In the 1920s, Hitler recruited street-fighting bullies to guard party meetings. They would soon become known as the SA. As Hitler's career evolved, the SA grew and their rival SS was created and competed for the powerful position of guarding Hitler.
The rivalry between the SA and the SS heats up as Hitler's power grows. Hermann Goering and Ernst Roehm square off in their attempts to get closer to their rising leader. Hitler's near fatal revolt and subsequent arrest serve to promote his ambition.
When Hitler becomes Chancellor in 1933, immediate threats on his life are made and quickly thwarted. These threats become serious attempts when Hitler seizes absolute power after the burning of the Reichstag.
A storm is brewing as the SA grows into a force of more than 4 million. Roehm's ambition is to make the SA the main power in the Nazi state. The SA has become most serious threat to Hitler's survival. It is rumored to be plotting his overthrow.
Within a few months of Hitler becoming dictator of Germany, his enemies increase enormously. The persecution of the Jews leads to several attempts to kill him. Students, organizations and the Soviet Union all contemplate or attempt killing Hitler.
In 1938, Hitler makes his aggressive intentions clear. Occupations of Austria and Czechoslovakia enormously increase his personal enemies. German officers plot to overthrow and kill Hitler, but their plans diminish with the invasion of Poland.
As Hitler begins his aggressive expansion, the German army sets up a special unit of trained soldiers to guard his military headquarters and escort him on visits to the front. Elser is arrested after Hitler comes close to being killed by his bomb.
Hitler was a car fanatic. His love of travelling through massive crowds in open-topped Mercedes presented his guards with particular problems. While following his armies during the Blitzkriegs in Poland and France, Hitler puts himself in danger.
Hitler appreciated the power of aircraft, not only as a military weapon, but as a political tool. During the early 1930s, he hired aircraft for election campaigning, often facing weather and mechanical problems, as well as specific assassination attempts.
As Hitler's empire expanded, the need for a secure, mobile military headquarters led him to use a Special Train, the Führer-Sonderzug. Code named 'Amerika', this became an armored monster with anti-aircraft armament and state-of-the-art communications.
Hitler's most famous headquarters, the Wolfschanze or 'Wolf's Lair', was near Rastenburg deep in the forests of East Prussia. From here Hitler directed the titanic campaign against the Soviet Union.
The Berghof, near Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Obersalzberg, was the nearest Hitler had to a home. Here he was surrounded by close colleagues and their families, and relax amid the mountain scenery.
By early 1945, Hitler was held up in his bunker deep beneath the Reichschancellery as the Red Army surrounded Berlin. His colleagues and officers plot to either kill Hitler or escape the bunker and negotiate with the Allies.
