What were the key events in Hitler's early life, from 1889-1918?

Germany – Adolf Hitler: Self-Staging

In this course, Professor Henk de Berg (University of Sheffield) explores Hitler’s populist self-staging. In the first lecture, we think about Hitler’s early life, 1889-1918. In the second lecture, we think about Hitler’s later life, 1918-45. In the third lecture, we think about the skillset that Hitler possessed and which enabled him to rise from obscurity and become ‘the Führer’. Next, we think about the nature of Hitler’s so-called charisma, as well as zooming in on the elements of his biography that were the foundation of his populist self-staging. In the fifth lecture, we think about the public-relations strategies that Hitler used to project a charismatic personality and stage himself as both ordinary man of the people and extraordinary political saviour. In the sixth and final lecture, we think about the reasons behind Hitler’s undoing.

What were the key events in Hitler's early life, from 1889-1918?

In this lecture, we think about Adolf’s Hitler’s early life, from 1889 to 1918, focusing in particular on: (i) some popular misconceptions about his physical appearance and his alleged hot-headedness; (ii) Hitler’s dominance over others, such as propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and air force chief Hermann Göring, who at first sight appear much more likely Führer types; (iii) Hitler’s birth in the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn (close to the border with Germany, but located in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire), his social background and his pan-Germanism; (iv) Hitler’s stay in Vienna between 1907 and 1913, and his rejection by the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts; (v) Hitler’s move to Munich in 1913, seeking to benefit from its reputation as the cultural capital of Germany and to avoid being drafted into the Austrian army; (vi) Hitler’s enlistment in the Bavarian Army at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, where for the first time in his life he experienced a sense of purpose.