In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal remilitarization and reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
Adolf Hitler: A Life and Legacy of Infamy
Adolf Hitler, born on April 20, 1889, in Austria-Hungary, was an Austrian-born German politician who would tragically etch his name into history as the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death on April 30, 1945. His early life saw him raised near Linz before he moved to Vienna in the early 1900s, eventually relocating to Germany in 1913. During World War I, he served in the German Army and was decorated for his service.
The post-war period proved pivotal for Hitler. In 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), which would later evolve into the notorious Nazi Party. By 1921, his charismatic, albeit manipulative, oratory skills propelled him to the leadership of the Nazi Party. His initial attempt to seize governmental power in 1923, through a failed coup in Munich, landed him a five-year prison sentence. It was during his incarceration that he began dictating the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), a chilling blueprint for his future ambitions.
After an early release in 1924, Hitler capitalized on the widespread discontent in Germany. He skillfully harnessed popular support by vehemently attacking the Treaty of Versailles, a pact that many Germans felt unfairly burdened them. Simultaneously, he promoted an insidious ideology based on pan-Germanism, virulent anti-Semitism, and anti-communism, often denouncing international capitalism and communism as components of a fabricated "Jewish conspiracy."
Ascension to Power and the Dawn of Dictatorship
By November 1932, the Nazi Party had become the largest faction in the German Reichstag, though it lacked an outright majority. This political deadlock meant no single party could form a stable parliamentary coalition. It was amidst this uncertainty that former Chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservative leaders persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor on January 30, 1933. This decision proved to be a catastrophic turning point for Germany and the world.
Shortly after his appointment, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act of 1933, a legislative maneuver that effectively dismantled the Weimar Republic and paved the way for Nazi Germany, a totalitarian, one-party dictatorship founded on the autocratic ideology of Nazism. Hitler's vision was chillingly clear: to eradicate Jews from Germany and establish a "New Order" that would challenge what he perceived as the injustices of the post-World War I international order, predominantly shaped by Britain and France. His initial six years in power saw a rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, the abrogation of many restrictions imposed after World War I, and the annexation of territories populated by millions of ethnic Germans, actions that garnered him significant, albeit dangerous, popular support.
World War II and the Holocaust
Driven by his desire for Lebensraum (literally, 'living space') for the German people in Eastern Europe, Hitler embarked on an aggressive foreign policy that is widely considered the primary cause of World War II in Europe. He initiated large-scale rearmament and, on September 1, 1939, unleashed his forces on Poland. This act of aggression prompted Britain and France to declare war on Germany, igniting the deadliest conflict in human history.
Hitler remained deeply involved in military operations throughout the war. In June 1941, he ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union, further expanding the European conflict. By the end of 1941, German forces and their European Axis allies had occupied vast swathes of Europe and North Africa. However, these gains proved unsustainable. Gradually, the tide turned, and after 1941, the Allied armies relentlessly pushed back, ultimately defeating the German war machine in 1945.
In his final days, with Soviet Red Army forces closing in on Berlin, Hitler married his long-time lover, Eva Braun, in the Führerbunker on April 29, 1945. Less than two days later, to avoid capture, the couple committed suicide. Their bodies were subsequently burned.
A Legacy of Unparalleled Atrocity
Under Hitler's leadership and fueled by his racially motivated ideology, the Nazi regime systematically perpetrated the Holocaust, the genocide of approximately six million Jews, alongside millions of other victims deemed Untermenschen (subhumans) or socially undesirable. Beyond the Holocaust, Hitler and his regime were directly responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. Furthermore, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians perished as a direct result of military actions in the European theatre of World War II. The sheer scale of civilian casualties during this conflict was unprecedented, making it the deadliest in recorded history.
Adolf Hitler's actions as Führer of Germany are almost universally condemned as gravely immoral. Prominent historian and biographer Ian Kershaw encapsulates his legacy, describing Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil," and stating unequivocally that "never in history has such ruination—physical and moral—been associated with the name of one man."
The Remilitarization of the Rhineland: A Test of Wills
On March 8, 1936, German military forces marched into the Rhineland, an action known in German as Rheinlandbesetzung. This move directly contravened two crucial international agreements: the Treaty of Versailles, signed after World War I, and the Locarno Treaties of 1925. Under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, all German military forces were strictly forbidden from any territories west of the Rhine River or within 50 kilometers to its east. The subsequent Locarno Treaties had explicitly reaffirmed this permanently demilitarized status of the Rhineland. After German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann successfully negotiated the withdrawal of Allied forces in 1929, the last foreign soldiers had departed the Rhineland in June 1930, marking a period of fragile peace.
Hitler's Bold Gambit and European Indecision
However, after the Nazis seized power in 1933, Germany quickly embarked on a path of rearmament and the clandestine planning for the remilitarization of the Rhineland. On March 7, 1936, Chancellor and Führer Adolf Hitler, using the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance as a convenient pretext, boldly ordered the Wehrmacht to march 20,000 German troops into the demilitarized zone. This audacious act was met with joyous celebrations across Germany, bolstering Hitler's image as a strong leader capable of defying the post-war order.
Crucially, neither France nor Britain was prepared for a decisive military response. Despite the clear violation of international treaties, both governments, unwilling to risk an all-out war, decided against enforcing the agreements with force. Later commentators often speculated that a strong military intervention in 1936 might have effectively thwarted Hitler's aggressive expansionist plans. Yet, recent historical scholarship generally agrees that both public and elite opinion in Britain and France at the time was strongly opposed to military intervention, and neither nation had an army adequately prepared to move into the region.
Consequences of Inaction
The remilitarization of the Rhineland fundamentally altered the balance of power in Europe, shifting it definitively away from France and its allies and towards an increasingly assertive Germany. This strategic move removed a critical geographical barrier, allowing Germany to pursue a policy of aggression in Western Europe that had previously been constrained by the Rhineland's demilitarized status. The failure of Britain and France to intervene significantly emboldened Hitler. He interpreted their inaction as a clear signal that neither country would impede Nazi foreign policy, thus reinforcing his conviction that his path of territorial expansion and aggression would go unchallenged. This perception only served to accelerate German preparations for war and the eventual domination of Europe. As Hitler himself declared during a speech in Munich on March 14, 1936, shortly after the Rhineland reoccupation, "Neither threats nor warnings will prevent me from going my way. I follow the path assigned to me by Providence with the instinctive sureness of a sleepwalker." This chilling statement foreshadowed the devastating conflicts that were soon to engulf the continent.