Adolf Hitler born on April, 20 1889 was born in an Austrian home to mother Klara Hitler and Alois Hitler. At the outbreak of World War I, Hitler was a resident of Munich and volunteered to serve in the Army. He served as a dispatch runner on the Western Front in France and Belgium. He was decorated for bravery, receiving the Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914.
During his service at the headquarters, Hitler pursued his artwork, drawing cartoons and instructions for an army newspaper. During the Battle of the Somme in October 1916, he was wounded Hitler spent almost two months in the Red Cross hospital at Berlitz, returning to his regiment on 5 March 1917. On 15 October 1918, he was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack and was hospitalized in Pasewalk. While there, Hitler learnt of Germany's defeat, Hitler became embittered over the collapse of the war effort, and his ideological development began to firmly take shape.
After World War I, Hitler returned to Munich. Having no formal education and career prospects, he tried to remain in the army for as long as possible. He got signed as a intelligence agent and was to infiltrate the soon to be Nazi party. At the party he met one of the party's founders Dietrich Eckart. Eckart became Hitler's mentor, exchanging ideas with him and introducing him to a wide range of people in Munich society. Hitler designed the party's banner of a swastika in a white circle on a red background. Hitler was discharged from the army in March 1920 and began working full-time for the NSDAP.
