Moreover, Hitler’s will to accept this political partnership with these forces led to the rise in conflict with the S.A, who’s ideology was based on the idea of a social and economical revolution, which eventually led to the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. Therefore, it is impossible for this period of time to be regarded as a revolution as the abolishment of the S.A was to due to Hitler’s belief against a revolution.
An additional reason why I feel that this period of time does not constitute as a revolution is due to that before the Nazi rise to power, democracy was not fully functioning. According to the definition previously stated, In order for this period of time to be regarded as a revolution, a radical political change has to occur. However, since the start of the great depression in Germany 1929, it had been made clear that the Weimar Republic, and the democratic ideology it carried, were weak and unstable. By the early 1930’s, the democratic government had seized to function effectively and as a result of this, the German people desired a stronger government (and even to a certain extent expected it) in order to resolve the problems the democratic government had left behind. So therefore, there was nothing substantial about the contrast between Nazism and the previous form of government as the Weimar Republic was not a strong democratic government, instead it was a failed government which no longer functioning within Germany, therefore weakening the argument for the fact that between 1933 and 1934 was a revolution.
However, although I believe that the changes between these dates does not constitute as a full-scale revolution in Germany, I believe that it may be classed as a political revolution. Firstly, because of the change from democracy to dictatorship. Although it can be argued that the political change from democracy to dictatorship was anticipated, it is fair to say that once in power, the changes involving the dissolution of major German organisations was critical. On 2nd May 1933, Hitler outlawed the Trade unions within Germany as he thought of them as free and diverse and associated them with the weak and instable Weimar Republic. He confiscated their finances and imprisoned their leaders. Hitler then introduced a replacement organisation known as the German Labour Front, which led to a reduction in worker’s pay and the abolishment of their right to strike. Furthermore, between 1933 and 1934, Hitler completely disregarded the federal and constitutional values by destroying the autonomy of the federal states and granting the power to himself as the dictator. Moreover, more crucially, Hitler continued to reduce the power of the Reichstag to a state of impotence. This was done by the passing of the enabling act on 24th March 1933, which gave Hitler the power to pass any state law without the consent of the Reichstag, consequently undermining their powers. This led to the official dissolution of the Reichstag on 14th October 1933. Therefore, these examples of the Nazi take over of power illustrate that between January 1933 and August 1934, a political revolution occurred in Germany due to the radical changes in the political structure of Germany.
Finally, a further example of why a political revolution occurred in Germany between January 1933 and August 1934 is the banning of all other political parties. During the rise into power, Hitler drastically changed the laws of the Reichstag in order to eliminate all political opposing forces by means of legal action. In July 1934, the law against the formation of new parties came into effect, which abolished all existing political parties and prevented the foundation of any new ones, leaving the Nazi party the only legal party. In addition, the communist party had already been efficiently suppressed as a result of the Reichstag fire in 1933. Therefore, between the years of 1933 and 1934, a further reason why this period of time can be regarded as a political revolution is due to how Hitler efficiently dealt with all of the Nazi’s political opposition.
To Conclude, I disagree with the statement “The Nazi take over of power between January 1933 and August 1934 constituted as a revolution in Germany” based on the grounds that there was no change within the social and economic structure of Germany, and also because of the lack of strength the previous democratic government had, therefore making the change to Nazism less severe. However, I do feel that the occurrences within the dates of January 1933 and August 1934 constitute as a Political revolution due to the results of the change from a democracy to a dictatorship, the dissolution of major organisations (including the Reichstag) and finally because of the elimination of all other political forces in Germany.
