Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode, is the antithesis of last week which was on Leonardo da Vinci one of the greatest figures in history, and is on probably the most infamous man in history. A man so infamous that to this date I still have not met another man by his first name. Apologies to any Adolf’s out there.

But Adolf Hitler had an axe to grind after World War I, and in the end started World War II, in his pursuit of territorial expansion, absolute domination, and ethnic cleansing, killing millions in his attempt to do so.

With that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolf_Hitler_cropped_restored.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ] ( listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party,[a] becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934.[b] During his dictatorship, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust: the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.

Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna later in the first decade of the 1900s and moved to Germany in 1913. He was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I. In 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor of the Nazi Party, and was appointed leader of the Nazi Party in 1921. In 1923, he attempted to seize governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned with a sentence of five years. In jail, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). After his early release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. He frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy.

By November 1932, the Nazi Party held the most seats in the German Reichstag but did not have a majority. As a result, no party was able to form a majority parliamentary coalition in support of a candidate for chancellor. The former chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservative leaders persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor on 30 January 1933. Shortly after, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act of 1933 which began the process of transforming the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany, a one-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died and Hitler replaced him as the head of state and government. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain and France. His first six years in power resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, the abrogation of restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I, and the annexation of territories inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which initially gave him significant popular support.

Hitler sought Lebensraum (lit. 'living space') for the German people in Eastern Europe, and his aggressive foreign policy is considered the primary cause of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and, on 1 September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France declaring war on Germany. In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. In December 1941, he declared war on the United States. By the end of 1941, German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. These gains were gradually reversed after 1941, and in 1945 the Allied armies defeated the German army. On 29 April 1945, he married his longtime lover, Eva Braun, in the Führerbunker in Berlin. Less than two days later, the couple committed suicide to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army. Their corpses were burned as Hitler had commanded.

The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw describes Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil".[4] Under Hitler's leadership and racist ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims, whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen (subhumans) or socially undesirable. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European theatre. The number of civilians killed during World War II was unprecedented in warfare, and the casualties constitute the deadliest conflict in history.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolf_Hitler_Meeting_Soldiers.png

Mnemonic

Adolf Hitler – Top 5 Biggest Mistakes Mnemonic – A DOPE

(Picture Adolf Hitler going off with another one of his dopey, crazy rants after he makes yet another bad decision)

1. Alliance with Benito Mussolini

2. Declared war on the US

3. Opened up a two-front war

4. Persisting to invade Russia

5. England – Not invading

Five Fun Facts

Five Fun Facts is a little different today. Each fact is directly correlated with the mnemonic, where I will provide a little more detail and explanation.

1. Alliance with Benito Mussolini

Hitler’s best ally at one stage was Stalin. However, this relationship fortunately evaporated for trivial ideological reasons after which Hitler then aligned himself with Mussolini, whose army was bordering on incompetent. Hitler had to divert resources to both Libya and Greece to help the flailing Italian forces, followed by Italy, and in the end, he even had to rescue Mussolini from imprisonment, by his own government.

2. Declared war on the US

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, America came into the war. Hitler then followed through on his tripartite agreement with Japan declaring war on the US. This awakened a relative sleeping giant with a plethora of resources that exploded with industrial activity and strength, that would turn the tide of the war.

3. Opened up a two-front war

Hitler failed to learn from history and that was pretty recent history for him only going back to World War I, where Germany opened up a two-front war. Unfortunately for Hitler he did it again in his avarice to invade Russia with subsequently the same result as World War I, thanks to the Russian resistance.

4. Persisting to invade Russia

The Caucasus in the south of Russia contained massive oil reserves and was the main reason why Hitler invaded Russia. However, whilst on that path he then diverted troops and resources to win Stalingrad which proved considerably more difficult than he had imagined. The Russians defended valiantly, suffering heavy losses, but held firm. Hitler stubbornly persisted and with a little help from a Russian winter, Hitler won nothing in the end.

5. England – Not invading

In 1941 though the allies won the battle of Britain, Hitler may have learned from the mistakes, and actually trained his Luftwaffe pilots and have them led by a competent leader; in other words, not Goering, who would then pave the way for a ground invasion and subsequently take the UK out of the war, all together. Instead, Hitler brushed them off as a minor threat, went off to invade Russia and as a result England then got stronger and the rest is history.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S62600,_Adolf_Hitler.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. What is Adolph Hitler’s autobiography called and what does it mean in English?

Q.2. What was the symbol for the Nazi Party?

Q.3. Hitler was found guilty of treason for which he was sentenced to five years in jail. How long did he serve? Options are 9 months, 2 years and nine months or 4 years and 9 months?

Bonus Q. What did Hitler receive for bravery in World War I? Options are The Red Cross, The Iron Cross or the Purple heart

Mnemonic Recap

Adolf Hitler – Top 5 Biggest Mistakes Mnemonic – A DOPE

(Picture Adolf Hitler going off with another one of his dopey, crazy rants after he makes yet another bad decision)

1. Alliance with Benito Mussolini

2. Declared war on the US

3. Opened up a two-front war

4. Persisting to invade Russia

5. England – Not invading

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. What is Adolph Hitler’s autobiography called and what does it mean in English?

A. Mein Kampf, which means my struggle in English

And just in regards to that autobiography. Apparently, Hitler professed in the book to only want peace. A piece of Poland, a piece of Czechoslovakia, a piece of Turkey, etc, etc.

Q.2. What was the symbol for the Nazi Party?

A. Swastika

Q.3. Hitler was found guilty of treason for which he was sentenced to five years in jail. How long did he serve? Options are 9 months, 2 years and nine months or 4 years and 9 months?

A. 9 months

Bonus Q. What did Hitler receive for bravery in World War I? Options are The Red Cross, The Iron Cross or the Purple heart

A. The Iron Cross

Word of the Week

dithyrambic

[ dith-uh-ram-bik ]

adjective

of, relating to, or of the nature of an impassioned oration.

Example

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s dithyrambic speech to Congress stirred a nation which ultimately led to Hitler’s downfall

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]

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