Once Hitler had regained his freedom and publicity, His speech-making, personality and leadership skills were vital to his success. However good or bad his policies were, he was able to convince people that it was the right way to go. Endless rallies saw Hitler draw up more and more German support as he convinced them that his ideas were the solutions to their problems.
He also managed to make people believe that the Jews were to blame for their problems. This was a great quality that enabled him to do the things he had planned to do.
After Hindenburg had analysed the vast support at his rallies, Hitler's oratory and the state the German people were in, he decided to make Hitler chancellor of Germany for a while to pick up Germany and boost her confidence. Hitler cleverly followed his actions by making himself president and dictator who could rule without the Reichstag. Hitler received his chance when he was made chancellor of a coalition government by Hindenburg but contrary to their thoughts he was able to use that position to his advantage, not theirs and when Hindenburg died he walks into his preferred position as dictator.
As we can see, The Economic Depression assisted greatly in Hitler's Rise to power since it was the root of so many events that had brought Hitler to power.
My observations have lead me to believe that the Economic Depression had a very significant role in Hitler's Rise to Power.
2) Using some of the causes in the list, explain how both long term and short term causes contributed to Hitlers rise to power
A long-term cause is a factor effecting an event that has been there for a while and builds up the tension in the environment. It doesn’t directly cause an event to occur however plays a large part and set’s the scene for the short term causes to take place.
A short-term cause is an actual event that took place that would trigger something off. Like drawing the last straw, this directly causes an event to occur.
There were many long and sort term causes that contributed to Hitler's power.
The long-term causes helped set the mood in Germany that enabled the short-term causes to occur which in turn enabled Hitler to come to power.
The Treaty of Versailles, a long-term cause was creating a lot of economical, social and political problems in Germany but mainly economical problems from 1930- 1933
Nationalist newspapers said ‘ Death rather than slavery’ as a response to the signing. It was not only them that were infuriated by the Treaty, the whole German nation rejected it. The government had been split whether to accept it or not but in the end they had no other alternative because the allies threatened to peruse the war and the fear of total German dismemberment led the government reluctantly to urge acceptance.
German outrage at the Treaty is explained in many ways. Most Germans had expected victory and prosperity. The sudden collapse of their anticipation bred fury as well as frustration. They also hoped that the 14 points proposed by US President Wilson would lead to a impartial peace.
However they were in for a mighty shock. The 14 points were applied so that many Germans were denied their national rights. The German government was excluded from the negotiations. The settlement was imposed as a dictated peace. In the hated ‘war guilt’ clause, Germany was blamed for causing the war in order to justify making her pay compensation to the allies in the form of reparations which led them into their long economic depression. The Treaty had also made her loose confidence.
Before the war Germany was a very proud country and now they had just been blamed for starting the war and had to accept defeat along with the aftermath of the war. The Treaty of Versailles didn't directly effect Hitler's rise to power however it caused the economic depression which aided greatly because it angered the people and made people desperate enough to attend Hitler's rallies.
The Munich Putsch was Hitler's first attempt in gaining power, although it failed in the short term, there were great effects in the long term.
Stressman had just called off the passive resistance in the Ruhr that led to great opposition from the right who accused him of betraying Germany. Being anti democratic, Hitler believed that now was the time to march on Berlin and take power by force.
On the 8th of November Hitler and his fellow Nazi supporters hijacked a meeting in one of Munich beer halls and declared that a Putsch (revolt) was under way. Hitler tried to force the head of the Bavarian State government to help him. Foolishly, he allowed them to slip away.
Despite being extreme right wingers, they knew that the Putsch was bound to fail so they had no intention of joining Hitler. They ordered their forces to move against the Nazi’s. Police rounded up the storm troopers and 16 Nazis were shot dead, the rest fled, Hitler and other Nazis were arrested a few days later.
Like other right wing extremists in Weimar Germany, they were treated leniently. Hitler was given only 5 years in prison instead of the usual life sentence, In the end he only served 9 months. Hitler had miscalculated the mood of the Germany people and they did not rise to support him.
The positive long-term effects for Hitler were crucial to his success.
The Putsch allowed Hitler to gain a lot of publicity for himself due to the fact that every word he said was recorded. He used this to his advantage as a medium through which he could voice his plans for an anti democratic Germany.
He also used his time in prison to write a story of his life which moved many people and gained him more support, in the book were his plans for Germany's future and details of his exaggerated distressing child hood.
He concluded that the Nazis would not be able to seize power by force. They should gain power through the democratic process that Hitler strongly opposed, but once in power they would abolish that system. Thus, when Hitler was freed the Nazis fought the Reichstag and started rebuilding the nazi party by enlarging the SA and setting up the SS.
He appointed Josef Goebbels as head of Nazi propaganda - spreading the message by posters, leaflets, films, radios and impressive mass rallies.
This alone couldn’t have brought Hitler to power, however it did gain him a lot of attention, and once he gained that attention, he used his oratory (another crucial part to his success) to whip up the crowds and gain success.
After gaining a lot of media hype, Hitler got the opportunity to show off his speech-making skills, magnetic character and charismatic personality that were great character traits. He was exactly what the German people had been looking for. He seemed to posses demonic willpower which was both infectious and inspiring to others who accepted what he said could come true.
He was a powerful speaker; his expression, his timing and the content of his speeches impressed his audience. He was able to empathise with their emotions and expectations and gave people faith - an attractive commodity, particularly amidst the despair of economic crisis when other political parties appeared to sense a lack of direction. He raised the importance of propaganda and used it to target many Germans specific grievances. He was very flexible in what he actually said to the Germany people and was able to tailor his message to his audience. Most importantly, he was able to appeal both to the socially downtrodden and to the high businessmen as he strongly opposed communism.
He was a central rallying figure that gave various nazi groups solidity and attracted more support. Hitler also had a good sense of opportunity and timing. His skills had not only attracted a lot of people but had also impressed Hindenburg and von Papen, they saw that people liked him and therefore in 1933 they appointed him as chancellor, however their intentions weren’t in Hitler's interests.
During 1930 and 1932, Germany was going through a political crisis. Hindenburgs options were very limited and after all other solutions had failed, he and von Papen decided to use Hitler and his popular appeal to enhance their own power. This turned out to be a fatal, although understandable miscalculation.
His decision was a surprising development because Hindenburg disliked Hitler. However he was probably pressurised into the decision by many industrialists and landowners who were concerned about the lack of effective government. They saw the possibility of using the nazis popular support to channel the political system in a more dictatorial direction. Hindenburg appointed Hitler into power, if Hindenburg hadn't made this decision, Hitler could not have become Germanys leader.
The fact that Hindenburg and von Papen thought they could control Hitler is an important reason why he came to power. Under the Weimar constitution the President appointed the Chancellor and so they actually invited him to take office; anything else would have meant he would have had to seize power illegally. It did not matter that the Nazis were the largest group in the Reichstag since that had been true in the previous election and Hindenburg had still not appointed Hitler.
In fact, the Nazi vote was going down in January 1933 so this was not a good reason for making him Chancellor. The loss of confidence in the moderate parties and the publicity Hitler got in the elections explains why people voted for Hitler and the Nazis but does not really explain how Hitler got into power since people also began to vote for the Communists
Their decision enabled Hitler greatly in the short term as directly after they had appointed him, he took power himself therefore we can say that Hindenburg and von Papens' decision was an extremely important short term cause of Hitler's rise to power.
Following Hindenburgs decision, Hitler decided he needed to secure his regime immediately and consolidate his position after his appointment in January.
He abolished the Reichstag, banned other parties, arrested left wing leaders, removed Hindenburg, replaced the army with the SA, abolished the Cabinet, sent Jews to concentration camps, created propaganda ministry to control information and repress criticism and over al he embarked a full blooded nazi revolution. In March 1933 Germanys’ cities again witnessed speeches rallies and street fighting. Then the Reichstag building burnt down, Hitler blamed to communists and demanded special emergency powers to deal with the situation. The Nazis now abused these powers to arrest communists, break up meetings and used state radios to fight his election campaign.
In the elections, the Nazis won their largest ever share of the votes. Straight away he passed the enabling act which meant he could make laws for the next 4 years without consulting the Reichstag. He was now dictator of Germany
This was a crucial cause of Hitler's rise to power because it directly brought him into power.
The long term causes such as The Economic depression, Treaty of Versailles and the Munich Putsch all helped to set the scene for the short term causes such as Hindenburgs decision to occur which directly put Hitler in power.
3) Were any of the causes more important than the other in Hitlers rise to power? Explain your answer
The causes of Hitler's rise to power were all linked, therefore to see which cause assisted Hitler the most, we must analyse the events carefully and see if this is at all possible.
The first major cause of Hitler's success was the Treaty of Versailles signed in 1921 .It’s first effect on Germany was one of political unrest and opposition. All the Treaty did was punish the Germans who had fought in the war, this lead to military revolution after Ebert signed the Treaty. His right wing opposes couldn't bare the Treaty and attempted a revolution against him. The people who had signed the Treaty were referred to as the ‘November criminals’
The second effect was that there were severe economic problems as Germany fell behind on its reparation payments in 1922. French and Belgian soldiers entered the Ruhr region and took what was owned to them in materials and goods, the workers were ordered to go on strike so that there would be little for the French to grab. The French retaliated by killing 100’s of Germans, but the worst part was that Germany now had no goods to trade.
The third effect was that the value of the German currency decreased rapidly in hyper inflation. This particularly effected the middle class people. They tried to solve this by printing more money but eventually, the German people realised that their money was worthless and had no value. Workers needed wheelbarrows to carry home their wages. Prices rocketed and life became expensive, this lead Germany into an economic depression, which left German people starving on turnips and bread. If this wasn’t bad enough, a flu epidemic was sweeping the country killing thousands of people already weakened by the starvation.
The country had lost its best resources and so it was almost impossible for Germany to get back to work.
The economic depression had added to the devastation of the first world war and crippled Germany. The people were homeless hungry and desperate for help.
The government at the time was called the Weimar Republic but was failing considerably. This was for many reasons.
- It was faced with deep rooted economic difficulties; territorial losses, war debs and reparations all of which made Germany poorer than she had been in 1914
- It was damaged by outside forces and developments over which the politicians had little control: Treaty of Versailles, invasion of the Ruhr , Wall Street Crash and the depression which followed.
- Her political culture was heavily influenced by the authoritarian conditions associated with the Kaiser. There was no strong democratic culture in Germany and many saw the new regime as weak and inappropriate.
- It lacked inspirational political leadership, they had no politician who was dynamic or popular enough to rally support. No one had the magnetic personality of Hitler
After Stressman called off passive resistance in the Ruhr, Some right wing extremists claimed that the Weimar government had betrayed Germany. Hitler believed that now was the chance to rally on Berlin and seize control by force.
On November the 8th Hitler and his storm troopers burst into a meeting of right wing supporters in a Munich beer hall. They declared a national revolution. Otto von Lossow and Gustav von Kahr were forced to state their support for a march on Berlin to impose a new government.
Meanwhile, thousands of storm troopers seize other members of the government; they terrorise their opponents but fail to gain control of the army.
Lossow and Kahr denounced the Putsch but Ludendorff persuaded Hitler not to give up and to march into Munich.
At noon, armed nazis marched into a military base in Munich.They were met by armed police and shots began to fire. Hitler ran away but the next day he was arrested.
The trial was in Febuary Hitler turned the trial into an opportunity to attack the Weimar regime and expound his views. Hitler achieved national fame from this. As the trial was just before the general election, it helped the nazi vote.
Hitler was sentenced 5 years in jail although he only served 9 months.
During his time in jail, he wrote an autobiography which conveyed plans for a Nazi Germany.
He also acquired a lot of media hype at the trial as his every word was recorded. He used this to inform Germany that the Weimar government was a failure and that he could deliver them out of their misery.
Another advantage of the failure of the Munich Putsch for Hitler was that he realised that he would not be able to take over Germany by force. He decided to attempt achieving control over Germany through the democratic process and decided that the Nazis should fight the Reichstag elections.
When he was set free, he rebuilt the Nazi party and increased propaganda.
The nazi’s had organized themselves into a strong position to take advantage of the situation that had developed after the wall street crash.
The effects of the Wall Street crash hit Germany terribly and the Weimar constitution was failing to deal with them and they were starting to loose support.
This was a great increase in Nazi popularity
If the Weimar government was failing.........Germany needed a new strong leader
If Reparations were adding to Germany’s problems ..........Abolish the Treaty of Versailles
If Unemployment was rising......let the unemployed join the army, build Germanys armaments and used them for public works like road building
Hitler's propaganda whipped up support.
His twenty five point points were attractive to those who suffered most in the Depression- the unemployed, the elderly and the middle class. Hitler blamed the allies, the November criminals and the Jews for Germany's troubles. In the Stressman era, Hitler's ideas didn't attract huge support, but the failure of the democratic parties to get Germany back to work mean that the other extremist pasties (especially the Nazi’s and the Communists) were now being listened to.
Paradoxically the strength of the communists actually helped the Nazis- German landowners and industrialises feared that the communists government would take away their land and nationalise their industries. The Nazi’s strongly opposed communists so the industrialists backed the nazis financially . The middle classes hoped a strong nazi government would prevent a repeat of the inflation of 1923 which had ruined many of them.
From the date of Hitler's release in ‘24 until the His appointment in 1933, Hitler was constantly organising mass rallies that where attracting most of the German population,
However, it was not just Hitler's ideas that attracted the people. In fact at first, they weren't at all interested in Hitler's thoughts.
They simply attended his rallies because they liked to hear him speak.
“Adolph Hitler enters a hall. He sniffs the air. For a minute he gropes, feels his way, senses the atmosphere. Suddenly he burst forth. His words go like an arrow to their target, he touches each private wound on the raw, liberating the mass unconscious, expressing its innermost aspirations, telling it what it most wants to hear. Of he tries to bolster up his argument with theories or quotations from books he has only imperfectly understood, he scarcely rises above a very poor mediocrity: But let him throw away his crutches and step out boldly, speaking as the spirit moves him, and he is promptly transformed into one of the greatest speakers of the century” Otto Strasser an early Nazi supporter
An Anti Nazi entry concerning Hitler's skills as a communicator
“ I was most interested at the shouts and more often the muttered exclamations o the men around me, who were mainly workmen or lower middle class types. ‘He speaks for me, He speaks for me, Oh god he knows how I feel’ One man in particular said as he leant forward with his head in his hands ‘ God be thanked, he understands’
These comments prove that all of Hitler's speeches had a great effect on the German people which in turn affected their voting behaviour. This was good for the Nazi’s, they became more popular and Hindenburg and von Papen could see that the people were desperate for Hitler because he had promised them homes, jobs, food and they believed him. So, in 1933, Hindenburg decided to appoint Hitler as chancellor over Germany until things would begin to look up for Germany.
The decision by Hindenburg and von Papen to appoint Hitler was a crucial one indeed.
Without it, Hitler would have most probably gone down and become another regular German citizen, angry, starving and helpless.
Hindenburg’s choice was very interesting and quite unexpected and he was very hesitant before hand. He wanted to have Papen as chancellor but Papen won him over to Hitler. He said that the representatives of other right wing parties which would belong to the government would restrict Hitler's freedom of action. He also warned Hindenburg that the national socialists were likely to revolt and that a civil war was very likely.
Therefore in a way, Hindenburg didn't really appoint Hitler out of choice . The situation in Germany was so bad that he thought that Hitler was the only person that could improve it. He taught that if he would put Hitler in power for a while so that there would be order in Germany and then once things were looking good, he’d sack him.
However, Hitler had other plans.
He took full advantage of Hindenburgs decision and used it to his advantage.
He had finally got a bit of power, nevertheless, not enough to act out his ideas.
However, this was not for long, once he had been made chancellor he took steps to complete a Nazi takeover of Germany. He organised rallies and demonstrations in the hope that in the election of 1933 the Nazi’s could gain the overall majority in the Reichstag. The election was in March, nevertheless, at the end of February there was an extraordinary development; The Reichstag had been burnt down. Automatically, being anti communist, Hitler blamed the communists by saying that it was their attempt to take over.
Ironically, this led to his demand for extra emergency powers which was granted by Hindenburg.
He used the these powers to arrest the communists, frighten their followers and disrupt their meetings.
Although there is no evidence showing that the Nazi’s started the fire, its very likely. It helped Hitler get powers which gained him access to the TV and Radio which he used to promote his campaign.
At the election, the Nazi’s won the largest share of votes. Hitler finally gained the majority that he needed. Immediately, he passed the enabling act meaning that he could make laws for the next four years without consulting anyone. That's it, it was too late Hitler was in power and was now dictator of Germany. No one could do anything about it because he had achieved it legally.
As we can see there were many factors influencing Hitler's rise to power. Personally I don't think some are more important than others. This is because if you take one factor out, then that many other of the events leading to Hitler's rise to power would not have occurred. It is very difficult to separate out the role of one factor.
All the events lead to each other event eventually leading to Hitler‘s dictatorship.
If the Treaty of Versailles hadn't been signed, Germany wouldn't have gone into economic depression, Hitler wouldn't have gone ahead with the Munich Putsch, he wouldn't have had a trial and been famous, therefore he wouldn't have been able to show off his communication skills, Hindenburg wouldn't have appointed him and he wouldn't have been able to make the Enabling Act thus he wouldn't have been in power.
If we try to remove one factor, the chain is broken and things would have been so different.
I conclude bys saying that no factor has priority over another and without all of the factors linked together, there's a great chance that Hitler would have never been able to gain authority over Germany.
DAVID MIMRAN HISTORY COURSEWORK 6/05/2004