Alfred Jodl defended his actions as chief of the operations staff of Nazi Germany's armed forces during World War II as those of an officer who obeyed his superiors, but an International Military Tribunal sentenced him to death for war crimes in October of 1946. As a key strategist and planner of German offensive moves, Jodl was deemed guilty of the widespread destruction of property and loss of life caused by aggressive Nazi policies during the war. Little is known about Jodl before his career in the German army. He was born in 1890 in the city of Weirzburg, and entered the Bavarian army during World War I. He became an artillery expert during the conflict, but the Treaty of Versailles that concluded the hostilities called for severe restrictions on German military strength. Nevertheless, Jodl remained in the new army of the Weimar Republic, and served at the Ministry of...