Hitler served during WWI, as a private in the German Army. however, he was Austrian, and as a subject of the Austrian Emperor, shouldn’t he have served in the Austro-Hungarian Army?
I also read that he was never promoted-at a time when casualties were high, anybody with leadership potential should have made sergeant in a year or less-was Hitler a bad soldier?
No, I think the objective record says Hitler was a good soldier. He was awarded two Iron Crosses during the war, which were rarely given to enlisted men.
As for promotions, it appears Hitler turned some down. He apparently liked being a unit messenger and didn’t want to be promoted out of that job.
IIRC he was only legally allowed to run for Chancellor of Germany because he served in the German army - as a citizen of Austria, he would not have qualified pre-Anschluss.
Regards,
Shodan
And yet, a previous attempt to overthrow the government by force somehow did not disqualify him from running for Chancellor …
Indeed, one of his Iron Crosses was recommended by a Jewish officer, who was spared the worst of the pre-WWII persecution likely due to Adolf’s influence.
I wonder how risky being a unit messenger was compared to other common jobs in the army.
Interesting datum: The Iron Cross, First Class Hitler got was on recommendation from his Jewish superior officer, Hugo Gutmann Hugo Gutmann - Wikipedia
Nazi ninja’d!
AH hated the Hapsburgs; and separately the Monarchy; for their inclusive attitude to their peoples, and also politically. He also may have thought as a republican, if he fought for a different King ( he had no love for the Hohenzollerns ) he could rationalize this as not being fighting loyally for Konig und Kaiser, but for the major Germanic country as a race matter.
Franz Ferdinand’s morganic sons went to Dachau before WWII. And they were minor Hapsburgs. To taunt the actual K und K heir. Otto v. Hapsburg, two military operations were named for him, ‘Case Otto’. One was the invasion of Austria.
I’ve never heard any suggestion he was not an excellent soldier. Being a messenger in the trenches was not the lightest of tasks.
One of the more dangerous roles I believe. I’ve never read any account of Hitlers time in the army that depicted him other than as a brave and competent soldier. Apparently he was not disliked by his peers but considered a bit strange and a loner, and with a propensity to go on long political rants.
I agree with Disposable Hero (in context, a very suitable user name! :D) - it was, as I understand it, one of the most hazardous of jobs. By all accounts, Hitler was a good soldier in WW1.
No. he needed to be appointed to a local government position to be qualified to run…ill track down the site
Make sure to read this…Hitler may be gone but he is not forgotten
Thomas Weber’s convincing Hitler’s First War rather runs down Hitler’s WWI service, on the basis of good fresh research. Be that as it may.
As to why he wound up in the German army, well they really weren’t that fussy at all about who they accepted. He was volunteering to serve. Why turn him away?
I haven’t read it, but the reviews make it sound not so convincing.
IIRC, Hitler was called for induction into the Austrian army, sometime around 1908 (MOL guessing on the year, but, I think I’m close). I’m wanting to say that he held off for as long as possible, but, when he finally could avoid it no longer, he was turned away because his lungs weren’t up to par.
The story can be found, I think, in Kubizek’s “Hitler Was My Friend”.
I think that anybody who volunteers can get into the US Army as well, citizenship not being an issue.
Hitler was a membe of the Bavarian Army not the German one.
Hitler was, of course, originally a citizen of Austria-Hungary. One reason for him to move to Munich (Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany) in 1913 was to avoid being drafted into the Austrian-Hungarian Army. Essentially, he was a draft dodger. But keep in mind that this would have been before anyone knew that World War I was just around the corner, avoiding being sent into combat wasn’t his motivation
Foreigners (non citizens) being accepted for military service in Germany (before or during WWI) would have been highly unusual, I have never read about a single case other than Hitler. He did get a special permission to do so by the Bavarian government (at the beginning of WWI, the Bavarian Army was pretty much a separate entity). Hitler later claimed that he also had received a formal permission by the Austrian government (after all, running from military service by moving north of the border would have been viewed as kind of fishy), but there seems to be no evidence of that.
Hitler later wrote that he didn’t want to serve in the Austrian-Hungarian Army because he resented the sort of multi-cultural nature of the country and its military and he would have been compelled to serve with/under soldiers/officers of Czech, Hungarian or Polish ethnicity. Given his political leanings, his reasons for draft dodging seem plausible.
It is remarkable that Hitler was never promoted to the NCO level in 4 years of war, however he got his first promotion very fast and there were only two enlisted, non-NCO level ranks in the Bavarian Army (and the Germany Army in general) at the time. Hitler was described as a person who kept to himself and who read a lot. If you want to promote someone to NCO in the field, you are looking for a “leader of the pack”, alpha-male type personality who takes charge. Apparently, Hitler (at least at that point in his life) was not that type of person. An early biography (from 1936), also claimed that he was viewed by some of his fellow soldiers as a suck-up.
Hitler did see serious combat early in the war and he was seriously wounded twice, he was also decorated twice (his Iron Cross 1st class from WWI was the only decoration he ever wore in his later life as Germany’s military leader and dictator). I would say that his experience in the war was something that many Germans of his generation could connect to. Hitler didn’t need to embellish his military record.
It wasn’t that unusual. There was an entire battalion of Finnish volunteers, for one thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27th_J%C3%A4ger_Battalion_(Finland)
True, but that was a concerted effort to recruit citizens of an enemy country (Finland at that time was a part of Russia and they were hoping to gain their independence, once Germany defeated Russia).
I’m not sure this is correct. I have read that the only way you wouldn’t get an Iron Cross was for being shot for desertion.