Select and explain the most important turning points in Adolf Hitler's life.

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Select and explain the most important

 turning points in Adolf Hitler’s life.

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria on the 20th April, 1889 to parents from peasant families. His father Alois Hitler was intelligent and very ambitious especially when it came to his children’s lives. Adolf’s mother Klara was 23 years younger than Alois and was not a strict as him either, this would be a factor that would cause Adolf to be more close to his mother than his father later on in life. Klara and Alois Hitler had five children together (Klara was Alois’s third wife), however, only two of them would grow up to an adult age, Adolf and his younger sister Paula who would eventually live longer than Adolf. Alois was desparate for Adolf to well (he had only one other son from a previous marriage, and he had been a huge disappointment, (ending up in jail), and when Adolf did not achieve, Alois would severely beat him.

Some people believe that without consciously knowing it people grow up with memories of their childhood and how they were treated and treat others the same later on in life. I also believe that this is often true and, although Hitler wasn’t particularly brutal to others himself (he was not physically strong), I believe that the brutality used by his father may have come across in his actions and decisions later on in life. I do not perceive this to be a major turning point in his life as it was at the start of his life, however, so it did not, effectively turn his life around. However, I do believe the fact that his family was relatively poor and that his father beat him would spur Adolf on in life to do great, or more fittingly, important things.

Adolf, being a smart child did well at primary school and was thought to have a ‘bright academic future’, and even at this early age he was admired for his leadership qualities. However, when he reached secondary school his trait of being a bad loser started to show. When he found that he was no longer top of the class he decided that if he was not going to be the best that there was no point in trying so he gave up. Adolf’s father died in 1903 when Adolf was only 13 years old. Adolf was not badly affected by his fathers’ death as their relationship had only been further deteriorating prior to his death. Adolf’s father left the family with enough money to be sufficiently wealthy (including, the generous civil service pension left to the family - Alois Hitler had been in the Austrian civil service). After Adolf received even worse grades than he previously had, he was told that he would have to repeat the year at school, however, Hitler persuaded his mother Klara to let him leave school and become an art student in Vienna. Then in 1907 Klara Hitler died of cancer, leaving Adolf at the age of 17, an orphan. This, I believe was the first major turning point in Adolf Hitler’s life. Hitler was deeply affected by his mother’s death and would always carry a photograph of her from then on. Furthermore, I believe this to be a major turning point, because Adolf Hitler was now an orphan and had no ties, he could do what he wanted and being the eldest child he received his father’s pension money which was more than most peoples’ wages, meaning that he didn’t have to work. Another reason why this was a turning point was that the doctor who had treated Adolf’s mother was Jewish. This was probably the first time when Hitler had believed that the Jews were failing Germany, which would, later on in his life, be a major belief of his.

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I believe that the next major turning point in Hitler’s life came with the outbreak of the First World War. Before the war Hitler had failed his medical test for the Austro-Hungarian army which was a relief for him as he hadn’t wanted to join their army anyway, which he expressed by ignoring all of the army’s call up papers for four years prior to being rejected. When the outbreak of the First World War was announced Hitler claimed that he was ‘overcome with impetuous enthusiasm,’ and that he ‘thanked heaven that I had been granted the happiness to ...

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