Outmanoeuvred and fearful of war, no national leader offered resistance to his moves.

World War II

Hitler realized, however, that any further moves might lead to a European conflict, and he unhesitatingly prepared for the struggle, which he believed would strengthen Germany's moral fibre. Having neutralized the Soviet Union with the promise of a partition of Poland after the latter's defeat, he attacked Poland in September 1939. The Poles were quickly overpowered, and their allies, the British and French, who had declared war on Germany, would do nothing to help. In the spring of 1940 Hitler's forces overran Denmark and Norway and a few weeks later routed the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. The defeat of Britain was averted by the Royal Air Force, which fended off the German Luftwaffe.

Driven by his ambitions and his hatred of communism, Hitler then turned on the Soviet Union. To protect his flank, he first subdued the Balkan Peninsula. The invasion of the USSR in June 1941 quickly carried the German armies to the gates of Moscow, but in December they were pushed back by the Russians, just as the United States entered the war. Hitler then realized that the war was lost militarily, but he resolved to play for time in the hope that some new miracle weapon or a diplomatic manoeuvre might still save the situation.

As time passed and defeat became more certain, Hitler still refused to give up, feeling that Germany did not deserve to survive because it had not lived up to its mission. Throughout this period, moreover, the campaign to destroy world Jewry continued, and endless trains took millions of Jews to extermination camps, seriously interfering with the war effort. An officers' plot to assassinate Hitler and end the war failed in 1944. Finally, on April 30, 1945, with all of Germany overrun by Allied invaders, Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker, as did his long-time companion, Eva Braun, whom he had married the day before.

Evaluation

Hitler had a charismatic personality of overpowering forcefulness. An amoral man, rootless and incapable of personal friendships, he looked on his fellow humans as mere bricks in the world structure he wished to erect. He knew how to appeal to people's baser instincts and made use of their fears and insecurities. He could do that, however, only because they were willing to be led, even though his programme was one of hatred and violence. His impact was wholly destructive, and nothing of what he instituted and built survived.