His Struggle

On the 1st of April, 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five in years in prison.

In 1923 Hitler had hijacked a political meeting in one of Bavaria's beer halls, firing a pistol shot into the ceiling and declaring that "The National Revolution has begun!"

Leading his rag-tag band of followers into the heart of Munich, Hitler was finally stopped by a volley of fire from the Bavarian police, next to the elegant Feldherrnhalle.

Sixteen of Hitler's acolytes were killed that day, whilst others were injured, arrested and scattered as fugitives.

Hitler, his arm dislocated in the resulting mêlée, fled to rural Bavaria, where he was picked up by the police two days later.

Hitler's 'National Revolution' had been crushed and his political stock had plummeted. Even the grandees of his own party swiftly sought to dissociate themselves from his rash, revolutionary ambitions.

Isolated and depressed, Hitler spent much of his incarceration dictating his autobiography - 'Mein Kampf'.

But when his trial came around it soon became apparent he could use the publicity as a platform to rally support for his cause.

And soon his embittered paranoia was transformed into a new determination and confidence.

'His Struggle' is the story of how Hitler's incarceration in Landsberg prison helped shape his political views, and eventually laid the foundations for the strong support system which led to his victory as leader of the Nazi party.

Roger Moorhouse is a best-selling historian. A specialist in modern German history, he is author of 'The Devils' Alliance', 'The Wolf's Lair', 'Killing Hitler' and 'Berlin at War'. He has also been a regular contributor to both the 'BBC History Magazine' and 'History Today' for over a decade.

Praise for Roger Moorhouse:

'Roger Moorhouse has built a formidable and justified reputation as one of our leading authorities on all aspects of the Third Reich. In addition to his sound scholarship and original thinking his writing is clear and wonderfully accessible. The Wolf's Lair shows him at the height of his powers' (Nigel Jones, Author of 'Countdown to Valkyrie'; 'Hitler's Heralds and The War Walk)

'As a leading historian of modern Germany, Moorhouse has chronicled a largely unknown story with scholarship, narrative verve and an awful, harrowing immediacy.' (Sunday Telegraph)

'Moorhouse's meticulous and painstaking research is matched by his narrative verve, wide-ranging sympathy and eye for the telling detail.' (The Independent)