Adolf Hitler was born in a small Austrian border town to Alois Hitler, a customs official, and Klara Pölzl, his much younger third wife.

Hitler was twice rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, beginning years of poverty and drift in Vienna that shaped his worldview.

Hitler moved to Munich partly to avoid military service in the multiethnic Austrian army he despised.

Hitler enthusiastically volunteered for the German Army at the outbreak of World War I, serving as a messenger on the Western Front.

Hitler was temporarily blinded in a British gas attack and was recovering in hospital when Germany surrendered, an event he never accepted.

Assigned by the army to infiltrate extremist groups, Hitler joined the tiny German Workers' Party and discovered his talent for public speaking.

Hitler became Führer of the renamed National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party), building it through his powerful oratory.

Hitler's attempt to seize power in Munich failed. He was arrested and imprisoned, using his trial as a propaganda platform.

Hitler published Mein Kampf, outlining his ideology of racial supremacy, antisemitism, and German expansion that would guide his rule.

Hitler was appointed Chancellor through political maneuvering, beginning the Nazi seizure of power that would transform Germany.

After President Hindenburg's death, Hitler combined the offices of Chancellor and President, becoming Führer with total authority.

Hitler achieved the Anschluss with Austria and forced the cession of Czechoslovak Sudetenland at Munich without firing a shot.

Hitler's invasion of Poland triggered declarations of war from Britain and France, beginning World War II and the deadliest conflict in history.

Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa against the USSR and ordered the systematic extermination of European Jews, the Holocaust.

Hitler survived the July 20 bomb plot by German officers, leading to brutal reprisals that eliminated much of the anti-Nazi resistance.

With Soviet forces closing in on his bunker, Hitler married Eva Braun and committed suicide the next day, ending the Third Reich.