5 Dark and Little-Known Facts About George Washington

George Washington is often presented as a flawless founding hero — a face on money, a name carved into mountains. But behind the polished portraits is a much more complicated and disturbing reality. These are five facts that reveal the darker side of America’s first president.

1. His Dentures Included Teeth Taken From Enslaved People

Washington’s teeth were not wooden — that part is a myth. The truth is worse. His dentures were made from human teeth, animal teeth, ivory, and metal, and records show he bought teeth from enslaved people. Those teeth were likely pulled from their mouths and used in his dental plates. While Washington later instructed that enslaved people should not be directly purchased for his dentures in his name, the system that supplied him was still built on human suffering — and he continued to benefit from it.

2. He Owned Hundreds of Enslaved People and Worked to Keep Them

Washington enslaved over 300 people during his lifetime at Mount Vernon. While serving as president in Philadelphia, where slavery was being gradually abolished, he rotated enslaved workers in and out of the state to avoid laws that would have legally freed them after six months. This was not passive participation in slavery — it was deliberate and strategic.

3. He Authorized Brutal Military Campaigns Against Native Nations

During the Revolutionary War, Washington ordered scorched-earth campaigns against Native American villages allied with the British. Entire communities were burned, crops destroyed, and families displaced. He described these operations as necessary to break resistance, but the result was mass starvation and forced migration for many Indigenous people.

4. He Carefully Crafted His Own Image

Washington understood the power of reputation. He approved idealized portraits, controlled how he was written about, and avoided public displays that might damage his authority. Even in his lifetime, he was becoming a symbol — and that symbol was carefully managed. The heroic image most people know today was not accidental; it was constructed.

5. He Freed His Enslaved People — But Only After His Death

Washington is sometimes praised for freeing enslaved people in his will, but this only applied to those he personally owned, not those owned by his wife’s family. And the freedom came after he died, not during his lifetime when he could have acted. Many elderly and vulnerable people were left without resources, and families remained divided. His final act did not undo decades of exploitation.

Why This History Matters

Learning these facts does not erase Washington’s role in founding the United States — but it does challenge the idea that national heroes are purely heroic. Understanding the full story forces us to confront how deeply slavery, violence, and power were woven into the birth of the country.

History is not just made by statues.

It is made by people — and people are complicated, flawed, and often cruel.

What Happened to Hitler?: Part 4: Hitler Goes On Trial For High Treason And His Obsession With His Niece Comes To A Deadly End.

I don't know if you read Part 3: Precursor Of The Nazi Party, but regardless i will remind you where we left off.  

World War I ended and Hitler was mad that Germany lost and blamed it all on the Jews. He joined the National Socialist German Workers Party and attempted a coup called the "Beer Hall Putsch" to try to bring down the democratic government in Germany. He failed and hid out in a friend's attic until he was arrested and taken to jail where he was about to go on trial for high treason.

Hitler practically became famous over night, not just locally but in other countries as well. The lay judges( a person assisting a judge in a trial) in his trial was chosen by a Nazi sympathizer in the Bavarian government. Hitler was allowed say whatever he wanted for as long as he wanted and he'd interrupt others at any time and even cross examine witnesses.

Hitler's trial began before the special People's Court in Munich in February of 1924. Amazingly he said that he was the only to blame for the Putsch. However, he did claim that what he did was not wrong. 

"I alone bear the responsibility. But I am not a criminal because of that. If today I stand here as a revolutionary, it is as a revolutionary against the revolution. There is no such thing as high treason against the traitors of 1918," Hitler ranted.

The lay judges had to be dissuaded by the presiding Judge, George Neithardt, from acquitting Hitler with the that he would get early parole. On April 1st, 1924, he was found guilty and he could have received life, but he got five years and would be eligible for parole in six months. 

He was given a private cell at Landsberg with a nice view. He received friendly treatment from the guards, and was allowed mail and regular visits by anyone. He got gifts and had his own private secretary. Hitler also dictated what would be the first volume of a book, Mein Kampf, to his secretary who took down every word. Hitler never did write an actual word of his book.

Mein Kampf (My Struggle, or My Battle) was originally going to be called "Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice", but his publisher shortened it. 

In his book, Hitler establishes higher and lower orders of humans. At the top is the Germanic man with his fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Hitler refers to this type of person as an Aryan asserts that it is the master race. Hitler then declared that Jews and the Slavic peoples, notably the Czechs, Poles, and Russians are the lowest on the totem pole, the inferior races. He also said that the inferior races actually benefit by being conquered because they come in contact with and learn from their superiors. However, they can't get married, have kids together and taint the pure Aryan bloodline... 

Hitler also claimed that the Jews were conspiring to keep the Aryan's from assuming their rightful position as rulers of the world. He said that the Jews were conducting an international conspiracy to control world finances, controlling the press, inventing liberal democracy as well as Marxism, promoting prostitution and using culture to spread disharmony. Throughout his book Hitler insults Jews and calls them the mortal enemies of the Aryans.

Anyway, Hitler wasn't the only one who was shown incredible mercy and kindness by the court. Other Nazi leaders got light sentences as well and General Ludendorff was even acquitted. 

Hitler was Pardoned by the Bavarian Supreme Court and ending up only serving a little over eight months. Against the prosecutor's objections, he was released on December 20th, 1924.

Hitler was worried that he was going to be deported, but the judge was sympathetic and said that he couldn't apply the rules to a man that thought like Hitler did and loved Germany so much...

After his release Hitler would make his money from party funds and from writing for nationalist newspapers. He became a night owl that wouldn't eat meat and he also gave up alcohol. 

The Germany economy had started to recover a bit and the political aspect agitation had eased as well.  Also, the Nazi Party and its affiliated organizations had been banned in Bavaria. 

On January 4th, 1924, in a meeting with the Prime Minister of Bavaria Heinrich, Hitler agreed to respect the state's authority and promised that he would seek political power only through the democratic process. The meeting paved the way for the ban on the NSDAP to be lifted. However, after an inflammatory speech Hitler was barred from public speaking by the Bavarian authorities. In spite of the ban, Hitler appointed Gregor Strasser, Otto Strasser and Joseph Goebbels to organize and enlarge the NSDAP in northern Germany. 

Gregor Strasser was born into the family of a Catholic judicial officer. He served an apprenticeship as a pharmacist in the Lower Bavarian village of Frontenhausen.

When World War I broke out, Strasser suspended his studies at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich to enlist as a volunteer in the German Imperial Army. He served in the 1st Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment. rising quickly to the rank of first lieutenant and winning the Iron Cross of both classes for bravery. In 1918, he resumed his studies at Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nuremberg. He passed his state examination and started work as a pharmacist in Landshut.

He joined the NSDAP in 1920 and quickly became an influential and important figure. He took part in the Beer Hall Putsch and was imprisoned, but released because he had been elected a member of the Bavarian Landtag for the NSDAP. 

Because Strasser was overworked and hired Heinrich Himmler to expand the organization in Lower Bavaria. After the refoundation of the NSDAP, Strasser became the party leader of a regional branch of the Nazi Party. From September 1926 until the end of December 1927, he was the NSDAP's national leader for propaganda.

Due to the public-speaking ban issued against Hitler, Hitler deputized Strasser to represent the party in the north and speak.  Strasser said in his speech he made to the Reichstag in November 1925:

"We National Socialists want the economic revolution involving the nationalization of the economy...We want in place of an exploitative capitalist economic system a real socialism, maintained not by a soulless Jewish-materialist outlook but by the believing, sacrificial, and unselfish old German community sentiment, community purpose and economic feeling. We want the social revolution in order to bring about the national revolution."

Strasser with his brother Otto, founded the Berlin Kampf-Verlag ("Combat Publishing"). Strasser appointed Joseph Goebbels as the managing editor of the Kampfverlag. The two men drafted a revised version of the NSDAP political program during the winter of 1925–1926, one which leaned much further to the left much to Hitler's dismay. Hitler called for a meeting in the northern Bavarian city of Bamberg. Goebbels and Strasser traveled there hoping to convince Hitler of the new message but it didn't work.

In March of 1926 Strasser was in a car accident and he was bedridden for awhile.

Otto Strasser was Gregor's brother and was considered more intellectual of the two. During World War I he joined the Bavarian Army as a volunteer. He rose through the ranks to lieutenant and was twice wounded. When he returned to Germany in 1919 he served in the Freikorps. At the same time, he also joined the NSDAP. In 1920 he participated in the opposition to the Kapp Putsch.  

Joseph Goebbels was born in an industrial town called Rheydt. Both of his parents were Roman Catholics. His father was a German factory clerk and his mother was of Dutch ancestry and later became a German citizen. Goebbels had five siblings. His sister Maria married the German filmmaker Max W. Kimmich. (I don't know if they are all that way, but he made several propaganda films for the Nazis.)

As a child Goebbels suffered from a long bout of inflammation of the lungs. He also had a deformed right foot that turned inwards, due to a congenital deformity. It was thicker and shorter than his left foot and he underwent a failed operation to correct it. Goebbels wore a metal brace and special shoe because of his shortened leg and walked with a limp. He was rejected from serving in World War 1 because of his disability.

Goebbels studied literature and history aided by a scholarship from the Albertus Magnus Society. Goebbels parents wanted him to become a catholic priest but by this time he had begun to distance himself from the church.

At Freiburg, he met and fell in love with Anka Stalherm, who was three years older.  By 1920 their relationship was over and Goebbels was full with thoughts of suicide.

Goebbels earned his PhD in 1921.

Goebbels returned home and worked as a private tutor. He met and began a love affair with a school teacher named Else Janke. After she revealed to him that she was half-Jewish, Goebbels stated his disdain, but continued dating her on and off for years.

He continued for several years to try to become a published author, but his lack of success forced him to take employment as a caller on the stock exchange and as a bank clerk. He was dismissed from the bank in August 1923 and returned to Rheydt. He began reading avidly and was influenced by the works such as Houston Stewart Chamberlain's book The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century. (One of the standard works of the extreme right in Germany.) He also began to study the "social question" and was preoccupied with "religious-philosophical" issues, and lacked a sense of direction. 

Goebbels was drawn to the NSDAP mostly because of Hitler. Gregor Strasser hired Goebbels to work on their weekly newspaper and undertake secretarial work for the regional party offices. He was also put to work as party speaker.

Hitler believed in a legal system with no "Jewish system of exploitation ... for plundering of our people." The future would be secured by acquiring land, not through expropriation of the estates of the former nobility, but through colonizing territories to the east. Goebbels was horrified by Hitler's characterization of socialism as "a Jewish creation." 

After reading Hitler's book Goebbels began to see Hitler's point of view and began to really idolize him.

Hitler appointed Goebbels the leader for the Berlin section giving him great authority over the area. When Goebbels arrived, and he reduced it to a core of 600 of the most active and promising members. To raise money, he instituted membership fees and began charging admission to party meetings. To get publicity he deliberately provoked beer-hall battles and street brawls. Goebbels used commercial advertising including the use of catchy slogans and subliminal cues.

Goebbels' violent tactics led the Berlin police to ban the NSDAP from the city. Violent incidents continued, including young Nazis randomly attacking Jews in the streets. Goebbels was subjected to a public speaking ban until for a while. During this period, he founded the newspaper Der Angriff (The Attack). Material in the paper was highly anti-communist and antisemitic. 

The ban on the NSDAP was lifted before the Reichstag elections in 1928. Goebbels gained election to the Reichstag. This gave him immunity from prosecution for a long list of outstanding charges.

Back to Hitler after he was released from prison. 

Hitler's sister Angela had been working for him as a housekeeper and she would bring along her teenage daughter Geli.

Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal was known as a high-spirited young girl with an infectious charm. She was born in Linz, Austria-Hungary. She had a brother named Leo and a sister named Elfriede. Her father died at the age of 31 when Geli was two. 

Elfriede would also accompany their mother when she went and worked for Hitler, but it was a 17-year-old Geli that Hitler would favor. 

Hitler attended Rudolph Hess' wedding as his best man. Hitler ducked out early with his chauffeur, Emil Maurice and went to a tavern. The two got to talking and Hitler was shocked and outraged when Maurice told him that he was engaged to Geli. The next day Hitler spoke with Maurice and Geli. The conversation didn't go very well and Hitler ended up threatening Maurice with a gun and throwing him out the door. Needless to say Maurice was also fired.

In 1929 Geli moved in with Hitler when she enrolled in medicine at Ludwig Maximilian University. She did not complete her medical studies. Hitler was domineering and possessive. He cut her off from all of her friends and would accompany her everywhere she went. When he couldn't be with her he'd make sure there was someone he could trust to keep her in line. This made Geli rightfully lonely and depressed.

Around this time Hitler first met a 17-year-old German Catholic girl called Eva Braun.

Eva Anna Paula Braun was born in Munich and was the second daughter of school teacher Friedrich "Fritz" Braun and a hard working seamstress Franziska "Fanny" Kronberger. She had an elder sister, Ilse and a younger sister, Margarete (Gretl).

Braun's parents were divorced in April 1921, but remarried in November 1922. Braun was educated at a Catholic lyceum in Munich, and then for one year at a business school in the Convent of the English Sisters in Simbach am Inn, where she had a talent for athletics. It was said that she was an accomplished swimmer and skier.

She was 17-years-old when she took a job working for Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer for the NSDAP. Initially employed as a shop assistant and sales clerk, she soon learned how to use a camera and develop photographs. She met Hitler at Hoffmann's studio in Munich. Soon Braun and Hitler became involved in a secret relationship.

The stock market crash in the United States in October of 1929 direly impacted Germany. Millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Hitler and the NSDAP decided to take advantage of the situation. They promised to reject the Versailles Treaty, strengthen the economy, and provide jobs.

The Great Depression and the German referendum(a failed attempt to introduce a Law against the Enslavement of the German People) of 1929 elevated the Nazi ideology. The elections of 1930 resulted in the break-up of a grand coalition (an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government) and its replacement with a minority cabinet. (Minority cabinets tend to be less stable.)

Chancellor Heinrich Brüning of the Center Party, governed through emergency decrees from President Paul von Hindenburg. 

Brüning was born in Münster. He lost his father when he was one year old and so his older brother Hermann was like a father to him. Although brought up in a devoutly Roman Catholic family, Brüning was also influenced by Lutheranism's concept of duty.

He first leaned towards the legal profession but then studied Philosophy, History, German and Political Science at Strasbourg. In 1915, he received a doctorate for his thesis on the financial, economical and legal implications of nationalizing the British railway system. Historian Friedrich Meinecke, one of his professors at Strasbourg with national liberal and anti-semitic views, was a major influence on him.

Brüning volunteered for the infantry and even though he has shortsightedness and was physically weak, he was accepted. He served in World War I and rose to lieutenant in an infantry regiment and company commander by the end of the war. He was cited for bravery and awarded both the second and first class Iron Cross.

Despite having been elected to a soldiers' council after the armistice, Brüning did not approve of the German Revolution.

He preferred to help former soldiers reintegrate into civilian life by assisting them finding employment or further their education.

He collaborated with the social reformer Carl Sonnenschein and worked in the "Secretariat for social student work". After six months he entered the Prussian welfare department and became a close associate of the minister. The minster made Brüning chief executive of the Christian unions.

As the editor of the union newspaper Der Deutsche (The German), he advocated a "social popular state" and "Christian democracy." 

In 1923 Brüning was actively involved in organizing the nonviolent resistance campaign "Ruhrkampf".

Brüning joined the Center Party and was elected to the Reichstag, representing Breslau. In parliament, he quickly made a name for himself as a financial expert and managed to push through the Brüning Law, which restricted the workers' share of income taxes.

After his election as leader of the Center Party group in the Reichstag, his party's agreement to the Young Plan was made conditional on paying for it through tax increases and budget cuts. 

Brüning was then appointed chancellor by Hindenburg and had the economic crises caused by the Great Depression to deal with.  Brüning's tightening of credit and a rollback of all wage and salary increases really made him unpopular. This paved the way for the NSDAP to win 107 parliamentary seats and they became the second-largest party in parliament.

The Nazi party was on a steady rise and so was the turmoil between Geil and an obsessed Hitler. Geli dreamed of becoming a singer someday and wanted to go to escape to Vienna and marry a man there and settle down. Hitler wanted her all to himself and wouldn't allow her to leave him. 

On September 18th, 1931, as Hitler was leaving for a meeting in Nuremberg, Geli hung out of the window and yelled something to Hitler. He replied, “No, for the last time, no.”

The next day Hitler was recalled to Munich the next day with the news that 23-year-old Geli was dead. She had been found lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood. She had a hole in her chest where a bullet from Hitler's pistol had obliterated one of her lungs.  There was no suicide note, just an enthusiastic letter about future plans to a friend was found, half-written, on her desk.

Geli's death was ruled a suicide. The cause was stated as “unsatisfied artistic achievement.” Oddly, she was buried in a catholic cemetery in Vienna, where suicide cases aren’t allowed. 

It was said that Geli's death made Hitler very depressed and moved to a house on the shores of Tegernsee lake. And he did not attend the funeral in Vienna, but he often visited her grave after. Later he declared that Geli was the only woman he had ever loved. Her room at the Berghof was kept as she had left it, and he hung portraits of her in his own room as well as his office.

Many theories even to this day swirl around about Geli's death. Some say that she was driven to suicide by not only Hitler's controlling nature, but that she was sexually abused by him. Other say that Hitler shot Geli himself in the heat of an argument or killed on his orders.  Allegedly, Hitler's nephew William Stuart-Houston claimed, "When I visited Berlin in 1931, the family was in trouble. ... Everyone knew that Hitler and she had long been intimate and that she had been expecting a child – a fact that enraged Hitler."

After Geli's "suicide" Braun too attempted suicide by shooting herself in the chest with her father's pistol. She had been deeply committed to her relationship with Hitler, but Hitler spend a great amount of his time on his political career and Braun felt ignored. 

After Braun's recovery, Hitler became more committed to her and set her up in a spacious Munich house with a maid. However, Hitler wouldn't let Braun be seen with him in public.The only time Braun could appear on his arm as "chief consort" was when she was playing host to his inner circle.

After Hitler had terminated his Austrian citizenship in 1925, he was stateless, legally unable to run for public office, and still faced the risk of deportation. On February 25th, 1932, the interior minister of Brunswick, who was a member of the NSDAP, appointed Hitler as administrator for the state's delegation to the Reichsrat in Berlin, making Hitler a citizen of Brunswick.

After obtaining citizenship, Hitler decided against Hindenburg in the 1932 presidential elections. 

Hindenburg was born in what is now Poznan, Poland. His father was a member of the Prussia nobility and supported the family as an infantry officer and retired as a major. His family were all Lutheran Protestants in the Evangelical Church of Prussia.

He tried to emulate everything about his father that he could and at age 11 Hindenburg entered the Cadet Corps School. And by age 19 he first saw war.

Hindenburg won a decoration during the Austro-Prussian War after he marched on after temporarily knocked unconscious by a bullet that pierced his helmet. And later he became will distinguished in the Franco-Prussian War. 

He wrote the field service regulations on field-engineering and on the use of heavy artillery in field engagements.(Both of which were used during the First World War.) 

He served in the General Staff with his appointment of 1878. While there he was made a general in 1905.

Hindenburg retired in 1911 so that he could spend time with his wife and children and "to make way for younger men." He had been in the army for 46 years, including 14 years in General Staff positions.

He was called back into military service after the start of World War I to assume command of the German Eighth Army in East Prussia with General Erich Ludendorff as his chief of staff.

Hindenburg won a huge victory for Germany at Tannenburg and  eight hundred thousand refugees were able to return to their East Prussian homes. After this, Hindenburg was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the German armies.

Hindenburg was appointed Ober Ost (commander in the east) and was promoted to field marshal.

In a raging snowstorm his forces surprised the Russian flank in the Battle of Łódź, which ended the immediate Russian threat to Silesia and also captured Poland's second largest city.

Hindenburg argued that the Russians could be snared in a cauldron by a southward pincer from East Prussia and a northward pincer from Galicia, using motor vehicles for speed, even though the Russians outnumbered the Germans by three to one. He thought that this could end the war in the Eastern Front. Erich von Falkenhayn, the Chief of Germany's Great General Staff, rejected his plan.

Hindenburg then made plans to eliminate the Russians' remaining toehold in East Prussia by ensnaring them in a pincer movement between the Tenth Army in the north and Eighth Army in the south. It worked and Hindenburg's forces encircled an entire corps and captured more than 100,000 men in the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes.

During the German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians to their south, Hindenburg's Ninth and Tenth Army launched diversionary attacks. Three cavalry divisions swept east into Courland, the barren, sandy region near the Baltic coast. 

Hindenburg was then ordered to launch a frontal attack in Poland toward the Narew River north of Warsaw. He created Army Group Gallwitz and broke through the Russian lines. One-third of the opposing Russian First Army were casualties in the first five hours and the Russians ended up withdrawing.

Hindenburg continued to rack up victories on the Eastern Front and  consequently he was promoted to Field Marshal, finally becoming Army Chief of Staff, replacing Falkenhayn. He immediately appointed Ludendorff his Quartermaster General.

Hindenburg formed what was known as the "Third Supreme Council", a military-industrial dictatorship that held virtually total power.

In 1918, Hindenburg oversaw Germany's largest offensive push of World War I. Russia had already withdrew from the war and Hindenburg believed that by bringing troops from the Eastern Front they had the means to not only halt the Allies, but to push them back. It was a costly offensive that almost succeeded, however an Allied counter-offensive, bolstered by the arrival of U.S. troops, broke through, forcing German to surrender.

In June of 1919, Hindenburg retired once again from the German army, but remained in office. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles Hindenburg was due to be tried as a war criminal; however he was a war her and his popularity ensured that he was not even indicted.

In 1925 Hindenburg became President of the Weimar Republic, replacing Friedrich Ebert upon the latter's death.

In 1930 when the depression hit, he appointed a cabinet accountable only to him and authorized Chancellor Heinrich Brüning to dissolve the Reichstag. 

Back to the 1932 race between Hitler and Hindenburg for president.  Many of Germany's most powerful industrialists supported Hitler and various nationalist, monarchist, Catholic, and republican parties, and some Social Democrats supported Hindenburg. 

Hitler's campaign slogan was "Hitler über Deutschland" ("Hitler over Germany") and was one of the first politicians to use aircraft travel effectively and for political purposes. He targeted his political messages specifically at people who had been affected by the inflation and the Depression, such as farmers, war veterans, and the middle class.

Hitler ultimately lost to Hindenburg, but the election established Hitler as a strong force in German politics.

Two influential politicians, Franz von Papen and Alfred Hugenberg, along with several other industrialists and businessmen, wrote a letter to Hindenburg urging him to appoint Hitler as Chancellor.  Hindenburg reluctantly agreed.

Hitler's government brought the Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act) to a vote in the newly elected Reichstag and it passed. Hitler now had the ability to pass laws without Reichstag approval. Political parties, organizations and unions not affiliated with the Nazis were soon disbanded. Hitler now basically had ultimate power.

What Happened to Hitler? Part 2: World War 1 Breaks Out

I don't know if you read part 1: Growing up, but regardless i will remind you where we left off. 

In 1914, Hitler fled to Munich to avoid mandatory military service, but the Munich police came to his house and told him that he had to report to the police office in Linz because he had not reported for military duty. Hitler was freaked out because he could potentially be imprisoned so he wrote a letter to the Austrian Consulate apologizing and using his tough life as an excuse. He was forgiven, but had to report Salzburg for his medical  assessment, which he failed. After he failed, the whole matter was dropped.

Hitler returned to Munich and painted for money. When asked how he would make a permanent living, Hitler said it did not matter since there soon be a war. And boy was he right..

Allegedly, Hitler claimed that he ran away from serving for the Austro-Hungarian Army because of the mixture of races in its army and his belief that the collapse of Austria-Hungary was imminent.

Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy, was the second largest country in Europe and made up of many different peoples and great power. It replaced the Austrian Empire in 1867. It started with the compromise between the ruling Habsburg dynasty and the Hungarians. The Habsburg dynasty ruled as emperors of Austria over the western and northern half of the country and as kings of Hungary over the rest. Hungary and Austria had different parliaments and each had its own prime minister. The monarch kept the two working together thinking he had all the power, but not in reality. The monarch’s central government had charge of the army, navy, foreign policy, and the customs union. 

Austria-Hungary's occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina came in 1878 after it was approved by the Congress of Berlin and was completed in 1908. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its countryside is home to medieval villages, rivers and lakes, plus Dinaric Alps. The national capital is Sarajevo. 

The Austrian-Hungarian occupation angered the Serbians.

On August 2nd, 1914, an enthusiastic crowd gathered in the public plaza in Munich to celebrate the Germany entering World War I. To many people it appeared that Hitler was in the crowd, there are some that say it was not him.

What was the catalyst for World War I? A Bullet.

Most people will tell you the main trigger of WWI was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife Sophie.

Franz Ferdinand was an Austrian archduke, a Hungarian and a Bohemian prince. 

When Franz’ nephew Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide joint suicide in 1889 and Franz' father Karl Ludwig died of typhoid fever in 1896 Franz became the next in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne. 

Franz was allowed to marry his lady-in-waiting Sophie Chotek after he renounced his descendants' rights to the throne.

"By far the cleverest thing I ever did in my life was to marry my Sophie. She is everything for me: my wife, my doctor, my advisor — in a word my whole happiness. …And then our children! They are my whole pride and joy. I sit with them all day long in amazement that I can love them so much. And then the evenings at home when I smoke my cigar and read my papers. Sophie knits and the children tumble about, knocking everything off the tables. It’s all so cozy and precious…"-Franz Ferdinand

He rose quickly in the military and ended up being very influential. In 1913 he was appointed inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces.

Franz wanted to federalize Austria-Hungary and have 16 member states with separate governments. He also wanted to ensure that the ethnic Slavs(Serbians) had a voice in these state governments. He regarded Hungarian nationalism as a revolutionary threat to the Habsburg dynasty. He also advocated a cautious approach towards Serbia warning that harsh treatment of Serbia would bring Austria-Hungary into open conflict with Russia. 

If only they would have listened to him about Serbia.

So there are conflicting stories about why Franz went to Sarajevo.  Some claim that Franz was there for a museum opening. Some say that Governor-General Oskar Potiorek invited him there to watch military maneuvers or a hospital opening.  Regardless, Franz was a little weary to go. His uncle, the Emperor Franz Josef, had an attempt made on his life in Saragevo in 1911 by the Black Hand.

The Black hand was a secret military society aiming to unite all of the territories with a South Slavic majority not ruled by either Serbia or Montenegro.

Despite his fears, Franz decided to go. On Sunday, June 28th 1914, the royal couple arrived in Sarajevo just before 10 a.m. At 10:15 they were in the third car of a six-car procession passing the central police station. Their car had an opened roof so they could wave at the spectators.

That is when a member of the Black Hand named Nedeljko Čabrinović hurled a hand grenade at Franz's car. Thankfully the driver saw the object flying towards him and step on the gas. However, due to the bomb having a 10-second delay, it exploded under the wheel of the fourth car and injured two of the occupants. About a dozen spectators were also injured by shrapnel.

Čabrinović swallowed an expired cyanide pill and jumped into the River Milajacka. However, the pill only made him vomit, and the river was only 4 inches deep. He was pulled out and as he was taken away by police allegedly saying, "I am a Serb hero." 

He was not the brightest was he?

Franz and his wife were taken to the town hall for a scheduled reception. When they arrived a very angry Franz interrupted the mayor's welcome speech. "Mr. Mayor, I came here on a visit and I am greeted with bombs. It is outrageous."

Sophie then whispered into Franz' ear and he paused and then told the mayor that he could speak.

Franz and Sophie wanted to visit all those who had been injured by the bomb at the local hospital. 

The Franz' chamberlain, Baron Rumerskirch, wanted them to stay at the Town Hall until troops could be brought into the city to line the streets. 

However, Governor-General Oskar Potiorek said no to this because soldiers coming straight from maneuvers would not have time to dress properly. He followed this ridiculous justification by saying, "Do you think that Sarajevo is full of assassins?"

At 10:45 a.m, Franz and Sophie got back into the motorcade, once again in the third car with an opened top.

This time, Count Harrach was on the left-hand running board and Potiorek was in the car with them.

To be on the safe side, Potiorek wanted to avoid the city center on the way to the hospital, but he failed to tell that to his drivers. When Potiorek noticed that they weren't going the way he had planned, he called out to the driver to stop.

The driver applied the brakes and attempted to reverse the car, but it stalled. That was when another member of the Black Hand named  Gavrilo Princip stepped up to the running board and shot Franz and Sophie with a 380 caliber pistol. Franz had been hit in the jugular  vein followed by Sophie in her abdomen. Sophie immediately fell unconscious and collapsed into Franz' lap. Franz pleaded,"Sophie, Sophie! Don't die! Live for our children!" followed by telling Harrach's that his injuries were "nothing." Franz then passed out too.

Some say that Franz and Sophie were then driven to the hospital and others say the Governor's mansion and others say it was the hospital. Some say Sophie died first and others say it was Franz. Regardless, they both died within minutes of being shot.

Princip tried to shoot himself, but the gun was wrestled from him. At his trial he said he had meant to kill Potiorek, not Sophie and he regretted it, but he was proud of what he had done.

Anti-Serb rioting and demonstrations broke out. The Austro-Hungarian government soon became convinced that the Kingdom of Serbia was behind the assassination. Which it could have been true. 

Allegedly, the Serbian Prime Minister learned of the assassination attempt prior to the attack and made a vague attempt to warn the Austrians, but they didn't take it seriously.

After Franz' death, Oskar Potiorek organized riots against ethnic Serbs and the police and local authorities in the city did nothing to prevent anti-Serb violence.

The crowds directed their anger at Serb shops, residences of prominent Serbs, Serbian places of worship, schools, banks and the newspaper offices. Many members of the Austro-Hungarian upper class participated in the violence, including many military officers. Two Serbians were killed that day.

On June 29th, 1914, more aggressive demonstrations transpired as well as violent riots. Local political leaders held speeches to these crowds, some played important role in bringing crowds together and directing them against places belonging to Serbs. 

After the bodies of Franz Ferdinand and his wife were transported to Sarajevo's railway station, order in the city was restored.   

Anti-Serb demonstrations and riots also spread to many other larger Austro-Hungarian cities. In Bosnia and Herzegovina prominent Serbs were imprisoned and extradited. And a predominantly  Muslim special militia known as the Schutzkorps was established and carried out the persecution of Serbs. 

Austro-Hungarian diplomat Count Hoyos, traveled to Berlin and successfully acquired German support for Austrian action against Serbia.

On July 23rd, Austria-Hungary delivered Serbia a series of demands in an effort to provoke a war with them. Two days later Serbia decreed general mobilization. They accepted all the terms of the ultimatum except for article six, which demanded that Austrian delegates be allowed in Serbia for the purpose of participation in the investigation into the assassination. Following this, Austria broke off diplomatic relations with Serbia. And Russia, in support of Serbia, declared partial mobilization against Austria-Hungary. 

On July 28th, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and on the 30th, Russia ordered general mobilization. 

On the 31st, Kaiser Wilhelm II asked his cousin, Tsar Nicolas II, to suspend the Russian general mobilization. When he refused, Germany demanded the mobilization be stopped, and a commitment not to support Serbia. They also asked France not to support Russia if it were to come to the defense of Serbia. The next day, after the Russian response, Germany mobilized and declared war on Russia.

“This is a dark day and a dark hour. The sword is being forced into my hand. This war will demand of us enormous sacrifice in life and money, but we shall show our foes what it is to provoke Germany.”

– Kaiser Wilhelm II

This was the official start of World War 1.

On August 2nd, Hitler allegedly was in the crowd celebrating as German troops invaded Luxembourg. On first hearing the news of war Hitler had sunk to his knees and thanked heaven for being alive.

"For me, as for every German, there now began the greatest and most unforgettable time of my earthly existence. Compared to the events of this gigantic struggle, everything past receded to shallow nothingness." -Hitler 

Luxembourg is a landlocked by Belgium, Germany and France. Since the 1867 Luxembourg had been an explicitly neutral state. But after Franz's death, Germany was anticipating a retaliatory declaration of war from Russia's closest western ally, France. They thought that France was ready to invade Luxembourg itself. So,  Germany decided to launch a lightning attack on France through the poorly defended low countries, bypassing France's main defenses. Germany's army would be able to encircle Paris and force France to surrender.

On August 3rd, Germans invaded Belgium and declared war on France. Britain then sent an ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from Belgium, which they rejected. And Italy announced that they would stay neutral. The next day, Britain declared war on Germany. This meant that Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa were also at war with Germany. The United States announced it was staying neutral.

On August 5th, Hitler requested to join the Bavarian army, but he was sent away because the Army had more volunteers than it needed. This was also the day the first battle of World War I began. 

Railways in the Meuse river valley needed by the German armies in eastern Belgium were closed.

The next day Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia and Serbia declared war on Germany. Followed a few days later by the Kingdom of Montenegro declaring war on Austria-Hungary.

The Kingdom of Montenegro was a monarchy in southeastern Europe. It allied itself with the Triple Entente(informal agreement between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic and the United Kingdom) in line with King Nicholas' pro-Serbian policy.

 

On August 12th, Great Britain and France declared war on Austria-Hungary. Followed by Serbia getting invaded by Austria-Hungary.

On August 16th, Hitler was summoned to report to Recruiting Depot VI in Munich and enlisted as private No. 148 in the 1st Company, 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. Since Hilter was an Austrian citizen, Bavarian authorities concluded years and years later that Hitler being able to fight in Bavaria must have been a clerical error and he should have been sent back to Austria.

Hitler left his room at the Schliesheimerstrasse and moved to Türkenkaserne, which was the Bavarian Army barracks in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich. 

On August 17th, the Russians invaded East Prussia. 

On August 19th, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria signed an alliance. 

The Ottoman Empire was centered in Turkey and controlled the eastern and southern lands around the Mediterranean. The empire was a collection of conquered countries.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson addressed United States Congress "Such divisions amongst us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the one great nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a friend."

So, basically he was trying to get everybody to be friends and also announcing that the United States would still be abstaining from battle.

On August 21st, Hitler signed out from Munich.

On August 22nd, Austria-Hungary declared war on Belgium

On August 23rd, after Germany didn't respond to the demand, that Japan made on August 15th, Japan declared war on Germany. The Japanese then prepare to assist the British in expelling the Germans from the Far East. Also, Austria-Hungry invaded Russian Poland.

In Tannenberg, the main battle began between the Russian and the Germans. The Germans use their railway system to surround the Russians and inflict heavy causalities. This resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. 

On August 30th, intending to terrorize civilians, Germans bombed Paris and killed one civilian.

On September 1st, Hitler was posted to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16. He was trained in weapons and marching. It was said that when Hitler was issued his rifle “he looked at it with delight, as a woman looks at her jewelry". 

On September 4th, the Russians seized Lemberg from Austria-Hungary. The next day German invasion of France is stopped in the First Battle of the Marne as German troops are forced to the north side of the Marne River.

On September 12th, Germans captured Gumbinnen (now Gusev) as the Russians retreated.

On September 14th, the Russians withdrew from East Prussia allowing the area to be let under control of the Germans.

On September 17th, German New Guinea governor Eduard Haber surrendered to Australian forces.

German New Guinea consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire.

On October 4th, the French failed to hold back the German advance and lost Lens in northern France.

On October 8th, Hitler’s regiment was present at a farewell ceremony at the Türkenkaserne. The next day he completed his basic military training.

On October 10th, Hitler’s regiment left Munich by foot for a large training in the area of Kloster Lechfeld, which was 70 miles to the west. In full combat gear, the men marched in a continuous rain for 11 hours. Hitler and his company was put up in a barn for the night, but that no one could sleep because they were soaked through and shivering from the cold.

On October 12th,  the trial for 17 of the conspirators in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand began in Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip  admitted in court his motivation for assassination was purely political: "I am a Yugoslav nationalist and I believe in unification of all South Slavs in whatever form of state and that it be free of Austria ... By means of terror."

On October 13th, Hitler’s First Battalion arrived in Klosterlechfeld.

Klosterlechfeld is a municipality in the district of Augsburg in Bavaria.

Howitzer

Germans and Austrians bombarded the Belgian fortress city and Liege Forts into submission with Howitzers. Remaining Belgians then retreated north toward Antwerp as the Germans advanced towards France. As the Germans advanced, they shot civilians and executed a Belgian priest they had accused of inciting civilian resistance.

On October 17th, Hitler completed supplementary military training. Two days later the First Battle of Ypres began as German, French and British forces advanced to encounter each other at the western Belgian town of Langemark. 

On October 20th, Hitler sent a letter to his former landlord Popp about the training in the Lechfeld area. The next day his regiment traveled by train from München, along the Rhine.  The men sang “The Watch on the Rhine” and broke into cheers when they finally saw the great river, which was the first time that most of them had ever laid eyes on it.

On October 22nd, the men disembarked from the train and, after reorganizing, marched to Lille, Belgium, which had been recaptured by the Germans from the British. 

On October 23rd, Hitler and his regiment arrived in Lille and  marched through the desolate town. Hitler became nervous when British shells began to land, since the town was full of ammunition carts and soldiers. The shelling did not last long, and the men bedded down on the wet and cold flagstones of the town’s streets. They then spend a few days traveling to Geluveld. On their way there they spent nights in castle gardens and a destroyed farm.

On October 29th, Turkey entered the war on Germany’s side and the List-regiment fought its first battle during the First Battle of Ypern (Belgium). When Hitler and his regiment went through some woods. After that, they arrived at a meadow-land. The Regiment got into a fight near the road to Beselare. At dawn the attack began. It was foggy and the regimental hats that they were wearing brought trouble. A regiment of troop from the army of the German state of Württemberg thought the Bavarians were British and opened fire, inflicting heavy causalities. Hitler and his friend Ernst Schmidt threw their caps away instantly and ran to the rear headquarters to report the situation and stop the slaughter. At one point, a shell exploded near him; it killed another soldier, but Hitler only had a sleeve ripped away. 2,500 of the 3,000 men in the Hitler's regiment were killed, wounded or missing.

Hitler was described as an unusual with a sloppy manner and unmilitary bearing. He was also eager for action. He never complained about bad food and the horrible conditions or talked about women. Instead he preferred to discuss art or history. He received a few letters but no packages from home and never asked for leave. 

On November 3rd, Hitler became a dispatch runner, taking messages back and forth from the command staff in the rear to the fighting units near the battlefield. The runners traveled in pairs, armed only with pistols and carrying a leather wallet attached to their belts. 

On Hitler’s first run during the Battle of Messines, six miles southwest of Ypres, three runners were killed and one wounded of the eight on staff. On the second day, the regimental commander was wounded near Hitler and Schmidt; under heavy fire, Hitler and a fellow soldier carried their wounded commander to an aid station. 

A few days later,  Lt. Col. Philipp Engelhardt, went to inspect the British position and took Hitler and Hitler’s friend Balthasar Brandymayer with him. Engelhardt was fired at by British troops when he stepped out of a line of trees to see the enemy's trenches better. Hitler and Brandymayer stepped in front to protect Englehardt, before dragging their commander to a nearby ditch. The next day, Hitler and several others were called to headquarters and told that they had been recommended for the Iron Cross. When four more company commanders arrived, Hitler and the others left to give the officers room. Five minutes later a British shell hit the tent, killing most of the men inside and severely wounding Engelhardt.

On November 5th, Britain and France declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

On November 9th, Hitler was promoted to lance corporal for his bravery at the Battle of Messines. After this Hitler would end up spending nearly half his time at the regimental headquarters in Fournes-en-Weppes. In in his spare time he would take out his watercolors and paint the landscapes of war.

By November 22nd, the Allies had defeated the Germans at the First Battle of Ypres.

On December 2, Hitler was decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Later, Hitler would claim that this was “the happiest day of my life.” The regiment was pulled back from the front for rest. 

On December 24th, an unofficial truce was declared between the two sides at Christmas.