Adolf Hitler - Biography - Military Leader, Dictator

Joseph Stalin - Biography - Dictator Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, instituting a reign of terror while modernizing Russia and helping to defeat Nazism. Synopsis Born on December 18, 1879, in Gori, Georgia, Joseph Stalin rose to power as General Secretary of the Communist Party, becoming a Soviet dictator upon Vladimir Lenin's death. Stalin forced rapid industrialization and the collectivization of agricultural land, resulting in millions dying from famine while others were sent to camps. His Red Army helped defeat Nazi Germany during WWII. Early Life On December 18, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (later known as Joseph Stalin) was born. Joseph's mother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, wanted him to become a priest. Though he excelled in seminary school, Joseph left in 1899. In February 1917, the Russian Revolution began. Advertisement — Continue reading below Communist Party Leader Death and Legacy Videos Related Videos

Nazi Hunting News Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum In the years immediately after World War II, the four Allied powers that occupied Germany -- the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union -- resolved to prosecute those individuals responsible for crimes committed against civilian populations under Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Trials were held in domestic and international courts, the most notable of which were the 1945-46 hearings at the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg, Germany. Although many civilian and military leaders were apprehended and brought to justice in the years after the war, many more suspected of Nazi-era war crimes remained at large. Private groups, some led by Holocaust survivors, took it upon themselves to track down Nazi-era war criminals. The 1960 capture of Adolf Eichmann, often referred to as the "architect of the Holocaust," by two Israeli-backed groups was the most notable case.

Maximilien de Robespierre - Philosopher, Government Official, Journalist, Scholar, Judge, Activist, Lawyer - Biography.com Maximilien de Robespierre was an official during the French Revolution and one of the principal architects of the Reign of Terror. Synopsis Maximilien de Robespierre was born on May 6, 1758, in Arras, France. He was a radical Jacobin leader and one of the principal figures in the French Revolution. In the latter months of 1793 he came to dominate the Committee of Public Safety, the principal organ of the Revolutionary government during the Reign of Terror, but in 1794 he was overthrown and guillotined. Early Life Maximilien Marie Isidore de Robespierre was born in Arras, France, on May 6, 1758, the oldest of four children. Entering Public Service Robespierre soon took on a public role, calling for political change in the French monarchy. At age 30, Robespierre was elected to the Estates General of the French legislature. Revolutionary or Madman? In April 1789, Robespierre was elected president of the powerful Jacobin political faction. Ironic Aftermath

History - World Wars: Nazi Propaganda Maximilien de Robespierre | French revolutionary Alternative title: Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre Robespierre, Maximilien deThe Granger Collection, New York Maximilien de Robespierre, in full Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre (born May 6, 1758, Arras, France—died July 28, 1794, Paris), radical Jacobin leader and one of the principal figures in the French Revolution. Robespierre was the son of a lawyer in Arras.

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April, 1889, in the small Austrian town of Braunau near the German border. Both Hitler's parents had come from poor peasant families. His father Alois Hitler, the illegitimate son of a housemaid, was an intelligent and ambitious man and was at the time of Hitler's birth, a senior customs official in Lower Austria. Alois had been married before. In 1873 he had married Anna Glasl, the fifty-year-old adopted daughter of another customs collector. According to Ian Kershaw, the author of Hitler 1889-1936 (1998): "It is unlikely to have been a love-match. Klara Polzl, Hitler's mother, left home at sixteen to to join the household of her second cousin, Alois Hitler. Franziska saw Klara as a potential rival and insisted that she left the household. The first of the children of Alois's third marriage, Gustav, was born in May 1885, to be followed in September the following year by a second child, Ida, and another son, Otto, who died only days after his birth. Dr.

Ivan IV | tsar of Russia Alternative titles: Ivan Grozny; Ivan the Terrible; Ivan Vasilyevich Ivan IV: Ivan IV destroying the heathen godsMansell/Time Life Pictures/GettyImages Ivan IV, Russian in full Ivan Vasilyevich, byname Ivan the Terrible, Russian Ivan Grozny (born August 25, 1530, Kolomenskoye, near Moscow [Russia]—died March 18, 1584, Moscow), grand prince of Moscow (1533–84) and the first to be proclaimed tsar of Russia (from 1547). His reign saw the completion of the construction of a centrally administered Russian state and the creation of an empire that included non-Slav states. Ivan engaged in prolonged and largely unsuccessful wars against Sweden and Poland, and, in seeking to impose military discipline and a centralized administration, he instituted a reign of terror against the ... (100 of 1,941 words)

Muslims and Jews in History The historical interaction of Judaism and Islam started in the seventh century with the origin and spread of Islam in the Arabian peninsula. Judaism and Islam share a common origin in the Middle East through Abraham, and there are many shared aspects between the two religions in their fundamental religious outlook, structure, jurisprudence and practice. At the heart of the two faiths is a monotheistic vision which resists any compromise on the idea of the transcendence and unity of God who is envisaged as just and merciful and who has revealed a way of life in accordance with these values for the benefit of human society. Islam and Judaism do not have clergy who by virtue of sacrament are separate from the rest of the community. Religious authority is essentially a function of individual mastery of the religious sources to be able to guide the community in accordance with their teachings. Muslims regard Jews and Christians as "People of the Book".

Ivan the Terrible - Tsar/Tsarina, Prince - Biography.com Ivan the Terrible, or Ivan IV, was the first tsar of all Russia. During his reign (1533-1584), Ivan acquired vast amounts of land through ruthless means, creating a centrally controlled government. Synopsis The grandson of Ivan the Great, Ivan the Terrible, or Ivan IV, acquired vast amounts of land during his long reign (1533-1584), an era marked by the conquest of the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia. Early Life The first tsar of all Russia, Ivan the Terrible, or Ivan IV, had a complex personality. The grandson of Ivan the Great, Ivan the Terrible was born Ivan Chetvyorty Vasilyevich on August 25, 1530, in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, Russia, to members of the Rurik dynasty. The court intrigue and constant danger that Ivan was exposed to while growing up molded much of his ruthless and suspicious nature. Tsar of Muscovy In 1547, Ivan IV was crowned tsar of Muscovy. In 1552 and 1556, Ivan's armies crushed the Tartar khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, respectively. Reign of Terror

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ]; 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP); National Socialist German Workers Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and Führer (leader) of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As effective dictator of Nazi Germany, Hitler was at the centre of World War II in Europe, and the Holocaust. Hitler was a decorated veteran of World War I. Hitler actively sought Lebensraum ("living space") for the German people. Under Hitler's leadership and racially motivated ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of at least 5.5 million Jews and millions of other victims whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen ("sub-humans") and socially undesirable. Early years Ancestry Hitler's father, Alois Hitler, Sr. (1837–1903), was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. Childhood and education World War I

Henry VIII - King - Biography.com Henry VIII, king of England, was famously married six times and played a critical role in the English Reformation, turning his country into a Protestant nation. Synopsis Henry Tudor, son of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth York, was born at the royal residence, Greenwich Palace, on June 28, 1491. Following the death of his father, he became Henry VIII, king of England. Childhood and Early Adulthood Henry Tudor, the son of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth York, was born on June 28, 1491, at the royal residence, Greenwich Palace, in Greenwich, London, England. The patriarch, Henry VII, wanted to affirm his family's alliance with Spain, so he offered his young son Henry to Arthur's widow. As a young man and monarch, second in the Tudor Dynasty, Henry VIII exuded a charismatic athleticism and diverse appetite for art, music and culture. Henry was good-natured, but his court soon learned to bow to his every wish. Catherine of Aragon and Princess Mary English Reformation Birth of a Prince

Hitlertopower Henry VIII | king of England Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, England—died January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509–47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. His six wives were, successively, Catherine of Aragon (the mother of the future queen Mary I), Anne Boleyn (the mother of the future queen Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (the mother of Henry’s successor, Edward VI), Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. Accession to the throne Henry was the second son of Henry VII, first of the Tudor line, and Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, first king of the short-lived line of York. When his elder brother, Arthur, died in 1502, Henry became the heir to the throne; of all the Tudor monarchs, he alone spent his childhood in calm expectation of the crown, which helped give an assurance of majesty and righteousness to his willful, ebullient character. More serious was Henry’s determination to engage in military adventure. Assessment

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (German: Weimarer Republik [ˈvaɪmaʁɐ ʁepuˈbliːk] ( )) is the name given by historians to the federal republic and semipresidential representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government. It is named after Weimar, the city where the constitutional assembly took place. During this period, and well into the succeeding Nazi era, the official name of the state was German Reich (Deutsches Reich), which continued on from the pre-1918 Imperial period. Following World War I, the republic emerged from the German Revolution in November 1918. In 1919, a national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the German Reich was written, then adopted on 11 August of that same year. The German government during the Weimar Republic era did not respect the Treaty of Versailles that it had been pressured to sign, and various government figures at the time rejected Germany's post-Versailles borders. Name[edit] Military[edit]