Changes

==Beginnings==

==Beginnings==

Adolf Hitler was still attached to the German Army in Bavaria after [[World War I]], serving primarily as a gatherer of information on the various political parties which were created as a result of the country's loss in the war. After being assigned to document a small left-wing party in Munich known as the ''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' ("German Workers' Party" or DAP), he liked what he saw in it and became a member in September 1919; the following year, the party changed its name to the ''National-Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' ("National Socialist German Workers' Party" or NSDAP).  In 1921 Hitler assumed leadership of the NSDAP.

Adolf Hitler was still attached to the German Army in Bavaria after [[World War I]], serving primarily as a gatherer of information on the various political parties which were created as a result of the country's loss in the war. After being assigned to document a small left-wing party in Munich known as the ''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' ("German Workers' Party" or DAP), he liked what he saw in it and became a member in September 1919; the following year, the party changed its name to the ''National-Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' ("National Socialist German Workers' Party" or NSDAP).  In 1921 Hitler assumed leadership of the NSDAP.

[[File:Early-leaders-of-the-nazi-party-full.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Members of the NSDAP during the Munich beer hall putsch trial, April 1924 (''l-r:'' Pernet, Weber, Frick, Kiebel, Ludendorff, Hitler, Bruckner, Röhm, Wagner.).]]

[[File:Early-leaders-of-the-nazi-party-full.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Defendant's during the Munich beer hall putsch trial, April 1924 (''l-r:'' Pernet, Weber, Frick, Kiebel, Ludendorff, Hitler, Bruckner, Röhm, Wagner.).]]

As leader of the NSDAP, Hitler reorganized the party and encouraged the assimilation of other radical groups. Gangs of unemployed demobilized soldiers were gathered under the command of a former army officer, [[Ernst Röhm]], to form the [[Storm Troopers]] (''Sturmabteilung'' or SA), Hitler's private army. Under Hitler's leadership, the NSDAP denounced the Weimar Republic and the "November criminals" who had signed the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. The postwar economic slump won the party a following among unemployed ex-soldiers, the lower middle class, and small farmers; in 1923 membership totaled about 55,000. General Erich Ludendorff supported the former corporal in the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] of November 1923 in Munich, an attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government. The putsch failed, and Hitler received a light sentence of five years, of which he served less than one. Incarcerated in relative comfort, he wrote ''Mein Kampf'' (My Struggle), in which he set out his long-term political aims.

As leader of the NSDAP, Hitler reorganized the party and encouraged the assimilation of other radical groups. Gangs of unemployed demobilized soldiers were gathered under the command of a former army officer, [[Ernst Röhm]], to form the [[Storm Troopers]] (''Sturmabteilung'' or SA), Hitler's private army. Under Hitler's leadership, the NSDAP denounced the Weimar Republic and the "November criminals" who had signed the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. The postwar economic slump won the party a following among unemployed ex-soldiers, the lower middle class, and small farmers; in 1923 membership totaled about 55,000. General Erich Ludendorff supported the former corporal in the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] of November 1923 in Munich, an attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government. The putsch failed, and Hitler received a light sentence of five years, of which he served less than one. Incarcerated in relative comfort, he wrote ''Mein Kampf'' (My Struggle), in which he set out his long-term political aims.