Churchill and Hitler Before the War Quiz

Answer: Schicklgruber was Hitler's dad's original surname

Alois Schicklgruber (Hitler's father) changed his name to Hitler in 1876 (thirteen years before Adolf Hitler's birth). Years later, Hitler said that nothing his father had done had pleased him so much as to have changed the name. It's to be imagined that 'Heil Schicklgruber!' would have raised more titters than it would have raised support for the Nazi cause.

Answer: John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill (1650-1722) was most famous for his victory at Blenheim (1704) during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Answer: Neither

After leaving Harrow School in 1893, Churchill went on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst (the British equivalent of West Point). Hitler left school in 1905 and attempted to gain a place at the Viennese Academy of Art, but failed.

Answer: Both

Hitler enlisted as soon as war broke out, joining a Bavarian (German) regiment instead of an Austrian one. He fought until 1918 and never rose higher in rank than corporal, although he did win the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. After the disaster at Gallipoli (of which he was one of the main engineers), Churchill set out to redeem himself by serving as a lieutenant colonel on the Western Front, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers from November 1915 to March 1916.

Answer: False

Anton Drexler founded the DAP in 1919. Hitler was sent along to its meetings as a spy for the German Army. He joined as member #55, but appeared as #555 on his membership card to make the party seem larger. Later on, he tried to claim that he was the party's 7th member.

Answer: The Liberal Party

Churchill crossed the floor (changed parties) as a Member of Parliament in 1904, going from the Conservatives to the Liberals. In 1924, he changed back, quipping that "anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat."

Answer: Landsberg

Hitler was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on 1st April 1924 but was released from Landsberg prison on 20th December 1924. Including time spent on remand, he served a little over a year in jail.

Answer: Chartwell

Churchill bought the home in 1922. The property was ruinously expensive to run and, when Churchill died in 1965, his wife, Clementine, presented Chartwell to the National Trust. Chequers is the prime minister's official country residence.

Answer: No

The closest they came was during a visit to Munich by Churchill in 1932. Hitler declined a meeting at the last minute, prompting Churchill to say, "Thus Hitler lost his only chance of meeting me. Later on, when he was all-powerful, I was to receive several invitations from him. But by that time a lot had happened, and I excused myself."

Answer: 64 and 50

Churchill was the elder of the two, being born on 30th November 1874. Hitler was born on 20th April 1889.