WORLD WAR I

The First World War, formerly known as the Great War, was a
military confrontation centered onEuropewhat started theJuly 28 of1914and finished
theNovember 11of1918(4 years, 3 months and 14 days), when Germany accepted the
conditions of the armistice.
The casus belli (act that serves as a reason for war or confrontation) was theAssassination of
archdukeFrancis Ferdinand of Austria inSarajevotheJune 28 of1914,
declaration of war by the Austro-Hungarian Empire toSerbia, and Russian mobilization
against the Austro-Hungarian Empire the July 29.

It received the designation of 'worldwide' because all the great ones were involved.
industrial and military powers of the time, divided into two alliances. On one side,
theTriple Alliance formed by theCentral PowerstheGerman Empire yAustria
Hungary. Italythat had been a member of the Triple Alliance along with Germany and Austria-
Hungary did not join the Central Powers, as Austria, against the terms
the agreed, was the aggressor nation that triggered the conflict. On the other hand,
I found theTriple Ententeformed by theUnited Kingdom, Franceand theRussian Empire.
Both alliances underwent changes and several nations would eventually end up
entering the ranks of one side or the other as the war progressed: Italy, theEmpire
from Japan yUnited States joined the Triple Entente, while theEmpire
Ottomanand theKingdom of Bulgaria they joined the Central Powers. More than 70
millions of military personnel, of which 60 million were Europeans, were mobilized and
they fought in what was then the greatest war in history.

The outbreak of war

The official trigger of the conflict was the assassination on June 28, 1914,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by a
Bosnian Serb student. Germany, allied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, declared war.
against Serbia, which is why England, France, and Russia (Triple Entente) declared their own
war against Germany and Austria-Hungary, allied with the Ottoman Empire (Triple
Central Powers Alliance.

Development of the war

The war of movements is the name given to the first phase of the
conflict. The German objective was a rapid conquest of France and Russia through
of large offensives. The French resistance at the Marne (September 1914)
halted the German plans for a swift victory. The German penetration was
better on the Russian front, although the final results were the same.
 Trench warfare: from late 1914 to 1917, the fronts
remained stable, despite the attempts by both sides to bring
forward great offensives. Particularly bloody were the battles of
Verdun and the Somme, in 1916, with thousands of dead, although no army achieved
a clear advantage.
The use of new weapons, such as explosive bullets, gases, aviation and the
Armored vehicles also did not translate into significant military successes.

The crisis of 1917

In the year 1917, two significant events occurred that changed the course.
of the war:
The entry of the United States into the conflict, in favor of the Entente: the
economic, material, and human imbalance in favor of the Allies caused the
German troops will begin to give up the conquered ground. The Allies won.
in the second battle of the Marne, in Aisne and in Amiens.
The Bolshevik revolution in Russia: despite the serious internal crisis in Russia, the
The Russian-German armistice does not come into effect until 1918. The German counteroffensive.
gives rise to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, by which Russia exits the war and loses
Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, among other territories.

The peace treaties

The debacle on the fronts and the serious internal situation of the empires convinces the
governments of the Triple Alliance on the futility of continuing the war.
In June 1919, half a year after the cessation of hostilities, the signing of the
Versailles peace treaties, whose consequences are:
For the victors:
England and France emerge strengthened in their role as colonial empires. They arise
two new giants on the international scene: the United States and the Union
Soviet.
Europe after the peace agreements.
For the defeated:
o Germany: has to pay huge war reparations; loses
national territory in favor of France and Poland; cedes the colonies, which pass to
England and France; the demilitarization of the Saar and the reduction of
army.
o Austria-Hungary: implies the dissolution of the Empire. Austria appears,
Hungary and Czechoslovakia as new states; Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia
 join Serbia and Montenegro to form Yugoslavia; Romania, Poland and
Italy obtains territorial concessions.
o Ottoman Empire: dissolution of the Empire. Turkey becomes a country.
independent. The rest of its possessions pass into English and French hands.

Key dates

1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Austria-

Hungary and Serbia declare war on each other. Germany invades France and Belgium. First
Battle of the Marne.
1915 Italy enters the war alongside the Entente.
1916 Battles of Verdun and the Somme.
1917 United States declares war on the Central Powers. Revolution
Bolshevik.
1918 Russia signs peace with Germany through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Austria-
Hungary signs the armistice with the Entente. Germany signs the armistice with the
Entente.
1919 Signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

10 IMPORTANT MOVEMENTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

These are the ten decisive moments of World War I since the
Sarajevo attack, on June 28, 1914, to the armistice of November 11
1918.

The war caused 10 million deaths, disrupted the map of Europe, brought down three
empires, contributed to the Soviet revolution and was a latent cause of the Second
World War.

The Sarajevo attack

On June 28, 2014, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, the archduke
Francisco Fernando and his wife Sofía were in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia.
This ancient province of the Ottoman Empire was annexed in 1908 by Austria.
Hungary, whose main rival in the Balkans was Serbia, an ally of Russia.

The nationalist Serbo-Bosnian student Gavrilo Princip shot and killed with two shots the

archduke and his wife. Austria blamed Serbia for the assassination. This put in
a gear that led to the Great War a month later.

The declaration of war

On July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia and bombed Belgrade after having
given an ultimatum on July 23. On the 30th of that month, Russia declared mobilization
general to intimidate Austria. On August 1, Germany, an ally of Austria, and France,
ally of Russia, they proclaimed the general mobilization. That same day Berlin declared the
war against Russia.

On August 3, Germany declared war on France and German troops invaded

Belgium. The next day, the United Kingdom, allied with France and Russia, declared the
war against Germany for violation of Belgian neutrality.

The Battle of the Marne

At the beginning of September 1914, after a month of lightning offensive in

Belgium and in the northeast of France, the German troops were about to
dozens of kilometers from Paris. The French government went to Bordeaux.

On September 6, the French forces, led by General Joffre, and the British forces
they launched a counterattack: the Battle of the Marne.
As the railway network was disorganized, General Joseph Gallieni, governor
military from Paris decided to requisition about 700 taxis to transport between 5,000 and 6,000

fighters at the front. It was the first motorized troop transport operation of
the History, but its role in the conflict turned out to be marginal.

The main battle took place from September 6 to 9. The German forces were
they withdrew. The casualties on each side were tremendous: almost 100,000 dead or

missing from each side and twice as many injured.

On November 17, the western front stabilized from the North Sea to Switzerland and
The war that both sides believed would be brief went on for a long time.

The Dardanelles

On April 25, 1915, British and French forces landed at Gallipoli, in the
Turkish strait of the Dardanelles, controlling access to Constantinople (now
Istanbul) and the Black Sea, closed by Turkey -- ally of Germany and the empire
Austro-Hungarian -- at the beginning of the war.

The operation, defended by Winston Churchill, at the head of the British Royal Navy,
its objective was to reach Germany and Austria from the rear and establish a
link with Russia.

It ended in a resounding failure: 180,000 dead among the Allies, who ended up
evacuating their troops in January 1916.

Australians and New Zealanders currently commemorate the Battle of Gallipoli.

because they fought in it for the first time under their national flag.
Verdun

On February 25, 1916, the Germans who wanted to "bleed completely" the
French army and force Paris to seek peace, launched a major offensive to the north of
Verdun.

Starting in June, the German advance came to a standstill. In October and December, the French

they reconquered the emblematic forts of Douaumont and most of the territory
lost at the beginning of the battle.

In December 1916, when the battle ended, the lines had hardly changed.
what demonstrates the absurdity of combat.

The number of victims was enormous and distributed almost equally between the two.
gangs: hundreds of thousands of dead.

The Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme is considered the bloodiest of the war with 1.2 million
of dead, injured or missing. The Germans and the Allies (mostly
British forces faced each other in northern France between July and November 1916.

The offensive was launched by the Allies on July 1, the bloodiest day in history.
British with 20,000 dead or disappeared --most of them during the first
hour-- and 40,000 wounded.

After five months of fighting, the advances on the ground were minimal.
United States at war

In January 1917, in order to break the British maritime blockade that was suffocating it,

Germany launched an unrestricted submarine war, attacking every ship in

route to Great Britain, including neutral merchants, in the hope of accelerating the end
from the strife financially suffocating England.

The strategy backfired because on April 6, the United States, until

then neutral despite several attacks on its ships, declared war on Germany.

On June 26, the first American convoy arrived in France. The body
the expeditionary force reached 1 million men in the summer of 1918 and 2 million by the end

of the war.

Almost 117,000 American soldiers died during the war.

Path of the Ladies

On April 16, 1917, the French army, under the orders of General Robert Nivelle,
launched an offensive with a million men on the Ladies' Road, a
small road formerly used by the Ladies of France (the daughters of King Louis XV).

The offensive collided with German resistance. Until the beginning of May, they only won.

a few hundred meters; the number of French dead reached about 100,000 in
a few weeks.

On May 15, General Philippe Pétain replaced the dismissed Nivelle. He decided to stop
the big offensives but first he had to deal with the riots.
Between 30,000 and 40,000 men participated in uprisings, often in the rear.
among troops that saw they were going to risk their lives for almost no progress.
rebels of the Camino de las Damas were sentenced to death. Of them, 49 were
executed and the others pardoned.

The Russian Revolution

Between 1914 and 1917, Russia lost more than two million soldiers in combat and
officers, mainly due to insufficient armament.

In March 1917, a first revolution led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the
formation of a provisional government, but the latter hardly controlled anything and did not
he contemplated withdrawing from the conflict, which had become very unpopular in the country.

In November (October, according to the then current Orthodox calendar), the

Bolsheviks took power and their first decision was to propose to the countries in
war against Russia that would put an end to hostilities.

Lenin reached an armistice with the Germans on December 15 in Brest-Litovsk that

ended the fighting, and on March 3, 1918, a treaty that caused Russia to lose
a large part of its western territories for the benefit of Germany (Poland,
Baltic countries and Finland...) and more than 30% of their population.

Germany was then able to redeploy some of its forces to the front.
Western.
Rethondes

After suffering four major offensives from the Germans during the spring that
They managed to break through the front, the allies reinforced by the first contingents.

Americans launched a general counteroffensive in the summer, from the Marne,

using tanks on a massive scale for the first time.

Prepared by General Ferdinand Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces,

this counteroffensive definitively changed the course of the war and caused a withdrawal
German on all fronts.

One after another, Germany's allies sank: Bulgaria signed a

armistice on September 29; Austria was defeated by the Italians in Vittorio Veneto
(October 24-27); Turkey was forced to sign the Mudros armistice on the 30th of
October.

In Germany, a revolutionary movement triggered the abdication of the emperor.

William II on November 9 and the proclamation of the Republic.

On November 11, at 05:20 in the morning, in Rethondes (near Compiègne, at

north of Paris), in General Foch's carriage, a German delegation, with the agreement
from the new government of Berlin, signed the armistice.

The Germans accepted considerable deliveries of war material, wagons,

locomotives. They released allied prisoners without reciprocity and had to evacuate in 15
days the territories invaded to the west, as well as Alsace-Lorraine.

At exactly 11:00 a.m. the ceasefire came into effect. World War I had
finished.
SECOND WORLD WAR
World War II was the armed conflict that broke outin 1939, between the
Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and the Allies (England, France, and the Union)
Soviet). This second bloc was reinforced by the United States since 1941.
World War II clearly surpassed the Great War, both by the
duration and intensity of the fighting as well as the human losses and the
resources that were used: 72 States participated, 110 million were mobilized
for men, the economic cost of the war was enormous and there were more than 40
millions of dead.

World War II (1939-1945) has been one of the events

politicians and military leaders of the greatest impact in the history of humanity due to their
scope and its consequences, as well as the number of countries that participated and
were affected.

The countries recognized as great powers of the world due to their economic strength,
military and industrial were severely disrupted during the development of the Second
World War.

Germany, Italy, and the Japanese Empire formed the Axis Powers. France,
United Kingdom and, subsequently, United States and the Soviet Union, among others,
they formed the group of the Allies.

This war left a death toll close to 2.5% of the world's population, and its
the most notable events were the Holocaust, in which millions died
Jews, and the explosion of two atomic bombs in the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, in Japan.

This war marked the history of humanity due to its cruelty and capacity.
of destruction. Currently, there are various international political bodies
destined to work to maintain political stability, peace, and sovereignty of the
nations, and to prevent the emergence of a new, much more powerful world war
and more violent than the previous ones.

Causes of the Second World War

The causes of World War II stem from different factors, both

political, economic, and social as ideological issues that dragged on after the end of the
Great War or World War I with the Treaty of Versailles, and to those who
included the Great Depression, among others.
Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace agreement signed in France on June 28

1919, six months after the signing of the armistice, after which there was a ceasefire.
and the acceptance of the defeat of World War I by the Germans.

This treaty imposed terms in Germany that generated widespread discontent among
the citizens, who originated the theory of the 'stab in the back' when feeling
citizens under the rule of other powerful countries.

It was established to considerably reduce the army, pay a very significant indemnity.
costly to the victorious countries, the disappearance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the loss
of territory, among others.

Great Depression

The Great Depression or the Crash of '29 was an economic crisis that began on the 29th of
October 1929 in the United States. It then spread to other countries in Europe such as
Germany, Austria, and France, where many economies were growing thanks to the
loans they received from the United States after the end of the First World War
World.

In 1933, Germany was experiencing a major economic, political, and social crisis.
the country's economy had collapsed, the current government failed to respond to
correct way to this situation, and society feared an advance of the ideologies of
communism.

This gave rise to the German National Socialist Workers' Party, also known as
Nazi Party obtained the parliamentary majority and Adolf Hitler, the party leader, won.
political power and followers.

Ideological confrontation

After the events of the First World War, different...

political ideologies that weakened liberalism and strengthened both nationalism
like totalitarianism.

In Europe, the most influential leaders were Adolf Hitler in Germany and Benito
Mussolini in Italy, both characterized by developing systems of government with
extremist policies, strengthening the far-right and expansionist movement.
Anti-Semitism also appeared, used to persecute the Jews.
Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy on October 30, 1922, and imposed fascism.
And Adolf Hitler gained great political power on January 30, 1933, by being appointed
Chancellor of Germany.

For its part, the Soviet Union had established communism after overthrowing the tsar.
Nicholas II during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

Military confrontations

Before the start of World War II, different events took place.
significant military confrontations, such as the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), in
the intervention of German and Italian forces, Italy's assault on Albania and
Ethiopia, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the invasion of Poland
Austria by the German troops.

Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact

On August 23, 1939, in Moscow, the foreign ministers, the German

Joachim Ribbentrop and the Russian Vyacheslav Molotov signed the Non-Aggression Treaty.
between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known
like the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.

This treaty included a secret protocol of which only the leaders were aware.
of both nations, Hitler and Stalin, in which the division of the
territories of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as not intervening in those areas
distributed and not to be part of the alliances that were established against both
nations.

On September 1, 1939, the German military force invaded Poland.

continuation, on day 3, the leaders of France and the United Kingdom declared war on
Germany. This marked the beginning of World War II, which did not have
precedents and affected all continents.

It is worth mentioning that, beyond the signing of this treaty, the relations between the Nazis
and the Soviets were always under tension, as both leaders were leading
different ideologies, Nazism and communism. Finally, they confronted each other when the
Hitler's regime decided to invade the Soviet Union.

Development of World War II

Blitzkrieg
Image of an ancient infrastructure during World War II.

It is referred to as blitzkrieg to all the events that occurred during

1939 and 1941. After the invasion of Poland by the Germans and the Soviets, there
declared war, but there were no confrontations during that winter and the countries
faced only mobilized and prepared their troops.

However, on November 30, 1929, the Soviet Union attacked Finland and gave
beginning what was termed the Winter War. Finally, the Russians signed
a peace treaty and they managed to impose themselves in strategic areas.

Then, in April 1940, the German army occupied Denmark and Norway in Operation
Weser Exercises, since they could extract iron from these territories.

On May 10, 1940, the German army (or Wehrmacht, in German) launched an attack
offensive that earned him victory and dominance over Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and
France. The latter fell under Nazi control in just over a month.

This victory was made possible because the French army and its British allies had
organized in the Maginot Line, to the south, in a defensive wall built in
the border with Germany, after World War One.

However, the German army attacked through the wooded region of the Ardennes and broke through.
its attack line dividing the allied forces in two.

In this way, the military tactic known as Blitzkrieg was carried out.
German as 'lightning war'. The German army disrupted the plans of the
French defense, attacking on land and from the air strategic points, with the army
of the Luftwaffe, specialists in parachuting and aviation, and reached the canal of the
Stain.

During this process, more than 330,000 soldiers belonging to the French troops
and British troops had been isolated in Dunkirk, so they had to be evacuated from
massively on warships on June 4 towards the English Channel.

On June 10, 1940, Italy joins the war and also attacks and invades France.
the southern territories. On June 22, Paris and northern France were occupied by
the Germans and in the southeast a collaborator government led by Philippe was established
Pétain, known as the Vichy government.

Between the months of July and September, the Battle of Britain took place. Without
embargo, Winston Churchill, in the United Kingdom, and his policy of struggle and resistance, prevented
that the Germans would manage to occupy British territory. As a result, these
Clashes left a large number of victims and damage to infrastructure.

On the other hand, Benito Mussolini, determined to invade territories in North Africa and the
Balkans, occupied Greece between late 1940 and early 1941. However, this only
it was possible with the military aid sent by Hitler. The union of the armies of the
Hungarian, Bulgarian, Italian, and German forces achieved victory in 1941, and
they invaded Greece and Yugoslavia.

Total war between 1941 and 1943

Image of a bomber used during World War II.

Between the years 1941 and 1943, various confrontations took place between the
Allies and the Axis Powers, both in Europe and in Africa and Asia. These
armed movements sought to strengthen alliances, invade and occupy the largest
amount of possible territories, especially the most strategic ones.

In this way, the leaders of World War II sought to ensure both

the obtaining of raw materials as well as terrestrial and maritime communication channels
and air vehicles that would allow them to advance in their offensives.

As a result, during these years various events took place, and among the
the most notable are:

The Italian army located in different areas of Africa faced with the
British forces on several occasions.
The British attacked the French naval force located in North Africa to
ensure a better position in future confrontations. This attack distanced
the relations between France and the United Kingdom for a short period.
Both the Allies and the Axis Forces occupied territories in Iraq and Iran.
to ensure the acquisition of oil.
The Eastern Front opened when Hitler decided to invade the occupied territories.
by the Soviet Union starting on June 22, 1941, with Operation Barbarossa. Thus
the confrontation between Hitler and Stalin began.
The Battle of Moscow, also known as Operation Typhoon, took place.
between October 2, 1941 and January 7, 1942.
In 1941, the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Netherlands began
an oil embargo against Japan. As a result, on December 7, 1941,
The Japanese launched a surprise attack and aggressively bombed Pearl.
Harbor, the most important American fleet in the Pacific.
On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States
United, a country that had remained neutral, but that since the previous months already
supported the Allies with weapons and equipment to face the German forces,
he declared war on Japan.

Defeat of the Axis powers between 1943 and 1945

Paris, August 26, 1944, once liberated from German troops.
The Axis powers lost the chances of a great victory when they
Two important powers, the United States and the Union, joined the side of the Allies.
Soviet.

These last years of the war unfolded under continuous confrontations, some
more powerful than others, which weakened the Axis powers. Among the
the most important events that can be mentioned:

The Battle of Midway, on June 4, 1942: American attack that

it destroyed and severely weakened a significant percentage of the Japanese fleet.
The Battle of Stalingrad, in which the Red Army faced off against the forces
Soviet armadas) and the Wehrmacht (German armed forces). It developed
during the months of August 1942 and February 1943. It is considered one of the
the bloodiest and cruelest battles in the history of humanity. In this
In the confrontation, the Red Army emerged victorious.
The liberation of Western Europe is completed after the Battle of Normandy,
also known as D-Day, which began on June 6, 1944. The troops of the
Allies crossed the English Channel, and on August 25, the liberation was declared.
Paris.
In Italy, in 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III approved the dismissal and
imprisonment of Benito Mussolini. On September 3, 1943, the government
Italy signed an armistice with the Allies.

In June 1944, the Soviets managed to liberate Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. At
the following year, in February 1945, the Yalta Conference was held, where
the leaders of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States established
that Europe had already been freed from the war. For many, that conference
It was also the beginning of the Cold War.

Months later, the President of the United States, Harry Truman, decided to use
the atomic bombs on Japan. On August 6, 1945, the first one exploded.
atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on August 9 a second
atomic bomb in Nagasaki. On September 2, Japan signed its surrender and, of
this way, the Second World War ends.

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops arrived at Auschwitz and

they released the prisoners who were in the camps of
concentration.
Consequences of World War II

The consequences of World War II were atrocious.

especially for civilians. This war brought about significant changes.
political, economic, social, and hegemonic.
Devastation of Europe
A significant percentage of the European territory was devastated after years of
intense war. There was significant damage to the infrastructures of various
cities that were constantly bombarded, both by the forces of
Axis like by the Allies.

Likewise, the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan must be mentioned,

after the terrible explosion of two atomic bombs. From that moment on, it
they have implemented policies in order to control the use of atomic weapons.
Division of Germany

At the end of the War, Germany was divided into two parts according to ideology.
which corresponded to the allied countries and Soviet ideology. From this fact
it derived the construction of the Berlin Wall, which marked the division of the territory
German. In 1991, the wall was torn down and Germany was reunified again.

In the western zone, the Federal Republic of Germany was established, which had
a capitalist system and was under the control of other European governments.
In the eastern region, the German Democratic Republic was established.
communist trend and managed by the Soviets.
United Nations Organization

After World War II, a new diplomatic order was established.

international and, as a consequence, in October 1945 the Organization was created
of the United Nations (UN). This organization has as its main function
regulate relations between countries and prevent possible conflicts.
Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan was an economic aid program offered by the government
from the United States for an amount of 12 billion dollars, and they received
the countries of Western Europe for their reconstruction and industrial development.
The two blocks of the world

At the end of the war, the affected countries had very weak economies due to the
On the contrary, the United States and the Soviet Union enjoyed having great power.
economic and industrial, as well as opposing ideologies: capitalism and the
communism.

The United States controlled the Western European bloc and the Soviet Union the
Eastern bloc. In this way, both powers began a competition for
show which was the strongest in political, industrial and economic terms
armament, which gave rise to the Cold War.
State of Israel

The Holocaust and the serious attacks suffered by the Jewish community in Europe,
led to the creation of the State of Israel in 1947, a territory where there had been
a significant number of Jews displaced during the war. However,
 subsequently this has brought constant conflicts between the Palestinian people and
Israeli.

Decolonization

After the war ended, a series of movements began.

decolonization in those countries that were still under the control of various
European countries that achieved their independence between the years 1945 and
1975.
Main actors of World War II

The main actors of World War II are presented below.

World leaders, military and political, who developed one of the
events of greatest impact in the history of humanity.
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a politician and military leader of Austrian origin in Germany.
Imperial Chancellor and Führer from 1933 and leader of Germany until his death in 1945.

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn on April 20, 1889, and died in Berlin on the 30th.
April 1945.

Adolf Hitler was the supreme leader of Nazi Germany since he was appointed.
chancellor in 1933. Son of an Austrian customs officer, he was the third child of his parents.
(first cousins).

CHILDHOOD

His childhood was surrounded by his father's abuse and constant moves.
As a good student when he was little, he lost interest in school as a way of
to rebel against his father since he wanted him to be a customs officer.
Hitler always said he was a frustrated painter, which is why he painted everything he could during
his life and even faked an illness to be expelled at 16 years old from the
school and dedicate oneself to painting.

It was then that he started reading historical books and German mythology.
obsession with stories about the German people turned him into a fervent nationalist
Pangermanism, which abhorred the Habsburgs and the ethnic diversity of the Empire
Austro-Hungarian.

Adolf Hitler lived the following years straddling Linz, where his mother lived, and
Vienna, where after two failed attempts to enter the Academy of Fine Arts, he
he earned a living by painting pictures in addition to other jobs like snow sweeper or
construction worker.
In 1913, he fled the Austro-Hungarian Empire to avoid military service,
seeking refuge in Munich. There, he enrolled in the German ranks during World War I. After the
defeat, Hitler's mind leaned even more towards the far right, accusing the
politicians for having betrayed Germany by accepting the conditions of
Treaty of Versailles.

BEGIN IN POLITICS

Hitler joined an ultranationalist party where he rose to become the

maximum leader. This party, the National Socialist Workers' Party
Germans, he declared himself antisemitic, nationalist, anti-liberal, anti-communist and
anti-pacifist.
Influenced by Mussolini, this party fed on the fears of the Germans about
the crisis that the state was experiencing. The first failed attempt to seize power was in
1923 for which he ended up in jail for nine months, during which he wrote his
My Struggle. In this book, he outlined his political ideas and the patterns to follow for
force Aria to the highest point.

Once he left prison, Hitler revived the National Socialist Party by expelling
all those who did not share his ideals or who could overshadow him. It was
so when he surrounded himself with Goering, Goebbels, and Himmler. The joint work of his
a retinue carried to Hitler thousands of Germans dissatisfied with the crisis in which
the country was.

Little by little they gained followers until in 1933 he was appointed chief of
government by Hindenburg. Already in a position of power, he destroyed the regime
he established a constitutional one-party dictatorship with himself as the main figure.
The Third Reich was beginning, an exacerbated nationalist totalitarian regime with the
exaltation of racial superiority.

After Hindenburg's death, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany, subjecting the
army to an oath of loyalty. All those who did not follow it ended up
dead or injured in the Night of the Long Knives of 1934. In addition,
they accepted the Nuremberg Laws that were paving the way for Hitler to the
systematic extermination of the Jews.

Hitler began to establish strong ties with other European dictators like Mussolini.
or Franco sending troops to the conflicts in their countries, the antechamber and a
ideal practice ground for WW2.
Why did Hitler hate the Jews?

Antisemitism played an important role in Adolf Hitler's thinking and the

Nazi ideology. Read here how Hitler's hatred towards the Jews arose and what
the role this topic played in his life.

Antisemitism is an ancient phenomenon.

Antisemitism is not an invention of Hitler. Since the Middle Ages in Europe, the
Jews were victims of discrimination and persecution, often for reasons
Religious. Christians viewed the Jewish faith as a deviation that had to be
fought. Jews were sometimes forced to convert, or they were
they prohibited exercising certain professions.

In the 19th century, religion played a less important role. And in its place
, thoughts about the differences between races and peoples arose.
Thus the idea originated that the Jews belonged to another different people that, by
example, the Germans. Even if the Jews converted to the Christian faith,
they continued to be "different" due to their bloodline.

Hitler discovered anti-Semitism

The origin of Hitler's hatred against the Jews is unknown. He describes his
thought as anti-Semitic in Mein Kampf (My Struggle) as a result of
a long personal struggle. In the period in which he lives and works as a painter
in Vienna (1908 - 1913), his aversion to all Jews became a reality. The majority
historians believe that Hitler later invented this
statement. In this way, I could manage to convince people who did not
they believed in their ideas until then.
Yes, it has been established that Hitler had contact from a very young age with
antisemitic ideas. To what extent has he shared these ideas, there is no
evidence of this. During his time in Vienna, he already had all the prejudices
against the Jews, but these ideas are not yet expressed in a
well-defined image for the rest of the world. This is how one of its clients
the most loyal of his paintings in Vienna was a Jew, Samuel Morgenstern.

Fanciful statements

About the reasons for Hitler's antisemitism, there are also numerous
fantastical statements. Perhaps Hitler would be partly ashamed of his own
Jewish ancestry. Another statement about antisemitism is associated with a
trauma caused by a poisonous gas attack in World War I.
There are also theories suggesting that Hitler had a venereal disease.
infected by a Jewish prostitute. There are no explanations for all this.
no conclusive evidence of the same.

German nationalism and anti-Semitism

What we do know is that two Austrian politicians had an effect

significant about Hitler's thinking. The first, Georg Ritter von
Schönerer (1842-1921) was a German nationalist. He believed that the regions
Austro-Hungarian German speakers were supposed to join the German Empire. According to him, the

Jews could not be full German citizens.

From the second, the mayor of Vienna Karl Lueger (1844-1910), Hitler learned how
anti-Semitism and social reforms could be successful. In Mein
Mein Kampf (My Struggle) Hitler mentions Lueger as 'the most German mayor'

greatest of all time." When Hitler came to power in 1933, he would lead to the
similar practical ideas.
The Jews as scapegoats of the lost war

The defeat of Germany was difficult for many Germans, and also for Hitler.
to accept. In conservative nationalist and right-wing circles, a
the theory called 'the stab in the back', according to this invented myth, Germany
he had not lost the war on the battlefield, but on his own ground, due to
betrayal. The Jews, social democrats, and communists would be the culprits.

The prejudices about the role of the Jews in this war were incorrect. A
research conducted by the German government has demonstrated this. More than
one hundred thousand German and Austrian Jews fought for their homeland.Unone of them was

Otto Frank, who in 1916, was at the Battle of the Somme.

Start of Hitler's political career

After World War I, chaos reigns in Germany. Now that the

the German emperor has abdicated, uprisings begin. The groups of
the left tries to come to power in different places. Likewise in Munich
where during a short-lived revolution was erected: "The Republic"
“Popular in Bavaria.” This provoked a contrary reaction from the
right, which ended in a bloodbath. These events cause
a great impression on Hitler.

Who is still at that moment in the service of the army. There he discovers his
talent for oratory. Soon the army put him in charge of teaching courses. These
they are intended for soldiers to warn them of the communist danger and
deepen the feelings of nationalism. In this role, Hitler will meet the
German Workers' Party, which later became the NSDAP. This
it signifies the beginning of his political career.
The radicalization of Hitler's antisemitism

Against the backdrop of revolution and violence, the anti-Semitism of

Hitler takes increasingly radical forms. What is surprising, however, is that Hitler

is not in favor of the uncontrolled 'emotional' pogroms (outbreaks of the

anti-Jewish violence). He advocates instead for an 'antisemitism
intelligent." It has legal forms and will eventually lead to the
disappearance of the Jews.

In August 1920, Hitler compares Jews to germs. He claims that he does not
It is possible to be able to combat a disease without destroying its origin. In its

opinion, the influence of the Jews will never disappear if it does not disappear among

we your cause: the Jew. Radical ideas pave the way for the
mass murder of Jews in the 1940s.

Capitalism and communism: A Jewish conspiracy?

Hitler blames the Jews for all the evils in the world. Germany is weak and
in decline due to the "Jewish influence." The Jews, according to Hitler, intend to

to dominate the world. For which they would have to use all possible means,
including capitalism. Here, Hitler used existing prejudices that relate to
the Jews with financial power and their profits.

Hitler does not allow interference from opponents of his thoughts. Communism
yes, according to him, a Jewish conspiracy. A large part of the leaders
communists are Jewish. However, only a small part of the Jews is
communist. In the war with the Soviet Union, starting in 1941, the idea of
"Jewish communism" will generate terrible consequences. The population and the

prisoners of war are treated brutally by the Germans.

Hitler's racism: not only towards the Jews

Hitler saw the world as a place of permanent struggle between peoples. According to

he, there are inferior and superior races. The Germans are among the peoples
of superior races and the Jews. inferior. It also has opinions about others.
Thus he sees the Slavic people as inferior, destined to be dominated.

Hitler also thinks that the German people can only be strong if their race is
"pure." This brings about the consequence that people with diseases
hereditary traits are considered harmful to the race.. Among them, there
they find not only people with a physical or mental disability but also
alcoholics and 'incorrigible' criminals. Once the Nazis come to power,
this leads to forced sterilization and the murder of
people.

Holocaust

The ideas that Hitler developed since the 1920s remain more or less
intact until her death in 1945. What does change is that in 1933 she reached the
power to put them into practice. During the 1930s, it does everything
possible to drive the Jews out of German society in Germany. With the
outbreak of war, the Nazis move on to mass murder. Almost six million
Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.
THE HOLOCAUST

TheHolocaustit is a central fact for our understanding of civilization

Western, the nation-state and modern bureaucratic society, as well as nature
human. It was the premeditated mass murder of millions of innocent civilians.
Driven by a racist ideology that considered Jews as 'undesirable'
"parasites" worthy only of eradication, the Nazis implemented thegenocidein a
unprecedented scale. They chose all the Jews of Europe for destruction: the
the sick and the healthy, the rich and the poor, the religious orthodox and the converts
to Christianity, the elders and the young, even the children.

THE NAZI IDEOLOGY OF RACE

Adolf Hitler, the Führer (leader) of the Nazi party, formulated and articulated the ideas that came to
to know oneself as Nazi ideology. He considered himself a deep thinker and
rigorous and was convinced that he had found the key to understanding a
extraordinarily complex world. I believed that the characteristics, attitudes,
skills and behaviors of a person were determined by their presumed
racial constitution. From Hitler's point of view, all groups, races or peoples
(used those terms interchangeably) possessed inherent and immutable traits that
they were transmitted from generation to generation. No individual could surpass the
innate qualities of the race. The entire human history could be explained in terms of
the struggle of races.

To formulate their ideology of race, Hitler and the Nazis took ideas from the
German social Darwinists of the late 19th century. Like the Darwinists
social conditions that preceded them, the Nazis believed that human beings could
to collectively classify into 'races' and that each of those races had characteristics
distinctive traits that had been genetically transmitted since the first appearance of the
humans in prehistoric times. These inherited characteristics not only do
they were related to external appearance and physical structure, but also
they influenced mental life, ways of thinking, creative skills and
organizational, intelligence, taste and appreciation of culture, physical strength and the
military skill.

The Nazis also adopted the social Darwinists' view regarding the theory.
Darwinism of evolution regarding the 'survival of the fittest'. For the Nazis,
the survival of a race depended on its ability to reproduce and
to multiply, the accumulation of land to maintain and feed that population in
growth, and the care in maintaining the purity of its genetic heritage in order to
preserve the unique "racial" characteristics with which "nature" had endowed her
gifted to be successful in the struggle for survival. As each 'race' sought
to expand, and given the finiteness of space on Earth, the struggle for survival is
it translated 'naturally' into violent conquest and military confrontation. Therefore, the
war — even constant war — was part of nature, a part of the
human condition.

To define a race, social Darwinists established stereotypes, both positive

as negatives, of the appearance, behavior and culture of ethnic groups,
which were supposedly invariable and rooted in biological inheritance,
they were immutable over time and immune to changes in the environment, the development
intellectual or socialization. For the Nazis, the assimilation of a member of a race
from another culture or ethnic group was impossible because hereditary traits
originals could not change: they could only degenerate through the so-called
mixed races.

THE 'ARYAN' RACE

But Hitler warned that there was a threat to the German 'Aryan' race
dissolution both internally and externally. The internal threat was hidden in the
mixed marriages between 'Aryan' Germans and members of inherently races
inferiors: Jews, Romani, Africans, and Slavs. It was said that the descent of
these marriages diluted the superior characteristics reflected in the German blood
and that it weakened the race in its struggle for survival against other races.

The German state of the interwar period had weakened the German 'Aryan' race even more.
tolerating reproduction among people whom the Nazis considered
genetically degenerated and a harmful influence on the hygiene of the race in its
totality: people with physical or mental disabilities, habitual criminals or
professionals and people who compulsively engaged in behaviors
"deviants" from a social point of view, according to the perception of the Nazis. Among this
the group included the homeless, the supposedly promiscuous women, the
people who could not hold a job or alcoholics, among others.

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