In 1889 Austria was not what it is today. It was the centre of the Hapsburg or Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was a fairly stable place emerging from the wars of 1848 and 1866 and it was thriving culturally and a great place to be.
             On the 20th of April 1889 these were the political conditions Adolf Hitler was born into. Hitler was born in a small Austrian village called Braunau-am-Inn close to the German border.
             He was born into the family of Alois and Klara Hitler- their first healthy child. Hitler's father was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber and an unknown father. In 1876 Alois Schicklgruber became Alois Hitler when the name he meant to change to "Hiedler" was miss-spelt. Klara Polzl was Alois Hitler's third wife and not only was she 23 years younger than him she was also his niece. Although Adolf was the 4th out of 6 children, he and his younger sister of 7 years, Paula, were the only ones to live past early childhood.
             As a young child Hitler's mother "lavished affection on him" because she was scared of losing him like she had previous children. After the death of Adolf's younger brother Edmund, who only lived till the age of six, Hitler became slightly angry towards his father but became completely devoted to his mother because he felt he needed to protect her from his domineering father.
             Hitler's education began at a monastery school in the town of Lambach. He studied there for a few years, sang in the boys' choir and at one stage even considered becoming a priest. The first 6 years of his schooling were excellent and his grades were superb. However, when he started attending high school in Linz there was a dramatic change and his grades dropped remarkably. In 1905, at the age of 16, Hitler quit school in pursuit of life as an artist. His total schooling amounted to 10 years of which the last 4 were a struggle.
             As a teenager, after he left school Hitle...