I also believe that Hitler would never have got as far as he did if the Enabling law had not been passed, as it would have meant that he would never have been able to appoint himself dictator instead of just having control for 4 years. Also without the Enabling law, Hitler would have had to go through parliament to pass any laws and many of his laws would have never passed as they were so extreme in some cases.
Another very important factor that increased Hitler’s chances of being dictator of Germany was Hitler himself. He had a very powerful way of controlling people by influencing them with his speeches and publicity stunts and without this I don’t believe Hitler would have even come close to being appointed chancellor and then dictator, as he would never have had the confidence and oratory to control and influence such vast masses of people as he did throughout Germany during his rise to power.
In 1923 Hitler and the Nazis attempted the Munich Putsch which was a disaster and gained no support for the Nazi party. However, even though he got no support and Hitler was sent to prison for treason, he used his time spent in prison to write Mien Kampf (my struggle) in which he set out his ideas for a new and better Germany. He also talked of how he knew he would not gain power through illegal methods and that he would have to gain power through parliament in a legal way. I believe if the Munich Putsch had not been a disaster and Hitler had not gone to prison that he would never have realized how to gain maximum power over Germany through legal methods. He would have also never realized how to best use his power once he had gained it.
The economic depression was a result of hyper inflation when Germany was made to repay the U.S.A., after the Wall Street crash, what they had been lent to pay off the war reparations. This was a term of the treaty. The Weimar government was unable to take control as the other parties in parliament would form coalitions to stop any of the government’s decisions. Although it did damage Germany quite badly, I don’t think that it was really one of the most important factors that would have gained Hitler, power but it still gave him a position on which to get votes for the Nazi party.
The decision by Von Papen and Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor in 1933 was not a very important factor to Hitler coming to power, as I believe Hitler would have probably been made chancellor anyway as he had so much support and was the leader of the biggest political party in Germany at that time. Another reason this was not such an important factor is that President Hindenburg did not have many more people he could appoint as chancellor after Papen had left and Von Schleicher had resigned.
Even after what I have said I believe that all 6 reasons were very influential to Hitler becoming a dictator.
So in conclusion I believe that the Treaty of Versailles, the Munich Putsch, the Economic Depression the decision by Papen and Hindenburg to appoint him as chancellor and Hitler’s oratory are all very important reasons that contributed to Hitler coming to power in 1933 and that without any one of these causes Hitler may never have come to power in the first place.
