By all appearances, Adolf Hitler was enormously popular in the early years of his rule over Germany. The Germans named streets, squares, even their own children, after him. They sold beer steins with his face on them. The Nazis created the "Strength through Joy" program to create leisure activities for working people. The 1936 Olympics was staged to celebrate Nazi accomplishments.

293 Strength Through Joy

A chronicle of the history of the twentieth century, including art, music, popular culture, science, religion, and, of course, politics and war.

History

Society & Culture

Adolf Hitler redeployed Luftwaffe units from the Eastern front to the Mediterranean. With Axis air superiority in the region established, shipments of equipment and supplies to Panzer Army Africa substantially increased. Soon Rommel was on the move again, this time driving the British deep into Egypt.

367 El Alamein

Rommel was surprised by a British offensive (Operation Crusader) and his forces were driven all the way back to where he had started from a year earlier. But in a few months, he and his army pushed the British back to where they had started.

366 The Desert Fox

When the United States entered the war, the German U-boats suddenly had many more targets.

365 The Second Happy Time

Reinhard Heydrich was one of the most vicious of the Nazis. So much so that the Czechoslovak and British governments decided that he needed to be eliminated.

364 The Man with the Iron Heart

The Japanese execute their attempted ambush at Midway, and it fails catastrophically.

293 Strength Through Joy

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