Before the smoke of the First World War was over, Adolf Hitler's life was not stable, he lacked a stable job, and had to rely on odd jobs and soup kitchens to survive. After the outbreak of World War I, Hitler resolutely joined the German army, but the cruelty of the war left him wounded. As an ordinary army corporal, Hitler was lying on a hospital bed in the rear when he heard the bad news like a bolt from the blue: Germany had surrendered to the Entente.
What is even more distressing is that the Weimar Republic, as the representative of the German regime, actually recognized the Treaty of Versailles, resulting in the loss of one-tenth of Germany's territory, one-eighth of its population, the loss of all its colonies, and the heavy war reparations, which were repaid in seventy years. Hitler fought bloodily with countless comrades-in-arms for four years, but in the end he ended up with such an ending, and his heart was full of disappointment and anger.
After the war, Hitler also lost his job. But fate seemed to open another window for him, and he soon worked for German intelligence, tasked with finding out the details of a small political party of only 55 members, the "German Workers' Party". Surprisingly, Hitler was so attracted by the party's political program that he decided to join it. Within the German Workers' Party, Hitler conducted in-depth studies on the issues of money, finance, employment, trade, and the economic crisis, and received the full support of the party leaders.
It was here that Hitler showed his remarkable talent – his provocative eloquence. No matter how absurd and bizarre his views were, he was able to express them in wild and fiery words, arousing the arrogance and hatred in the hearts of the Germanic peoples who were humiliated by the defeat in the First World War. Within two years, Hitler had assumed the leadership of the "German Workers' Party" and changed its name to the "National Socialist German Workers' Party", better known as the Nazi Party.
In 1923, Germany suffered severe inflation, the value of the mark plummeted, supplies were scarce, a large number of workers lost their jobs, and France and Belgium took advantage of the situation to occupy the Ruhr area. Popular anger against the Weimar regime reached its peak, and Hitler seized the moment to deliver a series of impassioned speeches among the masses, which made the popularity of the Nazi Party rise rapidly. By 1923, the number of members of the Nazi Party had swelled to 55,000.
Subsequently, Hitler planned the "Beer Hall Riots" that shocked the world, and although he was ultimately arrested and imprisoned, his impassioned speech in court won widespread sympathy from the German public, and major newspapers around the world published his photos on the front page.
The "beer hall riots" unexpectedly transformed Hitler from a street thug into a "hero who saved Germany's destiny" and an "international celebrity", which also attracted the attention of international bankers. As the number of unemployed in Germany swelled to 6 million in 1932, the Nazi Party slammed the government for its incompetence and criticized the Treaty of Versailles and the harshness of war reparations. The Nazi Party eventually won 37.4% of the vote, making it the largest party in the German parliament. Seeing this, international bankers reached out to Hitler and offered tens of millions of dollars in funding.
In the 1932 presidential election, Hitler received more than 10 million votes, second only to Hindenburg. In the second round of voting that followed, he was still in second place. In the same year, the Nazi Party also received more than 13 million votes. The following year, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor in accordance with the German constitution. In the last democratic election, the Nazi Party won more than 17 million votes. In 1934, after the death of the respected Hindenburg, Hitler immediately announced the abolition of the presidency and the merger of the Chancellorship and the presidency, claiming to be the Führer and Chancellor of the country.
In this way, Adolf Hitler, who had been a beggar on the streets of Munich, finally stood at the pinnacle of German power.