Rise to Power

Jim Hermle

           

                                                              Hitler’s Rise to Power

There are many interesting points in this book, but one key point in the book that sticks out to me is the rise of power in Germany. At the beginning of the Unification of Germany in 1871, the newly formed nation of Germany originally used a democratic system. But, due to major events that happen throughout Germany’s history the German rise to power changes in a dramatic way.

            World War I is a key moment in Germany’s history. After losing in the World War I, Germany was responsible for damages of the war and lost billions of dollars repaying the Allied Forces. After all the massive destruction that took place in Germany after World War I, it led the country of Germany into a downward spiral. This Democratic system really didn’t work out for the German’s and eventually lead to a massive Depression in Germany. After the fall of democracy, Adolf Hitler had been given the role as chancellor; this was the point where Hitler began to introduce his ideas of a Nazi Party.

-This is Adolf Hitler meeting with President Paul Von Hindenburg. This picture was taken shortly after Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933.

In the early 1930s Adolf Hitler began his quick uprising to power and brought to the light his first idea of an elite race. Adolf Hitler as Chancellor, got ride of all civil rights that where protected by the Weimar Constitution. As Hitler began his reign in taking over the country of Germany by uniting all of the political parties under his idea of a Nazi State. Adolf Hitler was a very good public speaker and the way he spoke really influenced a lot of people to join along with his campaign. Adolf Hitler convince many German citizens that is was other ethic groups that caused the massive destruction of Germany in the past and that they should be punished for it. So, many other ethic groups who didn’t fit into the Aryan race were captured and used either as slaves or were brutally murdered. Jewish people were mainly targeted during this rise in an Aryan race, which eventually led to the death of over six million Jewish people.

-This picture show how popular Adolf Hitler was to the German people and how his use of public speaking helped him and his ideas take over the country of Germany.

Adolf Hitler began building his army after his campaign for an Aryan race, which was, by law, illegal after the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler created one of the strongest armies in the world at this time, and showed no signs of slowing down. When Hitler invaded Poland, to spread his ideas of Nazism, it soon leads to the beginning of the Second World War. Eventually Hitler’s ideas of an Aryan race soon came to a halt in May 1945 when Germany was defeated by Russia and the United States.

 

This picture is from on of the concentration camps during World War II, and it shows only a portion of the amount of damage Adolf Hitler created in his campaign. 

In conclusion, I found these chapters to be the most interesting. I have always enjoyed World War II history and am always interested to learn more about it. With Adolf Hitler’s campaign for a supreme race and killing of six million Jewish people is hard to fathom. It was also interesting so see how Hitler came to power and how much he did during his reign. It’s amazing to see how much of World War II is still affecting society today and this is a key point in history for not only American history but also German history as well. 

Sorry about the previous blog, this is the real one....

The Unification of Germany

After reading these last chapter I now realize how difficult it was for Germany to form their own nation. One big part that helped with the formation of Germany was all the battles and territorial changes that happened during the Battle of Vienna and the Seven years war. The formation of Germany reminds me of how the United States of America was formed. Like it says in the book Germany wasn’t formed on the backs of great heroes and military leaders, but formed by poets and philosophers. This is like founding fathers of the United States. As a country we were formed by a great military or an independent hero, but found out statesman and politicians.

                                                           

This is the Prussian Army             These are the Austrian Troops

            During the Seven Weeks War                        During the Seven Years War

Another key role in German history was the Seven Weeks war, which was a German civil war between the German Confederation and the Kingdom of Prussia. This relates a lot to our American History because our country has experienced a civil war as well. But, this war was different, unlike our war, which lead to the unification of a country, the Seven Weeks War lead to the exclusion of Austria from Germany.

This is the new boundary line of Germany after Prussia defeated Austria during the Seven Years War.

The Seven Weeks war also reminds me of the Revolutionary War, which lead to independence of the United States of America from Great Britain. Just like the United States of America, Germany broke away from Austria to get their independence. Austria was seen as the major powerhouse of Germany. So when the Prussian army defeated Austria, it was seen as a big shock too much of Europe. Although the timing of these wars and events don’t quite match up with the timing of the United States of America’s history but the experience these people faced and the development of Germany is very similar to the development of the United States of America. Like America after their independence Germany.

Even after defeating the Austrian army, Germany was still not an independent nation. When France declared war on Prussia in 1870, Prussia was seen as a major underdog to the French armies. But, during battle Prussia’s army was so strong that it led to a French surrendered to the Prussian Army. With the defeat of the French Army it soon lead to the creation of Germany as its own unified nation. This also is like the American Rev. War because after we defeated Great Britain we finally developed a country of our own.

These chapters really explained a lot about how rough it must have been living in Germany during this time. With all of the wars and battles that were happening during this time it was impressive how willing Germany was to overcome these strong powers. As I read these chapters I realize how similar German history is to the United States of America’s history. I feel that because our histories are very similar, that the history of Germany is much easier to grasp. Like the United States of America, Germany was that economically strong during this time, which is just like the United States when they first were coming about. After reading these chapters I now have a different perspective of Germany and much they had to fight for their freedoms, just like the beginning Americans did. This chapter was very eye opening for me and it makes me even more excited to go to Germany for our D-Term trip. 

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