The political views of Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, have presented historians and biographers with some difficulty. Adolf Hitler's writings and methods were often adapted to need and circumstance, although there were some steady themes, including antisemitism, anti-communism, anti-Slavism, anti-parliamentarianism, German Lebensraum ('living space'), belief in the superiority of an Aryan race and an extreme form of German nationalism. Hitler personally claimed he was fighting against Jewish Marxism.
Hitler's political views were formed during three periods; namely (1) his years as an impoverished young man in Vienna and Munich prior to the First World War, during which time he turned to nationalist-oriented political pamphlets and antisemitic newspapers out of distrust for mainstream newspapers and political parties; (2) the closing months of the war when the German Empire lost, since Hitler claimed to have developed his extreme nationalism and allegedly pledged to "save" Germany from both external and internal enemies, who in his view had betrayed it (stab in the back myth); (3) and the 1920s, during which his early political career began and he wrote his autobiographical political manifesto Mein Kampf (lit. 'My Struggle'). Hitler formally renounced his Austrian citizenship on 7 April 1925, but did not acquire German citizenship until almost seven years later in 1932, thereby allowing him to run for public office. Hitler was influenced by Benito Mussolini, who was appointed Prime Minister of Italy on 31 October 1922 after his March on Rome. Hitler in many ways epitomised "the force of personality in political life" as described by historian Friedrich Meinecke. Hitler was essential to National Socialism's political appeal and development in Germany. So important were Hitler's views that they immediately affected the political policies of Nazi Germany. He asserted the Führerprinzip ('leader principle'), which advocated the absolute obedience of all subordinates to their superiors. Correspondingly, Hitler viewed himself at the top of both the party and government in this structure.
