ABSTRACT

Adolf Hitler led Nazi Germany on the most destructive and violent military campaign in modern history. During the world depression of the 1930s, he transformed Germany into a totalitarian dictatorship using ruthless and violent tactics against many of his own countrymen. He originally gained support as leader of the National Socialist Workers Party through charismatic oratory advocating anti-Semitism, anti-communism, anti-capitalism, and ethnic purity with extensive use of propaganda and theatrics in his speeches. He pursued a policy of rebuilding the German military and eventually dominated Europe through military conquest. His territorial expansion began in the mid-1930s using political threats and lack of action by the international community and culminated in the invasion of Poland in 1939. In the next three years, he and his allies overran most of Europe and northern Africa, threatened invasion of England, and began a prolonged attack on the Soviet Union. His conquests and rule were fi lled with treachery, ruthless slaughter, and extermination of civilians. He was likely responsible for the deaths of 40 million people.