Early Years: Birth of a Führer

June 1914. Sarajevo. An assassination on the street disrupts the entire balance of power in Europe. World War One explodes into action. Adolf Hitler relocates to Munich. After dodging the draft, he later embraces life as a soldier. But then, serving in Flanders in 1918, a traumat ...  Show more

The Great War ends. Hitler despairs. The Kaiser does a runner. Revolutions break out across Germany. Discharged from hospital, Hitler returns home to Munich, desperate to keep his army job. The Allies gather in Paris to settle the tab for the War. Hitler drinks in far-right consp ...  Show more

You may know something of the Hitler story. But there’s a decent chance you don’t know the half of it. We begin a deep dive into the early years of a man who became the very embodiment of evil. Peeling away Hitler’s own myths about his childhood, we explore how he emerged from ob ...  Show more

As a young man, nobody would have expected aspiring artist Adolf Hitler to become one of history's cruelest dictators. But once he realized he had a talent for politics, Hitler began a lifelong quest for absolute power...and he was willing to do anything to get it. Learn more abo ...  Show more

Many have wondered how someone as evil as Adolf Hitler came to power. Between his rise from anonymous artist to fanatical dictator, his obsession with so-called miracle weapons, and his final days in an underground bunker, some feel as though there is more to Hitler's story. Lear ...  Show more

This is Part 15 of the Hitler Story. You can start listening here. Or, scroll down the Real Dictators feed for episodes on Hitler’s early years and rise to power. We pick up the tale in the mid-1930s. From struggling artist to veteran soldier of the trenches, now Hitler is transf ...  Show more