Adolf Hitler Timeline

The ability to entice an audience of millions with superb oratory skills is rare, and when we talk about people gifted with this amazing ability, the first name to come to your mind is most likely to be Adolf Hitler.

Even though Hitler made it to the headlines for all the wrong reasons possible, a person who continues to be in the limelight, six decades after his death definitely deserves some credit.

As you move on with this write-up on his life, you will come across several facts which speak of his evil self, however, none of them can change the fact that Hitler was a person with sheer brilliance and superb oratory skills.

His brief stint with the German armed forces, his contribution towards the development of Nazi Party, his orchestrating of the Holocaust, etc. These are the instances because of which we know Adolf Hitler, the dictator who dreamed of ruling the world.

Irrespective of whether you are all praises for him for the superb oratory skills he possessed, or whether you hate him for his tyranny, you can't ignore the fact that Hitler changed the course of history in the 20th century.

There is no questioning the fact that he is the greatest dictator that the world has ever seen. Here is the chronological account of his life.

April 20, 1889: Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary, on April 20, 1889, as the fourth of the six children born to Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl.

1904: He joined a realschule―a type of secondary school in European countries, in the city of Steyr in Upper Austria. After being expelled from the school, he led a bohemian life for the next few years.

May 22, 1904: He got his first Holy Communion at the age of 15, sponsored by a friend of his late father Emanuel Lugert, at the Linz Cathedral.

1907 - 08: In a bid to pursue a career in fine arts, Hitler moved to Vienna to join the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. However, both his attempts were rejected by the Academy on the ground of his 'unfitness for painting'.

1913: After spending a few years in Vienna, he moved to the capital city of Bavaria province, Munich, where he spent a year working as a painter and technical draftsmen.

1914: When the World War I began in 1914, Hitler volunteered to serve the German armed forces and joined the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment.

December 1914: He was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class―a military decoration established by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia during the Napoleonic wars and continued till the World War II.

August 1918: He was awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his brilliant service in the Army. However, citing his lack of leadership skills, he was never promoted to the designation of Unteroffizier (equivalent to a British corporal).

October 15, 1918: He was hospitalized in the field hospital after suffering from temporary blindness as a result of mustard gas attack.

Post World War I: He returned to Munich and joined active politics. He was convinced that the German forces lost the World War I even after occupying enemy territories, only because of back-stabbing by the civilian leaders.

July 1919: He was appointed the Verbindungsmann (police spy) for the Aufklärungskommando (Intelligence Commando) of the Reichswehr, and assigned the task of infiltrating the German Worker's Party and spying on them.

September 12, 1919: While Hitler was impressed by founder Anton Drexler's views, the latter was impressed by Hitler's oratory skills. On the behest of Anton Drexler, Hitler joined the German Worker's Party on September 12, 1919.

1920: After being discharged from the armed forces, Hitler devoted his entire time for publicity and propaganda of the German Worker's Party. In course of time, the organization was renamed to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Worker's Party) to add to its appeal.

1921: Adolf Hitler took the reins of Nazi Party in his own hands after forcing Anton Drexler to step down.

November 1923: Hitler along with General Ludendorff and other right wing factions orchestrated The Beer Hall Putsch―an armed uprising to overthrow the Bavarian government. He was captured, tried for treason, and sent to Landsberg prison for 9 months.

February 16, 1925: The ban on Nazi Party was lifted after Hitler convinced the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Heinrich Held that the party will only seek political power by legal means in the future.

September 1930: The Nazi Party became the second largest party in the Parliament with a total of 107 elected representatives.

February 25, 1932: Hitler became a legal citizen of Germany after the Nazi interior minister of Brunswick appointed him the administrator for a delegation to the Reichsrat in Berlin. This, in turn, made him eligible to run for the post of the President.

January 1933: The Nazi Party came to power in Germany, and Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of the state.

March 1933: All parties, except for Social Democrats, voted in favor of the Enabling Act, which transformed Hitler's government into a legal dictatorship. In course of the year, all other parties and trade unions were disbanded leaving the Nazi Party as the only legal political outfit in the country.

June 30 and July 2, 1934: The Night of the Long Knives, wherein Hitler orchestrated a series of political executions and brought an end to all opposition within his Party.

July 1934: After the death of ailing President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler abolished the title of President and became the Führer and Reich Chancellor of the nation.

1935: Military conscription was introduced with the intention of re-arming the German state and uniting the people of Germany.

September 7, 1937: In a brave move, Adolf Hitler declared the end of the Treaty of Versailles.

September 1938: Adolf Hitler signs the Munich Agreement with the British Prime Minister in accordance to which the Sudetenland region is occupied by Germany in October 1938.

November 1938: The Nazi Party orchestrated the 'Crystal Night' wherein 20,000 Jews were killed, and 7,500 Jewish shops and 400 synagogues were destroyed in what was believed to be a spontaneous reaction to killing of a German diplomat by a Jewish refugee in Paris.

It was the beginning of the Holocaust, which resulted in death of around 6 million Jews across Europe.

August 23, 1939: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, wherein each pledge to remain neutral in case either nation is attacked by a third party.

1939: Adolf Hitler invaded Poland after the Blitzkrieg and the event marked the beginning of the World War II.

1940: Hitler continued the invasion of other parts of Europe. By the end of the year, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia were already invaded by Nazi Germany.

June 1941: Hitler moved further and invaded Soviet Union in a military operation codenamed Operation Barbarossa, which brought an end to Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

February 1943: Against Hitler's command, the German forces surrendered in the Battle of Stalingrad and began retreating.

July 1944: Adolf Hitler survived an assassination attempt when Colonel Stauffenberg planted a bomb-laden briefcase under his table.

January 1945: The Soviet Forces entered Nazi Germany and seized the capital city of Berlin by April 1945.

April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin after writing his last will and political testament.

That traced the rise and fall of one of the greatest dictators the world has ever seen. A dictator of Hitler's caliber committing suicide is something that not many people could come to terms with, and that explains all the myths and legends about his death that continue to keep him in the news.