Joining the Army
In May 1913, Hitler left Vienna for Munich to avoid mandatory militaxy service in the Austn'anmy, and thus avoid serving the multi cultural Ausm'an Empire he now despised. On August 1, 1914, a huge, enthusiastic crowd including Hitler gathered in a big public plaza in Munich
to celebrate the German proclamation of war.
On first hearing the news of war Hitler had sunkto his knees and thanked heaven for being alive.On August 3, he joined the Sixteenth Bavarian Infantry Regiment, of the German army, as a despatch runner. Hitler, by all accounts, was an unusual soldier with a sloppy manner and unmilitary bearing. But he was also eager for action and always ready to volunteer for dangerous assignments. He had many narrow escapes from death.
He received the Iron Cross (First Class) for bravery, but did not rise above the rank of Lance Corporal. Twice wounded, he was badly gassed four weeks before the end bf the war and had to spend three months recuperating in a hospital in Pomerania. Hitler was angered by the apathy and anti-war sentiment among German civilians. He blamed the Jews for much of this.
Germany’s Humiliation
On November 10, 1918, the Kaiser and the House of Hollenzollem fell. Germany was now a republic. World War I was over. Many Germans could not bear the defeat. To Hitler, and many others, the German politicians who signed the armistice on November 11, 1918, were the “November Criminals.” On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the victorious Allies and was ratified by the German democratic government.
Under the terms of the treaty, Germany alone was forced to shoulder the responsibility for causing the war and had to pay huge war reparations for all the losses and damage. Germany also had to cede land to France and Poland. The German Army was limited to 100,000 men and was forbidden to have submarines or military aircraft.
Hitler Entering Politics:-
The treaty humiliated the German nation before the world. Many Germans, including Adolf Hitler, were filled with anger and sorrow. It filled them with a burning desire to see their nation restored to its former power and glory and once again taking its place in the world. In 1919, Adolf Hitler was still in the army and was stationed in Munich.
Hitler discovered that the party’s political ideas were similar to his own. On 16 September, the same year, he joined the Party thereby entering the political arena. Later he changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (N ational Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpanei or N S DAP), shortened to Nazi.
The Nazi Party was centered in Munich which had by now become a hot bed of ultra right-wing German nationalists. Among them were many Army officers who hated Marxism and wished to overthrow the young German democracy centered in Berlin.
Hitler soon made a name for himself as a powerful orator. He became the main attraction at party meetings. He gave the new Party its symbol the swastika and its greeting “Heill.” During this period he developed the techniques that made him a persuasive orator. For instance, he always arrived late which helped to develop tension. He waited until there was complete silence before he started his speech.
He would rock from side to side and gesticulate with his hands. His voice became louder and more passionate. “Sweat poured of him his face turned while. his eyes bulged and his voice cracked with emotion.
He ranted and raved aboul the injustices done to Germany and played on his audience‘s emotions of hatred and envy. By the end of the speech the audience would be m a state of near hysteria and were willing to do u hatever Hitler suggest
Hitler took charge of party propaganda in 1920. and also recruited young men he had known in lhcArmy. He was helped in his recruitment drive by Army Captain Ernst Rohm, a new party member.
who would play a major role in Hitler’s eventual rise to power. By November 1921, the patty had 3000 members. To increase his personal power Hitler created strongarm squads to maintain order at his meetings and break up those of his opponents. From these squads grew the Storm Troopers (SA) organized by Rohm and Hitler’s black-shit’ted personal bodyguard, the Schutzstaffel (SS).
Hitler’s propaganda was chiefly directed against the Versailles Treaty, the “N ovember criminals,” the Marxists and the “Jew,” who were responsible for all Germany ’3 domestic problems. In the twenty-flve-point programme of the NSDAP announced on 24 February 1920, he proposed many ideas. These included the union of all Germans in a greater German Reich, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, the demand for additional territories for the German people (Lebensraum), Citizenship determined by race with no Jew to be considered a German, all income not earned by work to be Confiscated,A thorough reconstruction of the national education system, religious freedom except for religions which endanger the German race, and
a strong central government for the execution of effective legislation.