Compare and Contrast: Osama bin Laden and Adolf Hitler

1st Sept 1939: Adolf Hitler invades an unsuspecting Poland that started
one of the most devastating wars in the history of the world. From this
attack, Hitler went on to conquer other great nations in Eastern Europe.
Hitler’s reign of terror resulted into the death of millions of unfortunate Jews
living in Eastern Europe and lives of countless American soldiers.
11 Sept 2001: Two planes hit the world trade center, a plane hits the
Pentagon and a plane crashes in Pennsylvania. It is immediately thought that
terrorism is the cause of these disasters. Later, Osama bin Laden is named
the prime suspect in the first attack on American soil since the Pearl Harbor
attack in World War II. This tragedy resulted in the death of 5000 American
fire fighters, businessmen and other civilians.
Though these events seem rather different, there are some connections
in the main parties involved: Hitler and Osama bin Laden. These two men
are responsible for a lot of deaths and devastations in the past 100 years, and
they both had the same goal: to take over the world. First to understand why
they wanted to take over the world, we must first understand their
background.
Hitler was born in 1889 in Braunau, Austria. Hitler’s early childhood
was fairly normal as he received high marks in elementary school. After the
death of his younger brother Edmund, he went from a confident, outgoing
boy who found school easy to a morose, sullen boy who constantly battled
his father and teachers. In 1903, Hitler’s father died and he dropped out of
school two years later at the age of 16. Hitler moved to Vienna in 1907
where he tried to pursue his dream of being an artist. He wanted to attend the
Academy of Fine Arts but he failed the entrance exam twice. For thirty years
he was a failure; then almost overnight a local celebrity and eventually the
man around whom the world policy revolved. This sudden growth of
popularity, led to Hitler’s tyrannical nature.
Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In a 1998
interview he gave his birth date as 10th March 1957. His father Muhammad
Awad bin Laden was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi
Royal family. The father was a fairly devoted Muslim, very humble and
generous. He was a very dominating personality. He insisted to keep all his
children in one premises. He had a tough discipline and observed all the
children with strict religious code.
Bin Laden believes that the restoration of the Sharia law will set
things right in the Muslim world and that all other ideologies – socialism,
democracy and communism must be opposed. Bin Laden has consistently
dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believes are injustice
against Muslims.
In the final days of WW II, at the fall of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married
his long time mistress Eva Braun. Facing capture from the Soviet forces less
than two days later, they both committed suicide.
Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization have been major
targets of the United States’ war against terrorism. Bin Laden and fellow al-
Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding near the border of Afghanistan and
Pakistan’s federally administered tribal areas.
Although the two historical figures posses different ideologies, the
similarities between them including their desire to control and wanting to
do good for their people, can and did result in massive devastation. Hitler
worshipped Germany as Bin Laden worshipped Allah. They are evil – and
evil as such that they wanted to destroy a race of people who simply sought
their goals of life, freedom, liberty and happiness. These God given rights
have been ringing in the ears of both sets of victims who have been
terrorized by these men. While one lives only in the history books, the other
still threatens the rights of humankind.