A member of three Brazilian World Cup-champion teams, Pelé is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time.
Synopsis
Born
on October 23, 1940, in Três Corações, Brazil, soccer legend Pelé
became a superstar with his performance in the 1958 World Cup. Pelé
played professionally in Brazil for two decades, winning three World
Cups along the way, before joining the New York Cosmos late in his
career. Named FIFA co-Player of the Century in 1999, he is a global
ambassador for soccer and other humanitarian causes.
Childhood
Pelé
was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on October 23, 1940 in Três
Corações, Brazil, the first child of João Ramos and Dona Celeste. Named
after Thomas Edison and nicknamed "Dico," Pelé moved with his family to
the city of Bauru as a young boy.
João Ramos, better known as
"Dondinho," struggled to earn a living as a soccer player, and Pelé grew
up in poverty. Still, he developed a rudimentary talent for soccer by
kicking a rolled-up sock stuffed with rags around the streets of Bauru.
The origin of the "Pelé" nickname is unclear, though he recalled
despising it when his friends first referred to him that way.
As
an adolescent, Pelé joined a youth squad coached by Waldemar de Brito, a
former member of the Brazilian national soccer team. De Brito
eventually convinced Pelé's family to let the budding phenom leave home
and try out for the Santos professional soccer club when he was 15.
Soccer's National Treasure
Pelé
signed with Santos and immediately started practicing with the team's
regulars. He scored the first professional goal of his career before he
turned 16, led the league in goals in his first full season and was
recruited to play for the Brazilian national team.
The world was
officially introduced to Pelé in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.
Displaying remarkable speed, athleticism and field vision, the
17-year-old erupted to score three goals in a 5-2 semifinal win over
France, then netted two more in the finals, a 5-2 win over the host
country.
The young superstar received hefty offers to play for
European clubs, and Brazilian President Jânio Quadros eventually had
Pelé declared a national treasure, making it legally difficult for him
to play in another country. Regardless, Santos club ownership ensured
its star attraction was well paid by scheduling lucrative exhibition
matches with teams around the world.
More World Cup Titles
Pelé
aggravated a groin injury two games into the 1962 World Cup in Chile,
sitting out the final rounds while Brazil went on to claim its second
straight title. Four years later, in England, a series of brutal attacks
by opposing defenders again forced him to the sidelines with leg
injuries, and Brazil was bounced from the World Cup after one round.
Despite
the disappointment on the world stage, the legend of Pelé continued to
grow. In the late 1960s, the two factions in the Nigerian Civil War
reportedly agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play
in an exhibition game in Lagos.
The 1970 World Cup in Mexico
marked a triumphant return to glory for Pelé and Brazil. Headlining a
formidable squad, Pelé scored four goals in the tournament, including
one in the final to give Brazil a 4-1 victory over Italy.
Pelé
announced his retirement from soccer in 1974, but he was lured back to
the field the following year to
play for the New York Cosmos in the
North American Soccer League, and temporarily helped make the NASL a big
attraction. He played his final game in an exhibition between New York
and Santos in October 1977, competing for both sides, and retired with a
total of 1,281 goals in 1,363 games.
The Legend Lives On
Retirement
did little to diminish the public profile of Pelé, who remained a
popular pitchman and active in many professional arenas.
In 1978,
Pelé was awarded the International Peace Award for his work with
UNICEF. He has also served as Brazil's Extraordinary Minister for Sport
and a United Nations ambassador for ecology and the environment.
Pelé
was named FIFA's "Co-Player of the Century" in 1999, along with
Argentine Diego Maradona. To many, his accomplishments on the soccer
field will never be equaled, and virtually all great athletes in the
sport are measured against the Brazilian who once made the world stop to
watch his transcendent play.
Adolf
Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. He initiated
World War II and oversaw fascist policies that resulted in millions of
deaths.
Synopsis
Born
in Austria in 1889, Adolf Hitler rose to power in German politics as
leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the
Nazi Party. Hitler was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and
served as dictator from 1934 to 1945. His policies precipitated World
War II and the Holocaust. Hitler committed suicide with wife Eva Braun
on April 30, 1945, in his Berlin bunker.
Early Years
Dictator
Adolf Hitler was born in Branau am Inn, Austria, on April 20, 1889, and
was the fourth of six children born to Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl.
When Hitler was 3 years old, the family moved from Austria to Germany.
As a child, Hitler clashed frequently with his father. Following the
death of his younger brother, Edmund, in 1900, he became detached and
introverted. His father did not approve of his interest in fine art
rather than business. In addition to art, Hitler showed an early
interest in German nationalism, rejecting the authority of
Austria-Hungary. This nationalism would become the motivating force of
Hitler's life.
Alois died suddenly in 1903. Two years later,
Adolf's mother allowed her son to drop out of school. He moved to Vienna
and worked as a casual laborer and a watercolor painter. Hitler applied
to the Academy of Fine Arts twice, and was rejected both times. Out of
money, he moved into a homeless shelter, where he remained for several
years. Hitler later pointed to these years as the time when he first
cultivated his anti-Semitism, though there is some debate about this
account.
At the outbreak of World War I, Hitler applied to serve
in the German army. He was accepted in August 1914, though he was still
an Austrian citizen. Although he spent much of his time away from the
front lines, Hitler was present at a number of significant battles and
was wounded at the Somme. He was decorated for bravery, receiving the
Iron Cross First Class and the Black Wound Badge.
Hitler became
embittered over the collapse of the war effort. The experience
reinforced his passionate German patriotism, and he was shocked by
Germany's surrender in 1918. Like other German nationalists, he believed
that the German army had been betrayed by civilian leaders and
Marxists. He found the Treaty of Versailles degrading, particularly the
demilitarization of the Rhineland and the stipulation that Germany
accept responsibility for starting the war.
After World War I,
Hitler returned to Munich and continued to work for the military as an
intelligence officer. While monitoring the activities of the German
Workers’ Party (DAP), Hitler adopted many of the anti-Semitic,
nationalist and anti-Marxist ideas of DAP founder Anton Drexler. Drexler
invited Hitler to join the DAP, which he did in 1919.
To increase its appeal, the DAP changed its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
(NSDAP). Hitler personally designed the party banner, featuring a
swastika in a white circle on a red background. Hitler soon gained
notoriety for his vitriolic speeches against the Treaty of Versailles,
rival politicians, Marxists and Jews. In 1921, Hitler replaced Drexler
as NSDAP party chairman.
Hitler's vitriolic beer-hall speeches
began attracting regular audiences. Early followers included army
captain Ernst Rohm, the head of the Nazi paramilitary organization, the
Sturmabteilung (SA), which protected meetings and frequently attacked
political opponents.
On November 8, 1923, Hitler and the SA
stormed a public meeting of 3,000 people at a large beer hall in Munich.
Hitler announced that the national revolution had begun and declared
the formation of a new government. After a short struggle including 20
deaths, the coup, known as the "Beer Hall Putsch," failed.
Hitler
was arrested three days later and tried for high treason. He served a
year in prison, during which time he dictated most of the first volume
of Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") to his deputy, Rudolf Hess. The
book laid out Hitler's plans for transforming German society into one
based on race.
Rise to Power
The
Great Depression in Germany provided a political opportunity for
Hitler. Germans were ambivalent to the parliamentary republic and
increasingly open to extremist options. In 1932, Hitler ran against Paul
von Hindenburg for the presidency. Hitler came in second in both rounds
of the election, garnering more than 35 percent of the vote in the
final election. The election established Hitler as a strong force in
German politics. Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to appoint Hitler as
chancellor in order to promote political balance.
Hitler used his
position as chancellor to form a de facto legal dictatorship. The
Reichstag Fire Decree, announced after a suspicious fire at the
Reichstag, suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial.
Hitler also engineered the passage of the Enabling Act, which gave his
cabinet full legislative powers for a period of four years and allowed
deviations from the constitution.
Having achieved full control
over the legislative and executive branches of government, Hitler and
his political allies embarked on a systematic suppression of the
remaining political opposition. By the end of June, the other parties
had been intimidated into disbanding. On July 14, 1933, Hitler's Nazi
Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany.
Military
opposition was also punished. The demands of the SA for more political
and military power led to the Night of the Long Knives, which took place
from June 30 to July 2, 1934. Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders, along
with a number of Hitler's political enemies, were rounded up and shot.
The
day before Hindenburg's death in August 1934, the cabinet had enacted a
law abolishing the office of president and combining its powers with
those of the chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as
head of government, and was formally named as leader and chancellor. As
head of state, Hitler became supreme commander of the armed forces. He
began to mobilize for war. Germany withdrew from the League of Nations,
and Hitler announced a massive expansion of Germany’s armed forces.
The
Nazi regime also included social reform measures. Hitler promoted
anti-smoking campaigns across the country. These campaigns stemmed from
Hitler's self-imposed dietary restrictions, which included abstinence
from alcohol and meat. At dinners, Hitler sometimes told graphic stories
about the slaughter of animals in an effort to shame his fellow diners.
He encouraged all Germans to keep their bodies pure of any intoxicating
or unclean substance.
A main Nazi concept was the notion of
racial hygiene. New laws banned marriage between non-Jewish and Jewish
Germans, and deprived "non-Aryans" of the benefits of German
citizenship. Hitler's early eugenic policies targeted children with
physical and developmental disabilities, and later authorized a
euthanasia program for disabled adults.
The Holocaust was also
conducted under the auspices of racial hygiene. Between 1939 and 1945,
Nazis and their collaborators were responsible for the deaths of 11
million to 14 million people, including about 6 million Jews,
representing two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe. Deaths took
place in concentration and extermination camps and through mass
executions. Other persecuted groups included Poles, communists,
homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and trade unionists, among others.
Hitler probably never visited the concentration camps and did not speak
publicly about the killings.
World War II
In
1938, Hitler, along with several other European leaders, signed the
Munich Agreement. The treaty ceded the Sudetenland districts to Germany,
reversing part of the Versailles Treaty. As a result of the summit,
Hitler was named Time magazine's Man of the Year for 1938. This
diplomatic win only whetted his appetite for a renewed German dominance.
On September 1, Germany invaded Poland. In response, Britain and France
declared war on Germany.
Hitler escalated his activities in
1940, invading Scandinavia as well as France, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and Belgium. Hitler ordered bombing raids on the United
Kingdom, with the goal of invasion. Germany’s formal alliance with Japan
and Italy, known collectively as the Axis powers, was signed to deter
the United States from supporting and protecting the British.
On
June 22, 1941, Hitler violated a non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin,
sending 3 million German troops into the Soviet Union. The invading
force seized a huge area before the German advance was stopped outside
Moscow in December 1941.
On December 7, Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii. Hitler was now at war against a coalition that
included the world's largest empire (Britain), the world's greatest
financial power (the U.S.) and the world's largest army (the Soviet
Union).
Facing these odds, Hitler's military judgment became
increasingly erratic. Germany's military and economic position
deteriorated along with Hitler's health. Germany and the Axis could not
sustain Hitler's aggressive and expansive war. In late 1942, German
forces failed to seize the Suez Canal. The German army also suffered
defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk. On June 6,
1944, the Western Allied armies landed in northern France. As a result
of these significant setbacks, many German officers concluded that
defeat was inevitable and that Hitler's denial would result in the
destruction of the country.
Death and Legacy
By
early 1945, Hitler realized that Germany was going to lose the war. The
Soviets had driven the German army back into Western Europe, and the
Allies were advancing into Germany. On April 29, 1945, Hitler married
his girlfriend, Eva Braun, in a small civil ceremony in his Berlin
bunker. Around this time, Hitler was informed of the assassination of
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Afraid of falling into the hands of
enemy troops, Hitler and Braun committed suicide the day after their
wedding, on April 30, 1945. Their bodies were carried to the bombed-out
garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they were burned. Berlin fell
on May 2, 1945.
Hitler's political program had brought about a
world war, leaving behind a devastated and impoverished Eastern and
Central Europe, including Germany. His policies inflicted human
suffering on an unprecedented scale and resulted in the death of an
estimated 40 million people, including about 27 million in the Soviet
Union. Hitler's defeat marked the end of a phase of European history
dominated by Germany, and the defeat of fascism. A new ideological
global conflict, the Cold War, emerged in the aftermath of World War II.
