He was chancellor of Germany from to and dictator of Nazi Germany as Fhrer und Reichskanzler from to Hitler was a decorated veteran of World War I. In , he attempted a coup d'tat in Munich, known as the Beer Hall Putsch. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf My Struggle. After his release in , Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda.
After his appointment as chancellor in , he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. To this end, his foreign and domestic policies had the aim of seizing Lebensraum "living space" for the Germanic people. In , Germany had been forced onto the defensive and suffered a series of escalating defeats.
In the. On 30 April , less than two days later, the two committed suicide to avoid capture by the Red Army, and their corpses were burned. Hitler's aggressive foreign policy is considered the main cause of the outbreak of World War II in Europe. His antisemitic policies and racially motivated ideology resulted in the deaths of at least 5. Contents [hide]. Because the baptismal register did not show the name of Alois's father, Alois initially bore his mother's surname, Schicklgruber. Thus, the origin of the Hitler surname is probably based on "one who lives in a hut" Standard German Htte for hut or on "shepherd" Standard German hten for to guard ; alternatively, it may be derived from the Slavic words Hidlar or Hidlarcek.
Hitler's older siblingsGustav, Ida, and Ottodied in infancy. Hitler attended school in nearby Fischlham. Hitler became fixated on warfare after finding a picture book about the Franco-Prussian War among his father's belongings. The eight-year-old Hitler took singing lessons, sang in the church choir, and even considered becoming a priest.
The death of his younger brother, Edmund, from measles on 2 February deeply affected Hitler. He changed from being confident and outgoing and an excellent student, to a morose, detached, and sullen boy who constantly fought with his father and teachers.
