Hitler got his start in the military during World War I.

He was a dispatch runner

on the Western Front.He gets fairly decorated.And by most accounts, this is
where he finds meaning.He finds meaning in being part of the military.He finds
meaning in the war itself.

But then in 1918, we, of course, have the end of the war.Well, first we have the
abdication of the Kaiser.We have the Republican government,people who want
to form a republic, take control.And then they sign an armistice with the Allies in
November.And this is not well received by Hitler.And it's not well received by
many in the military. From their point of view,they believed that Germany would
have won World War I if they weren't stabbed in the back by these November
Criminals,by the folks who had taken over after the Kaiser. This was believed
even by very senior people in the military.General Ludendorff,who was in charge
of the entire German military believed in the stab in the back theory.

From the point of view of people of like Hitler things only got worse. We have the
Treaty of Versailles that applied all the war guilt to the Germans.We have the
former German Empire,a significant amount of its territory is given over to the
Allies, or to form new states.Then,We also have the formal establishment of the
Weimar Republic.It's called the Weimar Republic because the new German
constitution is drafted in the town of Weimar.

But then in 1919, Hitler was very upset about the war ending.He stays part of the
military.And part of the military he's assigned to start infiltrating or spying on the
German Workers' Party, the acronym in German is the DAP the German
Workers' Party is really ultra-nationalist it's also anti-communist it's anti-capitalist
and it's anti ethnic minorities, in particular anti-Jewish.He becomes very
impressed.This is why he actually joins as the 55th member.
To German Workers' Party they add the Nationalist Socialist.German Workers'
Party, DAP, German Workers' Party,or the NSDAP.
Hitler actually designed the logo for the Nazis, the swastika. this was a racial
symbol. In 1921 Hitler takes control of the NSDAP.
The government keeps printing more and more currency. The economy is weak.
It's trying to pay reparations

In 1922, we have Mussolini comes to power in Italy. And he comes to power

through his March on Rome.Mussolini is a fascist. The fascists ideas were very
similar to the Nazis.The currency is worthless And on top of that, because
Germany can't pay the reparations to France anymore, France occupies the
Ruhr.