How many henchmen did hitler have

He was a member of the board of directors of the Bank for International Settlements, based in Switzerland and was appointed to the Central Planning Board in September Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, an authority on world affairs and confidant of the Fuhrer. He designed and constructed the Reich Chancellery and the Party rally stadium in Nuremberg. He had final approval over all legislation and de facto control over all domestic matters. The story Read tells is divided into three parts: first, the emergence of the Nazi Party and its rise to power within Germany, which took place from to ; second, the period of appeasement, whereby the Nazis' territorial ambitions within Europe were realized without a shot being fired ; third, the period of World War II, from What really helped the Nazis in this first part was the economic crisis of the s and '30s.

This crisis destabilized the Weimar government and gave extremist parties like Hitler's the chance to gain votes and power. Read does an exemplary job describing the early electoral gains made by the Nazis. With Goebbels as campaign manager and propagandist, the Nazis began appealing to a disgruntled German electorate. Hitler ran on a right-wing platform of ripping up the Versailles Treaty and opposing the communists.

After becoming chancellor in , Hitler demanded and was allowed to seize the Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Himmler began increasing his power base by setting up a series of concentration camps that killed off the Jews and other "undesirables. Hitler was too busy eliminating his political opponents to settle disputes among his staff. In , the Nazis took advantage of a fire at the Reichstag building by blaming the communists for the inferno.

Himmler opened up a prison camp at Dachau to hold the overflow of political prisoners. There were others, Read points out, who helped Hitler in his quest for European and world domination. Albert Speer , an architect, would be put in charge of wartime production. Martin Bormann , Hitler's personal secretary, would become a Machiavellian power behind the throne. Joachim von Ribbentrop , a one-time champagne merchant, would become Hitler's foreign minister.

The first few years of the war were full of successes for the Nazis. East German guards gun down a young man trying to escape across the Berlin Wall into West Berlin and leave him to bleed to death. It was one of the ugliest incidents to take place at one of the ugliest symbols of the Cold War. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Black History. World War II. Civil War. Art, Literature, and Film History. Sign Up.

Westward Expansion. Cold War.