Warmatrix

Adolf Hitler is the most ominous leader in history. He started World War II, briefly pushed Germany up to an aggressive world power and then brought it crashing down.
Hitler was born in 1889 CE in Austria as one of six children of Alois Hitler. At first he seems to have been a not unpleasant boy, however the early death of his brother Edmund darkened his character. As a youth he was strong-willed and frequently clashed with his father, who wanted him to pursue a career as a customs agent like himself. Hitler wanted to become an artist instead. After graduating from school in 1905 CE he lived in Vienna, vainly trying to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts. When his mother died, his primary source of money dried up and he was forced to live in shelters for the homeless and men's hostels. In 1913 CE he left Vienna for Munich, to evade conscription by Austria-Hungary; Hitler's sympathies had been with Germany from an early age.
When World War I broke out, Hitler volunteered for the Bavarian army, possibly because the comradeship of the ranks appealed to him. He served as a dispatch runner at the Western front, a dangerous job. He was somewhat aloof, but patriotic, wounded three times and decorated for bravery with the Iron Cross. In 1918 CE, recovering from his third wound, temporary blindness from a mustard gas attack, he heard from Germany's surrender and was filled with a feeling of betrayal. He returned to Munich and was employed by the army to infiltrate the Deutsche Arbeiders Partei (DAP), later renamed to NSDAP, the nazi party. Instead, he let the violent political movements inspire him and worked himself up to become its leader. He developed into a charismatic, though aggressive speecher with fierce anti-semitic rhetoric. Hitler believed that in general and especially in war, bravery and manliness are more important than numbers and technology. He genuinely admired dramatic heroism, even when it was doomed to death. Despite his befuddled racist ideas, his persuasive power managed to fuel Germans with those same ideals. This is what spurred him to lead Germany to war later on and to keep on fighting when all hope was lost.
In 1923 CE, together with former general Erich Ludendorff, he attempted a coup, later called the Beer Hall Putsch. It failed early and Hitler was almost shot dead in a confrontation with the police. He was imprisoned, but released after only a year and wrestled control of the nazi party back from competitors. After this episode Hitler stressed that the party should gain power through election. Initially the nazis were not very successful, but after the Great Depression set in, managed to obtain about 1/3 of the votes. Through political wrangling and playing off conservatives against left wing politicians he was able to become chancellor in 1933 CE.
In a few years time Hitler and the nazis abolished democracy, transformed Germany to a fascist state and set up a war economy. As soon as he felt strong enough, Hitler provoked his enemies, step by step risking more. He enlarged the army beyond the limits set by the Treat of Versailles in 1935 CE; remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936 CE; incorporated Austria and the Sudetenland into Germany in 1938 CE and annexed Czechia in 1939 CE. He was anxious to gain more resources for Germany and also wanted a quick military victory to boost his personal status. In the fall Germany made a deal with the USSR and then had its hands free to attack Poland. The country was quickly overrun, but both Britain and France declared war and so World War II started. It is almost certain that initially Hitler had no plans to conquer half Europe or to start a world war, though his ambitions and daring grew with each success.
During the winter of 1939 CE - 1940 CE nothing much happened. In the spring the German army conquered Denmark, Norway and then the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in a lightning six weeks campaign. Hitler was exuberant and humiliated the French by having their surrender being signed in the same railway carriage where the Germans had signed theirs after World War I. A subsequent invasion of Britain failed, but Hitler had already set his sights upon his largest ambition: to conquer Russia all the way up to the Ural mountains and give the German population "lebensraum", living space.
Operation Barbarossa was launched in 1941 CE and nearly achieved its goal, yet ultimately failed. Within a few years the USSR reversed the tide, while Britain and the USA were starting to press from the other side. Hitler was infuriated by the defeats. He had already made himself supreme commander of Germany's armed forces in 1938 CE and in late 1941 CE assumed personal command. However his military skills were not up to the task. He had a good memory and could often correct his generals about the position of individual units, but lacked insight into the possibilities and impossibilities of contemporary weapons like tanks, aircraft and radar; his reflex was to fall back on tactics that had worked well during his own battlefield period, in World War I. In his last years he grew increasingly detached from reality; his contribution to the war effort usually came down to orders to make 'not one step back', which several times caused German units to be wiped out. Perhaps more important, he had no grasp of Germany's strategic situation and doomed it be steadily enlarging the fronts on which it had to fight. Several assassination attempts were made on Hitler's life, but failed. He struck back with purges and venting his anger on his lifetime scapegoat, the Jews, who from 1941 CE onward he ordered to be exterminated.
The allies relentlessly pressed on Germany, drove its armies back and in 1945 CE invaded the mother country itself. Hitler spent the last months mostly in his bunker in Berlin, huddling for cover against enemy fire, not unlike he had done in World War I. Rather than let himself be captured and put on trial, he married his mistress Eva Braun and then the two committed suicide. He had ordered his war minister Albert Speer to destroy Germany's infrastructure, yet the latter secretly disobeyed that order.
Hitler is known as an amateur general who won great victories by gambling with his country, until he gambled too much. Both through his military fanaticism and his utter disregard for what he considered "untermenschen", sub-people, he ended up as one of the greatest killers in history, together with Josef Stalin, his adversary on the Soviet side.