Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography by John Toland

I took a headlong deep dive into WWII with this epic examination of Adolf Hitler.

The man was obviously diabolical; no surprises there.  But there have been a number of surprises (at least to me) in the book:

• He was a struggling artist in his 20s.  I had no idea.
• He actually became homeless for a time.  Toland traces some of his early anti-Semitism to this period, with Hitler blaming Jews for his inability to make it as an artist.
• He was a vegetarian; again surprising.
• Germany itself was filled with anti-Semitism at this time.  Even with Hitler's hatred of Jews he won election in a landslide, and some time thereafter received a vote of confidence reportedly from 98% of the population (admittedly, most did not know the extent of his ultimate plans for the Jewish population).
• The German military was not as superior as I had always believed.  It seems that I've always heard that their military and industrial might was second to none.  As it turns out the German military was designed for rapid mobilization and quick-strike domination.  They military was not anywhere near prepared for a long, drawn out war.  After the first few months of outlandish success, they quickly fell behind and never dominated again.
• He refused to cede territory (not to mention diplomacy) even when fighting wars on multiple fronts with dwindling resources.  George Washington learned early on that he didn't need to win territory, he just needed to outlast the British army and navy.  Hitler never learned this, to his ultimate demise.

As I've written before, the context in post WWI Europe definitely created an environment that was susceptible to another breakout.  The tinder was dry.

But the war was caused by Hitler.  And without this megalomaniac some 60 million people would not have died.  His impact on history and humanity is unmatched.

And now on to the 10+ books on WWII that I've added to my queue...