis
powers were pushed back in Eastern and
Southern Europe. Following the Allied
invasion of France, Germany was
conquered by the Soviet Union from the
east and the other Allied powers from the
west and capitulated within a year. Hitler's
refusal to admit defeat led to massive
destruction of German infrastructure and
additional war-related deaths in the closing
months of the war. The victorious Allies
initiated a policy of denazification and put
many of the surviving Nazi leadership on
trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials.
Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈ adɔlf ˈ hɪtlɐ] (About this sound listen); 20 April 1 889 – 30 April 1 945) was a
German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei;
NSDAP), Chancellor of Germany from 1 933 to 1 945 and Führer ("Leader") of Nazi Germany from 1 934 to
1 945.[a] As dictator, Hitler initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1 939,
and was central to the Holocaust.
Hitler was born in Austria—then part of Austria-Hungary—and was raised near Linz. He moved to
Germany in 1 91 3 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I. In 1 91 9, he
joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor of the NSDAP, and was appointed leader of the
NSDAP in 1 921 . In 1 923, he attempted to seize power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned.
While in jail he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My
Struggle"). Released in 1 924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and
promoting Pan-Germanism, anti-semitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi
propaganda. He frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as being part of a Jewish
conspiracy.
By 1 933, the Nazi Party was the largest elected party in the German Reichstag, but did not have a
majority, and no party was able to form a majority parliamentary coalition in support of a candidate for
chancellor. This led to former chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservative leaders persuading
President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1 933. Shortly after, the
Reichstag passed the Enabling Act of 1 933, which began the process of transforming the Weimar
Republic into Nazi Germany, a one-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of
National Socialism. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter
what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain and France.
His first six years in power resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, the
abrogation of restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I and the annexation of territories that
were home to millions of ethnic Germans which gave him significant popular support.