History Suggests Hitler Was More Successful In WWI Than Most People Thought

Rise To Power.

Adolf Hitler is known by people all over the world as the standard for evil. The people of Germany saw him as a flawless leader who brought Germany back from collapse and into prosperity. He is a figure who will be talked about until the end of time but not many talked about the years that formed him most, World War I.

Despite his Austrian heritage, Adolf Hitler was enthusiastic to serve in the war effort for Germany, he joined a Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. Hitler performed quite well during World War I where he was awarded two Iron Crosses as well as the Bavarian Military Medal 3rd class with bar and the Cross of Military Merit for being wounded in battle. But he was never promoted him beyond the rank corporal. His superiors deemed him unfit for higher leadership due to his outbursts of anger and anti-semitic remarks.

In the later stages of WWI, Corporal Hitler suffered an attack from gas and temporarily lost vision. This is most like the reason attributed to his denial of the German military using gas in WWII. After his vision healed he learned about Germany’s defeat in the war and inspired to reunify because he felt out of place when he was not at war.

“[WWI was] unforgettable and the greatest time of my earthly life.”

– Adolf Hitler

Indy Neidell of the Great War takes an in-depth look at the Adolf Hitler during World War I and pulls some details you may not have known.