Person Biography:
Hermann Göring was born on January 12, 1893, in Rosenheim, Bavaria, to a prominent judge. He entered the German Royal Military Academy at Gross Lichterfeide outside Berlin in his teens and graduated in 1911. Göring began his military career as an infantry lieutenant during World War I, but soon transferred to the air corps, where he racked up 22 aerial kills, earning the coveted Blue Max and a promotion to commanding officer of Manfred von Richthofen's "Flying Circus" in 1918.
After the war, Göring became one of Adolf Hitler's most devoted followers, and was named head of Hitler's private army, the Brownshirts, a Nazi paramilitary organization similar to the Blackshirt fascist group in Italy commanded by Benito Mussolini, in 1922. Göring took part in the unsuccessful "Beer Hall Putsch" attempt to overthrow the Bavarian state government in 1923, was wounded, and spent some time in prison.
