RHa2

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria near the German border on April 20th, 1889. His father was very strict and would beat Adolf if he did not do what he was told. Although he did well in elementary school, the pressure of being one of the best in his grade became to great, and Adolf instead preferred to play war games with younger students, much to the dismay of his father. Furthermore, his father also got mad at Adolf since Adolf had dreamed of becoming an artist instead of joining the Austrian army. However, when Adolf was only 13, his father died.

At age 15, Adolf learned that would have to repeat an entire year of school since he did so poorly, yet his mom allowed him to drop out of school instead. Once he became 18 and received his inheritance from his father's will, he used it to become a painter in Vienna, where he moved to and became very interested in politics. However, in Vienna, Hitler was rejected from both the Vienna Academy of Art and the Vienna School of Architecture, but he continued to live in the town and lie to his mom by saying that he was still in fact going to one of the schools. In 1907, Hitler's mom died, and, although Hitler should have signed up for the Austrian army two years later, he refused to since he despised the country. However, in 1913, the Austrian police eventually found Hitler, and enlisted him in the army. Nonetheless, a year later, the army turned him away, saying that he was too weak and unable to carry a weapon.

//Above: Hitler and his supporters//

Eventually, he moved to Munich, and enlisted in the army when the war first broke out. He became a very decorated soldier and achieved the rank of 'corporal.' However, in October of 1918, he was blinded by mustard gas, and was sent to a hospital, where he entered depression and refused to talk to anyone. After the war, he joined the German Workers' Party in 1919. Within two years, he 1921 he became one of the leaders of what was now the National Socialist German Workers' Party, also known as the Nazi Party. As leader, he greatly opposed the idea of socialism, and thought of it as 'Jewish conspiracy,' mainly because many of its preachers, such as Karl Marx, were Jews themselves. After serving a prison sentence until 1923, Hitler continued to lead the NSDAP, or the National Socialist German Workers' Party, until he became the Chancellor of Germany at the age of only 43. As the head of the government, Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations, and took away almost all rights from many citizens, including all Jews.



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On September 1st, 1939, Hitler officially called for the [|invasion of Poland], declaring war on them. Though Hitler only wanted localized wars, Britain declared war on Germany, and Hitler now realized that WWII had begun. Nevertheless, Germany was at first very successful, and too over Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and even France. On August 12th, Germany began to air raid Britain, and also began to form plans to invade the Soviet Union. Hitler was afraid that he would have to eventually face the Unite States, and had warned Japan, an ally of Germany, to leave them alone. However, the Japanese did not listen, and instead [|bombed Pearl Harbor], bringing the U.S. into the war to join Britain and the U.S.S.R.. In January of 1945, the Soviets invaded Germany, and Hitler's advisers suggested to him to flee the country. On April 28th, 1945, Hitler married [|Eva Braun], and, with Soviet troops only 300 yards away from his underground bunker, Hitler tested cyanide pills on his pet dog, which he and his wife then used to commit suicide 2 days later. Although Hitler had left all of his property to the Nazi Party, without a good leader, the party soon fell, and the Nazi regime of Germany had finally fallen.======

Vasco de Gama Vasco de Gama, who was born in Sines, Portugal, and lived from 1460 to 1524, was an Portuguese explorer who eventually discovered that one could in fact sail past the Cape of Good Hope and across the [|Indian Ocean] to get to India. De Gama was born to a noble family, and had a father who was also an adventurer. Like Vasco, his father, Estavao had also wanted to sail to Asia, but died before the journey was finished. Following in his father's footsteps, Vasco de Gama left Libson, Portugal on July 8th, 1497, and rounded the Cape of Good Hope on November 22nd. After numerous stops in Africa, he finally reached Calicut, India on May 20th, 1498. Although he and his trade were gladly welcomed when they first arrived, the Indians eventually demanded a large tax from him, and told him that he must leave all of his traded goods behind. This caused Vasco de Gama to qucikly flee, kidnapping some Indian hostages in the process. He finally returned back to Spain in September of 1499, and, though praised, most of his crew members had died of scurvy on the voyage home. In the years that followed, he was sent back to India, this time bringing 20 armored ships with him, allowing for him to cause many innocent Muslims. On December 24th, 1524, he died of a sickness in India, and was brought back to Porugal to be buried. He is greatly remembered for the fact that he allowed trade to be active across the Indian Ocean. 

Fra Filippo Lippi - Madonna and Child with Angels The painting //Madonna and Child with Angels//, by Fra Filippo Lippi, is a tempera panel picture which was started in 1457 and completed in 1465. Lippi was a chaplain to a [|convent] near Florance, where he was also painting an altarpiece for the church. Over time, he fell in love with one nun, Lucrezia Buti, and then persuaded her to run away with him and allow him to paint her as the [|virigin Mary]. Eventually, they had two children together, a son and a daughter. This such picture, depicts Lucrazia Buti as Mary holding a small child with a glorious white angel by her side. The effects of [|sfumato] and [|chiaroscuro] are demonstrated in this portrait when Fra Filippo Lippi uses the different shades of blue to create the allusion that Mary's dress' folds flow into the next one, as the ripples overlap each other.

In the image, Mary is shown to be very rich, due to the string of pearls holding back he hair. She is shown to be of great importance as well, as there is a faint halo surrounding her head. Also, the distant view in the background of the painting shows that she is probably sitting high up in a building, looking out of a large window, which indicates that she most have wealth in order to afford such a tall structure. Pyramidal formation can also be seen the picture, with the endpoints of the sides being Mary's head, her elbow, and the young angel's face on the bottom right. In addition, since the angel is looking forward, it is most likely the most important figure in the drawing, as he is addressing the audience directly. Another unique feature demonstrated in this picture is the fact that both the child and the angel, new-born babies, are shown as young, grown men by Fri Filippo Lippi.

[|Humanism] is used in this picture by the artist drawing Mary caring for a child, most likely Jesus, as an analogy for the hardships of life that the people of the 15th century faced. Although this painting is somewhat related to religion due the the presence of Mary and the angel, Mary is actually based on a human being, and the picture of her acting as a mother symbolizes the difficulties in her world at the time, such as her leaving her life of being a nun at a convent. Moreover, what seems like ruins in the background might refer to an ancient city of Greek or Roman origin, furthering the painting reference to humanism.