Adolf Hitler Essay

ADOLF HITLER ESSAY 8
Defeat in WWI shocked the German people.   Despair increased as the army returned to a bankrupt country.   Millions of Germans could find no jobs.   A weak republic had replaced the defeated empire.
After the war Hitler returned to Munich and joined a small nationalist group called the German Workers" Party.   In 1920 this group changed its name to the Nationalist Socialist German Workers" Party, which became known as the Nazi Party.   The Nazis called for the union into one nation of all Germans, including those in other countries.   They favored the creation of a strong central government and cancellation of the Versailles Treaty.
Hitler was a skillful schemer, politician, and organizer.   He became a leader of the Nazis and built up party membership quickly.   Hitler attacked the government, and declared that only the Nazi party could assure jobs for the workers and greatness for Germany.   He also organized a private army of men who became known as Storm Troopers.   They fought Communists and others who tried to break up the Nazi rallies.   By Oct, 1923, the Storm Troops numbered 15,000 men, armed with machine guns and rifles.   Hitler used brown-shirted uniforms and the swastika emblem to give his followers a sense of unity.
On Nov. 8, 1923, at a rally in a Munich beer hall, Hitler proclaimed a Nazi revolution.   The next day he tried to seize the Bavarian gov.   in what became known as the Beer Hall Putsch (revolution).   Hitler led more than 2,000 storm troopers on a march against the government.   The police opened fire and killed 16 Nazis.   The plot failed, and Hitler was arrested for treason and sentenced to five yrs. in prison.   Many great changes had taken place in Germany during Hitler"s imprisonment.   The nation had showed signs of recovery after WWI.  
By this time also, Hitler had assembled the men who would help him rise to power.   They included Paul Joseph Goebbels, the chief Nazi propadandist; Herman Goering, second in command to...