Unknown Facts About Adolf Hitler

Many people know of Adolf Hitler and facts about the terrible things he did during World War II, but most of us do not know of his life prior to this. This article is designed to fill this gap of knowledge by discussing some interesting facts about how he became the Adolf Hitler that we all know.

The Less Than Happy Home

Although the Hitler family was recorded to have lived comfortably financially-speaking, things were less than comfortable in harmony and happiness. Alois Hitler (Adolf's father) was a dictator in the home—an arrogant and stringent man. He was known to be short tempered and unpredictable in that sense, and often over-assertive as a husband. Adolfs mother (Klara Hitler) on the other hand, was quite the opposite, compliant and kind in nature and fully absorbed in her children. The love and nurturing the children lacked from their father, was compensated for by their mother. Through the beatings and the anger of his father, it is easy to see how Hitler was shaped into the man we know today.

Messenger Man

Most people know of Hitler’s involvement during the Second World War, but what many don’t know is that he also participated in the First World War. Adolf Hitler was a war volunteer, a dispatch runner in 1915 for his regiment. Hitler was a hero for his regiment, often running through gun fire to carry the dispatches up to the trenches in the front line of the war. When the war count went from three thousand soldiers to five hundred in one day, Hitler remained unscathed.

The Good Soldier

Hitler was viewed as a good soldier, winning decorations and medals, being fearless and rational but he was never able to move up very high in rank and he never sought out any promotions. He escaped death while the odds against him were terrible. In one day, three out of eight dispatchers would be killed. In one account, during a dugout attack, Hitlers Lieutenant Colonel Englehardt spoke about how Hitler used his own body to protect the Lieutenant from machine gun fire. Who would have known that Hitler could be so selfless?

The First Close Call

During those four years of dodging bullets and navigating through dangerous fields, Hitler did have some close calls. In 1916, a shell fell into a dugout that Hitler and some other soldiers were sitting in. Men died, others were wounded beyond repair, but Hitler received just a shrapnel wound to the face. He lived to see another day. The war meant so much to him that not long after this injury we went on a volunteer mission to send a high-risk message out. He later received some other wounds and had to take some time to recover, but did he die then? No.

Does someone smell gas?

The great gas attack happened in October of 1918. It was in the mountain region in Ypern, a part of Beligum, when mustard gas was used by the British army to attack the German soldiers. The men tried to wear gas masked, but back then they weren’t of great help. And by the time they got the masks, it was too late, many had already inhaled the poison. Hitler ran his last dispatch run that day, as he had claimed to have been blinded by the gas.

Are you insane?

After the gas attack Hitler spent some days recovering in a hospital in Oudenaarde Belgium for his apparent blindness. Doctors there were familiar with these kinds of attacks and noted that he was one of the lucky ones who didn’t receive permanent blindness from the event. However, after recovering in the hospital, Hitler was sent to a psychiatric institute. Hitler, an avid painter prior to this, became depressed and withdrawn from others around him. Hitler had what doctors considered “hysterical blindness” because of its psychiatric origins.

Conclusion

As you can see, the Adolf Hitler of WWI was a different man than that of WWII. Hitler fought for his country in the bravest of ways, but injuries faced during that time changed who he was and shaped who he was to become... that is, the Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.