Why did Hitler get involved in World War 1?

Answer 1

It's a strange question that historians ask all the time... Hitler was born Austrian, so why would he fight under the flag of Imperial Germany. Because he believed these two German speaking states must be unified. And when he came to power some twenty years after the war... the Austrian Corporal united the two countries and started an all new global conflict...

The above is incomplete. Hitler was indeed a German nationalist before the war, but this on its own wasn't why he chose the German military over the Austrian.

According to William Shirer's account of Hitler's life, when the war began, he already had racist tendencies. Austria-Hungary was a large empire made up of many ethnic groups- in addition to the German-Austrians and the Hungarians, there were Czechs, Croats, Bosnians, even Italians, Romanians and Ukrainians. Hitler did not want to serve alongside these other peoples. Bavaria did not have significant numbers of these other groups, and he had been living in Munich (the capital city of Bavaria) since 1913, so he chose to join their army instead of Austria's.

Answer 2

Mussolini was the Prime Minister of Italy from just after World War I until the middle of World War II. His Fascist Party was also an inspiration for other extremist parties in Europe, especially Germany's Nazi Party. In the 1930s, Italy began trying to conquer weaker countries, especially Ethiopia, and this eventually led Mussolini to form the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany, which was the only country to not condemn the actions. Italy's moves also emboldened Germany, which began conquering other countries too. The German invasion of Poland in 1939 is widely seen as the official beginning of World War II.

Italy, which was not known for having a great military, did not do too well in the war and often had to rely on assistance from their much more powerful friend, Germany. When Italy invaded Greece, the invasion nearly failed and Germany had to help win it. When Italy was fighting against British troops in Libya, only the arrival of German troops led by the famed commander General Rommel saved the Italians from a total disaster. Eventually American and British troops crossed from Morocco and drove the Axis Powers out of Africa for good.

After the Allies invaded Italy in 1943, Mussolini was removed from power by the Italian government and arrested. Germany seized control of northern Italy, freed Mussolini and then installed him as the ruler of the new "Italian Social Republic". However, this puppet state did not last long, since it had few useful military forces of its own, and the German military was unable to stop the relentless Allied advance into northern Italy.

In April 1945, Mussolini, along with his girlfriend and some close friends, tried to flee to neutral Switzerland as the Allies took control of Italy. The group was captured by Italian guerrillas very close to the border with Switzerland. Mussolini and his gang were executed, and their bodies were hung at a gas station for people to spit on and throw things at.

Answer 3

Political agreement with Adolf Hitler, and ambitions to control Mediterranean - much like the Romans did 2000yrs previously.

Answer 4

Italian Dictator