Describe and explain the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazi's (with reference to events between November 1918 and august 1934).

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Ramnik Singh Sall                                                       History Coursework
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Describe and explain the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazi's (with reference to events between November 1918 and august 1934.)

On the 30th of January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor. Why had this happened? From a tramp in 1914 to the Prime Minister of Germany, what had happened in between these years that led to Adolf Hitler becoming chancellor?
My task is to analyse the events between 1914 and 1933 that led to Hitler becoming chancellor. Some of these events are going to be short term causes such as the “Reichstag Fire” and some of these events are going to be long term causes such as “the defeat of world war 1.” I will also encounter political and economical causes that allowed Hitler to become chancellor. My task is to analyse all of these causes and decide which cause is the most important cause of Hitler and the Nazi's rise to power.

Hitler was born on the 20
th of April 1989 in Austria. He left school at the age of 16, and ion 1909 moved to Vienna to try and study at an art college. This is where he first got interested in politics and he especially liked the ideas of the Nationalist parties. This is also where his hatred of socialist

Parties began. His beliefs matched the Nationalists; to make Austria great and his beliefs of anti-Semitism, Anti-Communism and Anti-Democracy also started with the support of the nationalist parties.

In 1913, Hitler moved to Germany to avoid military service, for Vienna but he volunteered to join the German Army as soon as war began in 1914. In the First World War Hitler worked in the army as a messenger, taking messages between trenches. He was wounded twice once by rifle and then gassed near the end of the war. During the war he won many medals including the “Iron Cross First Class” the highest award a German soldier could get.  When he recovered from his injury the war was over and the armistice had been signed. Hitler himself said that “war was the greatest of all experience” Hitler was devastated. He blamed the Jews and the socialist politicians for the surrender of Germany.  Hitler was certain that the German army couldn’t have been defeated and he felt that Germany had been “Stabbed in the Back” by the Jewish and nationalist politicians or “November Criminals” as he called them.

The defeat of the First World War is a long term cause for Hitler and the Nazi's rise to power as it convinced Hitler that he had to do something to make Germany great again. Hitler already didn’t like Democracy as Germany had been ruled by a monarchy before and he believed that the German army would have won had the politicians not signed the armistice. The armistice led to the treaty of Versailles, which crippled Germany and is also another very important long-term political cause for Hitler and the Nazi’s rise to power. Most German people hated the treaty of Versailles because of how harshly it punished Germany. Hitler and many other wanted to tear up the treaty from the day that it was signed. Also included in the harsh terms treaty was the “War Guilt” clause, in which Germany had to admit that it was responsible for starting the Great War. The terms of the treaty of Versailles constantly fuelled Hitler's anger, so it is a very important cause in Hitler's rise to power because if he had not been constantly angered then he would not have taken some of the measures that he did.      

Hitler had very strong views on the treaty. Even though he was Austrian, he loved Germany more than anything. Hitler hated the Treaty of Versailles; he stirred up the German people by reminding them of parts of the treaty that they would not like and he promised that if he was elected he would refuse to abide by many terms in the treaty, such as the reparations, military restrictions, and the land which was "stolen" away from Germany. He knew that people in Germany were living in poverty, and so the majority of the population blamed their problems on the treaty, this caused many to turn towards Hitler, because he had been against the treaty right from the start. The way that Hitler used the treaty as an excuse and stirred up the German people shows Hitler's skilful use of propaganda and his strong leadership skills.    

It was without doubt that if there was nothing to constantly fuel Hitler’s anger, in this case the Treaty of Versailles, he would never have come to power.

After the First World War, Hitler continued to work for the government as a “V-Man”, spying on political parties and finding out if they were dangerous to the new Weimar Republic. While on the job Hitler came across the newly formed “German Worker’s Party (DAP)”, a small organisation formed in, Munich in 1919. Hitler found that this party was not dangerous and he liked their ideas, as they matched his ideas. He decided to join the German Worker’s Party in the same year. At the time he joined, Anton Drexler was the leader of the party and Hitler was soon appointed the head of propaganda for the party by the end of 1919. In February 1920 Hitler and Drexler drew up the “twenty-five point programme”, of the German Worker’s Party. This stated that the Treaty of Versailles, should be scrapped, Germany should expand to include more territory for its people and Jews were to be deprived of German citizenship. Shortly after the party’s name was changed to National Socialist German Worker’s Party or “Nazi Party”, so that they could get more votes and this was done at Hitler suggestion. In 1921 Hitler pushed Drexler aside and took leadership of the party. This shows how Hitler was able to rise to supreme control in the Nazi party so quickly. This is because he had such good leadership skills and he was much disciplined, and he had gained this experience from the army. This is also an important cause to Hitler’s rise to power because it shows that he was well motivated and could easily take control.  To further enhance the party, Hitler designed the swastika or “crooked Cross” as the symbol of the party, he also made the “Storm Troopers” (SA) or the “brown shirts” to protect the party and thrash any opponents. Another important reason for Hitler and the Nazi’s rise to power was Hitler’s personality, oratory and leadership skills. Hitler was a very good speaker and a master of propaganda. Here are Hitler’s views on how to influence the masses of the people;

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“The receptive powers of the masses are very restricted, and their understanding is feeble. On the other hand they quickly forget. Such being the case of all effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials and these must be expressed as far as possible in stereotyped formulas. These slogans should be persistently until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea. Propaganda must not investigate the truth objectively but must present only the aspect of truth which is favourable to the party”

When he delivered speeches, some people said that they were hypnotised ...

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