A very sympathetic historian- Borchardt- claims that Bruning had no real room for manoeuvre in his economic policies and due to that there was no feasible alternative to stringent deflation, Borchardt however is highly contentious.
HOLTFRERICH however argues that Bruning had options he just chose not to use them. This particular historian’s view accepts floors in Weimar’s policies, but denies that it was a sick economy doomed to collapse. Holtfrerich believes Bruning wasn’t against the depression as it would stop reparation payments.
Bruning’s fall from Power was inevitable. 1932 brought the end of Hindenburg’s first 7 year spell in office. Bruning felt it his deed to help him get re-elected. His attempts were successful, despite Hitler’s clever campaign, which registered 13.4million votes. Hindenburg won the 2nd ballot with 19.3million votes (53%) but showed no gratitude and in May 1932 forced Bruning’s resignation. The final straws are believed to be the 600,000 unemployed given funker estates in East Prussia, which Hindenburg viewed as AGRARIAN BOLSHEVISM and the collapse of Germany’s banks in June which led to a further 5,000,000 unemployed. Many politicians could no longer ignore the Nazis which in source 1 are described as an “irresistibly rising Nazi tide.
Bruning, an amateur was a victim of a political situation pre dating 1931 in which he had the support of the president, which was no longer there!
Overall it can be safely said that Bruning was not a democrat, but a hard working and honourable man with a deep sense of patriotism and an earnest desire to extricate his country from its crisis. He had the correct aims, 1 to end reparation payments, 2 to get the revision of the Treaty of Versailles, and 3 to create an authoritarian regime at the expense of the Reichstag. He did not achieve any of this because he was naïve and not astute enough. It was so difficult it is not surprising that most of the population radicalised. Overall Bruning’s chancellorship was a tragic, dismal failure and the most important reason behind the collapse of the Weimar in the period leading up to 1933!
National Socialism emerged as a mass movement after the Reichstag election of 1932 when it polled 37.4% of votes, the very time many believe the Weimar actually died
In the final months of the Republic unfortunately, Germany’s destiny was decided by a two chancellors, Von Papen, May- Dec. 1932 and Schleicher (December 1932 – Jan. 1933). Both were members of the CONSERVATIVE NATIONALIST CLIQUE and only survived officially to 1933 thanks to article 48 and the dissolution of the Reichstag. Papen headed a cabinet dominated by aristocratic landowners and industrialists, “cabinet of Barons”. They looked towards the Italian Fascist model of “corporatism” to create a “new state”. His plans however showed no real political grasp of realities. In September 1932 his cabinet suffered a massive vote of no confidence. 512 votes to 42 votes a huge majority which signifies the death of the Weimar. In desperate circumstances Bruning implemented a fighting programme in which army and police dissolved parliament and hoped to crush all other political parties. Unfortunately the army and police would have nothing to do with it. With this obvious unsupport Papen was over!
Schleicher’s aims are termed “a policy of the diagonal” = a more broadly based govt. attracting support from socialists NSDAP and TU’s. His political movements came to nothing. Hindenburg eventually agreed to appoint Hitler in the belief he could be tamed a big mistake! In the end they had run out of political alternatives which excluded Hitler and the Nazi’s. I believe that when Hitler became chancellor the Weimar was already dead! Papen forced POLARISATION election results which signified this death. Military defeat, and a threat of revolution, led to the rejection of democracy. The Republic was dogged by continuous economic crisis (sometimes world wide), which affected all aspects of society. Their poor democracy reputation and Post war reconstruction did them no favours.
The Humiliation of reparations and T of Versailles made the Weimar weak especially with the accuracy of Hitler’s exploitations. However WORLD DEPRESSION FINISHED IT OFF. Officially the Nazi’s finally finished the Weimar off in 1933 but it I believe it had been dead since spring of 1930.
Using your own knowledge and all 5 sources, how far do you agree with Mr Goulty’s thesis that Bruning’s deflationary policies were the most important factor in Hitler’s ascent to power?
There are many reasons to why the Weimar died; firstly, the most important individual factor the economic crisis and the way Bruning reacted to this crisis. Almost straight after the Wall Street Crash Germany’s investments and loans dried up and much of this repayment was demanded back.
German trade collapsed as they could no longer afford to import goods as demand slumped. In this situation German industry could not afford to pay their way. Unsupported by loans and with diminished export markets prices and wages fell whilst the number of bankruptcies increased drastically.
Bruning’s response to the growing economic crisis was to propose a deflationary policy which included increased taxes and cut government expenditure, this budget was rejected by the Reichstag.
With reduced public spending and increased taxes there were no consumers therefore more factories had to be closed which inevitably led to UNEMPLOYMENT. “In the years 1929- 1930 unemployment rose above 2 million. Only 12 months after the crash it had rose to 3million. By September 1932 it stood at a staggering 5.1 million. However it was still to peak and in early 1933 it did when 6.1 million Germans were unemployed.”
The problem with this unemployment is that they were all so young; the significance of this is that the youth are a lot easier to be radicalised, and recruited to the SA, once in the SA they are told that they are the saviours of Germany. “Idle Hands make Evil Minds”
This vicious circle affected many people from all over the social spectrum and Germany ended up with a pool of Nazi extremists.
In this situation an emergency decree was set via article 48 this was objected and deadlock had been reached. He called for the dissolving of the Reichstag & to call an election in which he thought he would receive majority support.
However the election results proved him wrong. Hitler and the Nazi’s were the real beneficiaries, and suddenly became the second largest party in the Reichstag with 107 seats. It was with this poor handling of the crisis and abuse of Article 48 that it can be argued that Bruning was most responsible for Hitler’s rise to power!
Source A agrees with this thesis it quotes that “the steep decline of the German economy after 1929 was an essential pre condition for the success of the Nazi’s”
Source E talks about how any small chance of survival before the policies was totally gone by the end of them. This can be put down to the “attitudes and actions of the German electorate and their political leaders.”
A historian suggests that Nazism was a logical continuation of German history. This is believed because he appealed to all the worst excesses in the German character, which was bad due to the country’s history. This view can be countered due to the historian’s problematic analysis which, reads history back wards and is heavily influenced by hindsight.
This At first in source E this is agreed with but then overwhelmingly denied “This does not mean that Nazism was its inevitable replacement.”
The role of the SA becomes very important especially during this period of economic crisis and handling of it.
The Sturmabteilung a.k.a. SA or Storm Troopers, was run by Ernst Rohm who was a homosexual who promoted bonding insignia and uniforms, he was a key player in easing Hitler into politics.
The SA used scapegoat to promote their party policies. They played on the weakness of the Weimar politicians in particular Bruning. They made promises which were what the whole country felt necessary i.e. they proposed to get the “revision of the Treaty of Versailles including the ending of reparations, give citizenship of the German state to those of German blood, (automatically excluding Jews), and Lebensraum (living space) for the German People”.
The SA and Nazi’s were popular as they have a vision; they are all action do-errs not talk-errs. They offer the unemployed power and a renewed sense of responsibility. The insignia and uniform are examples of this power. The SA used violent tactics. This attracted the youths as not only could they dish out the violence but the Nazi’s made it seem ok as it was for a cause, the good of Germany.
The KPD became a growing threat due to POLARISATION POLITICS. This displeased the SA and spent a lot of effort disrupting public speeches and meetings; the same is true for Jews and other ethnics as the Nazis repeated the slogan of Superiority and save Germany. The influence of the SA was extremely significant but would not have been possible without Bruning’s mistakes to play on!
Propaganda was headed by Joseph Gobells and the key to his success was that his campaigns were directed to all different social groups. I.e. they had a different message for agrarian workers who were told they were wonderful and strong, the epitome of Germany. Towards the working class Gobells homed in on the threat of socialism, using USSR as an example. Russia could be seen to be linked with Jewry in that it was suggested that they funded the Bolshevik revolution, the leader of which, Trotsky, was a Jew. He also promised employment and scapegoated ethnics who had been imported during the war as the reason why.
He also made women feel important; apparently it was their duty to produce a new fitter stronger Aryan Race a “new Germany”
Having been appointed to lead a comprehensive electioneering programme Gobells was rewarded in the nationwide elections in which the Nazi’s received 6.4million votes (from 800,000) and a further increase of 12 seats in the Reichstag to a massive 107 seats.
The next section is known as Backstairs Intrigue and signifies the end of the democratic process (1930’s). In fact source A ends by saying “Hitler did not seize power, but was given it by a back-stairs intrigue. If so many German voters had not supported him he would never have been in the running” this is true but voters are not the most important factor to why he was in the running.
The fact that large industries now supported the Nazi’s is hugely important. It was due to the polarisation of politics, the perceived threat in communism and Trade Unions which made this support available. The influence of big business was huge and in the end Hitler was appointed chancellor by an industrialist rather than a politician. Source D talks about the agreements made between big business and the elites as they came to realise how much they needed each other if they were to achieve power politically. One historians view suggests that Hitler was “the pawn of big business and other leading groups.” This view believes that Hitler had the power to control the masses and therefore entered a conspiracy to use Hitler to throw off the challenge of democracy. This Marxist view believes that Hitler’s rise is due to the self- interest of German Capitalists; however it does has many arguments against this thesis.
Firstly, Marxists view exaggerated the importance of big business, and Secondly, most of the industrial money went to the conservatives e.g. Papen. This view is countered by source A “Hitler was however, not merely the puppet of big business, a Marxist argument not now generally accepted”.
Source B re iterates the importance of the elite support as they strove to reduce parliamentary power. The Nazi’s already had the support the elites as they recognised the need for each other in order to overthrow government- legally. “An unholy marriage of convenience was forged between the Nazi’s and the Conservatives”
The next reason of the rise of Hitler is Hitler himself and all of his own personal qualities.
Hitler had many qualities and abilities which very few others have. From Hitler’s youth and involvement in the 1st World War as a messenger, in which he was twice wounded, he was already seen as a war hero, decorated with the iron cross, very popular with fellow soldiers and many envious of his participation. He became embittered by Germany’s defeat and consequently got into politics.
Hitler understood the importance of violence, propaganda and consistency. He had several policies which served him well as they appealed to all types of German public. His desire to create the perfect Aryan race, to have racial supremacy, and also to amend the Treaty of Versailles were just a few of his manifestos.
His anti democratic policies and belief in Fuhrerprinzip made him an interesting contender to a weak Weimar republic.
Once in political power many of his supporters were able to see how skilled he was in the art of public speaking. Not only did he keep his crowd waiting in suspense once he arrived he would often take several minutes to soak up the atmosphere before beginning. The tempo of his speech was very important to its impact. His gradual change in tempo and volume really wound people up and got them going.
Not only was the way it delivered brilliant but its message was too. Hitler would pile on the praise, which everyone likes, and blame individuals e.g. Weimar politicians and groups e.g. Jews for all of Germany’s failures. He also told people they were hated across Europe which brings spirit and makes it easier to gain support if war is called.
Overall it was his reputation as a “doer” not a “talker” which attracted so many of his followers.
The final paragraph includes two key points. These are the weakness of the Weimar politicians, and the Fear of Communism,
In such economic situations it is understandable how people lost faith in the Weimar Republic and saw salvation in the solutions offered by political extremism. However it has to be argued that it was not dealt with efficiently.
The process of Polarisation started when this weakness was highlighted first with the treaty of Versailles and the Weimar’s apparent acceptance of terms and reparations. This process only happens when central politics i.e. Weimar are underperforming and the people of the country look for a NEW strong action packed, extreme government.
I believe the coalition government collapsed due to several reasons. Most importantly were the severe internal divisions due to it being a coalition. Its inability to agree on necessary decisions gave no platform to the rest of society; this was made worse by the political shift to the right (due to the effective end of the left) and the death of Stresemann.
After the burning down of the Reichstag the Nazis were allowed to exploit real fears of communism and uprisings. They were also allowed to put them down. With the help of the police (who were aided by new volunteers- the SA) they arrested many politicians and successfully persuaded Hindenburg to issue a decree “FOR THE PROTECTION OF PEOPLE AND STATE” which ended civil liberties which were previously guaranteed in the Weimar Republic. The demise of the left and the influence of polarised politics left many people with only one option… the Nazis!
Overall I believe that Hitler’s rise to power was due to several combined factors. The Reichstag were already under pressure due to the war guilt clause and the treaty of Versailles, the fact that it was a coalition government prevented it making any real policies or important decisions. However the key factor for me has to be the poor handling of the economic crisis in particular the way in which Bruning reacted. Without a doubt, no matter how successful the SA was or Hitler was at public speaking, without Bruning’s failures none of these Nazi strong points would have been there. The industrialist would not have needed to support the Nazi’s, the SA would never have been as successful as they would not have had any audience’s to appeal to and Hitler’s qualities would never have surfaced.
Phillip Pedley Germany 1919- 45
