Assess the reasons why Hitler and the NSDAP gained power in 1933:

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Sneha 12R

Assess the reasons why Hitler and the NSDAP gained power in 1933:

In 1919 the Nazi party was small and insignificant and had little success in elections. However, by 1933 Hitler was the chancellor of Germany. The Nazis had risen from obscurity to complete control.

In 1919 Hitler joined the German Workers’ Party, which at the time, was a small party with only six members. The party was renamed the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) in 1920, better known as the Nazi Party. It was a right-wing party that declared their extreme hatred of the Treaty of Versailles, Communism, and Jews; they wanted to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The Nazis stood for a number of things; they wanted to abolish Versailles; rearm Germany; destroy communism; gain Lebensraum; remove Jews and destroy the Weimar Republic to create a strong central government. These ideas were popular because from the beginning, the German people were not content as they blamed the existing government for the loss of the First World War due to the War Guilt Clause being pinned on the country, as well as the inequitable stipulations that Germany was lumbered with. There was a significant amount of shame and humiliation, as well as the unendurable reparations. The people believed that the Weimar Republic ‘stabbed Germany in the back’ and betrayed the country when the armistice was signed. Therefore, the NSDAP used propaganda to stir up even more hatred for Versailles and target the Weimar Republic. They also made promises to abolish the Treaty of Versailles and make Germany great again. These promises fell on ready ears and the rise of Hitler and the NSDAP had commenced.

The weak Weimar government was already unpopular, and the Nazi party seized this opportunity to exploit this and gain further support. The Republic was blamed for the suffering of the people as well as being blamed for the signing of Versailles, which ultimately caused all of Germany’s problems. The part appealed to right-wing supporters who hated democracy. The Republic was seen as weak and futile, therefore, the Nazi Party was made known as representing a strong central government and provided the fundamental sense of hope for the German people, who regarded Hitler as their saviour. Their power was gaining and the exploitation of the failings of the Republic attested this.

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The Nazi party considered Lebensraum necessary for expanding the German population. Hitler believed Germans to be of the superior Aryan Race and wanted to unite all people and take back the territories that were loss. There was also a major aspiration of the union of German people through the abolishment of the Anschluss. The party was popular with Nationalists who wanted a united German Empire and pledged to rearm Germany to make the nation strong again, which gained further support.

The party conjured up the image of the Jews being blamed for all of Germany’s problems: the humiliation ...

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