Hitler: Who He Was

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r promoted beyond private first class because his superiors ironically thought of him as lacking in the qualities of leadership. After Germany's defeat in 1918 he returned to Munich, remaining in the army until 1920. His commander made him an education officer with the main task of immunizing his charges against pacifist and democratic ideas. In September 1919 he joined the nationalist German Workers' party, and in April 1920 he went to work full time for the party, now renamed the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) party. By 1921 he was elected party chairman with dictatorial powers (Mann 752).
With this new power, Hitler spread his gospel of racial hatred and contempt for democracy. He organized meetings and terrorized political foes with his personal bodyguard force, the Storm Troopers. He soon became a key figure in Bavarian politics due to the support he received from high officials and prominent businessmen. In November 1923, during a period of political and economic chaos in Germany, he led an uprising in Munich against the postwar Weimar Republic; proclaiming himself chancellor of a new authoritarian regime. Without military support, however, his efforts were in vain.
As leader of the plot, Hitler was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, of which he received only nine months of actual jail time. During this period of imprisonment he wrote his now famous novel, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). In this novel, he expressed his opinions on the causation for the conditions that Germany was currently facing; mostly blaming German Jews for the ill outcome of WWI.
The failure of that first uprising taught Hitler that the Nazi party must use legal means if th...