Logan Swift
World War 2 History
Dr. Baltakis
November 20, 2008
A look into the last days of Hitler
April 30th 1945 was Hitler’s last day. His death, on this day, was a culmination of many events that had come to pass in the previous months. The book that I am taking these facts from is “The Last Days of Hitler”. In order to understand how and why Hitler died one has to understand how Hitler, as a human being, not an unstoppable leader was being affected by these events. In this essay I will explain why Hitler found himself in this situation and how it affected him during the last ten days of his life.
Hitler as leader was determined to succeed. It seemed for awhile that nothing would stop his success. However after failing to take control over Russia everything seemed to steadily decline for Hitler. Militarily wise his army was being obliterated by the Russians. This causes Hitler to return to Berlin on January 16th to the Reich chancellery. He remained here until the bombing of Berlin by the allies drove him into his bunker which was designed for him by Albert Spear. The Bunker was 55 feet below ground and was able to protect Hitler very well. He did not enter the bunker alone however. He brought Eva Braun with him who had been his mistress since 1932. She was known by the SS officers as “the angel of death” because they knew by her being brought there that the war was lost.
It was not only Hitler’s army that was failing him. His body, mind, and over all health were declining quickly as well. He was afflicted with Parkinson’s disease which was noticeable through the uncontrollable shaking of his arm. His mental instability was seen as he tried to control armies that didn’t exist. One could just look at him and could tell how senile he had become. The amount of drugs he was on did not help either. Overall physically Hitler was not doing well at all.
On April 16th the Red Army attacked Berlin. By this point Berlin has braced themselves for the end....