Who were the Nazis and how did they rise to power?

Adolf Hitler, while still in the German army, was sent to observe a meeting of the German Workers Party, a small fringe group, and report back on what he saw. He wasn't impressed by everything he saw and heard, but was moved enough to voice his own opinions, before he walked out. The next morning, Hitler found a letter in the mail from a party secretary, relating the impression he'd made on the members, and inviting him to join. After he became their leader, the party reorganized as the National Socialist German Workers Party... or Nazi Party for short.