Hitler's Rise to Power

I think the original cause of the Hitler ordeal was the Treaty of Versailles. It is the longest of the long-term causes and threw Germany into a ditch that she found very difficult and trying to scramble out of.
The most crippling of the terms of the treaty had to have been the war reparations that Germany was forced to pay. This sum of £6,6oo million, to be paid in cash and various materials would go to pay for damage that the Germans caused mostly in France and Belgium. This sum was very large and dented the German industry greatly because if they could not meet a certain sum of money by their deadline then the difference would be taken from various industry products. This soon caused inflation that sprouted to hyperinflation and so the Economic depression of the 1920´s in Germany occurred.
I would say that the War Guilt clause was the most damaging term of the Treaty for Germany´s pride. By agreeing to the treaty Germany was made to accept all blame for starting the war. Although many people in the world believed this was true I think that it was just to cover up the guilt being felt by the representatives of each country involved in the war, for not detecting the instability Germany was feeling and not doing enough to prevent a war that need not have happened. So very imaginably Germany was very resentful of being blamed for all the deaths the terrible disruption, and the damage that had happened in the First World War.
This ongoing long-term cause was the core itself of many more causes in the rise of Hitler. I do not believe that it was a direct link to Hitler, his campaign and reign but the cause of many other events which without, Hitler would never had had the power he needed to be in control.
Another long-term cause of Hitler´s rise to power was the
Munich Putsch. The economic crisis and the French invasion of the Ruhr was causing such discontent between the German people that Hitler decided to attempt a putsch on the conference at Munich in Bavaria, a southern region of Germany. This was organized by the National Social German Worker´s Party (NSDAP) whose leader at the time was Adolf Hitler. At this point the Nazi´s were only a small party opposed to the Weimar Republic. The putsch took place on the 8th November 1923. There was a meeting in a large beer cellar, von Kahr- Governor of Bavaria- was in the middle of a speech and all attention was poised on him. In stormed Hitler and his fellow party members. The Nazis were supposed to be supported by the Bavarian government when they proposed to seize power and march to Berlin to overtake control of the country.
However their plan failed and the army were surprisingly on command when the party were walking through Munich, Fire broke out and 16 Nazis were killed. The leaders of this deed were then arrested.
I believe that the failure of this putsch only made Hitler stronger. As a person his time in jail allowed him to concentrate on how he would be able to successfully rise to power, but also how quickly he would be able to achieve this. It gave him time to realise the Nazi party´s strong points of reasoning and that they would not just need support from their people but that these people would need to feel that they could die for the cause, Nazi martyrs would need to be born from promotions, propaganda – any tool that the Nazis had available to them.
Most importantly from the time in jail due to the failure of the Munich putsch, the Nazi´s used their trials, especially Hitler, to promote their cause. In the witness box he condemned the 12 men that signed the Treaty of Versailles who were called the ‘ November criminals´ and he condemned the Treaty itself. A leaflet was published which was a tribute to the honour and bravery of the Nazi members who died during the putsch. The trial and well-stocked propaganda of this quite short period produced much interest and even more support for the Nazi party and therefore helped Hitler in his rise to power.
A short-term cause of the success of the Nazi party is the Enabling Law. When Hitler was appointed chancellor he felt that he did not have as much power as he could have. He proposed the Enabling act that would reduce the Reichstag´s powers. This change required a two-thirds majority vote in the meeting of the newly elected Reichstag. He achieved this by expelling all communist MP´s of the Reichstag. Then made an agreement with the centre party that in return for the Enabling act power the church would have a special guarantee of safety. The Law was passed and Hitler had an ultimate power of the people of Germany. What better and quicker way to rise to the top of the democracy.
Once Hitler had the power within the parliament he had to put it into practice by running peoples lives. This was achieved by his ever-popular propaganda stunts, he also wanted to strongly put across his message that he would be the new leader by using very inhumane police forces that specialised in terrorising citizens and making them obey Hitler. Germany had turned into a totalitarian state. Although it does not seem to be a good way of living the economic crisis had driven people to give up their morals very easily. He had worn them down but in another way had pulled them up so that he could achieve the power that he wanted. So I do belive that the treaty of Versailles was a major reason for Hitler coming to power.

 When Hitler came to become chancellor in January 1933 his powers were relatively weak. Hitler had been appointed chancellor by the president, Hindenberg. Hindenberg had the power to appoint any chancellor he wishes, and can get rid of Hitler at any time. This means that Hindenberg controlled all of Hitler´s power. The Nazi politicians were in the minority in the cabinet and in the Reichstag – only 3 in the first cabinet. Hitler only won 33% of the vote in 1932. Without this support it was hard to gain much support for Hitler. Also, the Generals had no loyalty to him. The German army, the Wehrmacht, were very powerful and had the power to overthrow Hitler is they wished. They were afraid that Hitler would replace the army with his own SA – which had increased in size dramatically since it was first created.
Hitler managed to achieve complete control by 1934 by establishing a one-party state where he would have full control. He did this in several ways. The Reichstag building was burned down on 27 February 1933. This helped Hitler to gain a majority in the upcoming March election. The Nazis blamed the fire on the communists, specifically Van der Lubbe – and they claimed that he intended to spark a communist uprising in Germany. It is debatable as to who really caused the fire. Although Van der Lubbe confessed to it, some historians claim that the Nazis started the fire themselves deliberately to increase their chances of success. It is undeniable that Hitler did use the fire to help win the election. He launched a propaganda campaign to whip up fears of a communist uprising. This was hoped to frighten the middle-classed landowners into voting for them. The day following the fire, the “Reichstag fire decree” was introduced. This gave the nazis the power to arrest a number of communists and socialists and hold them for unlimited periods of time without having to appear in court.
The Nazis still failed to gain a majority in the Reichstag, receiving only 44% of the vote (although this was their best election performance). With the support of the Nationalist Party they had a slight majority of seats. Their good performance was undeniably helped by the fact that 81 communist leaders were being held under the “Reichstag Fire Decree”.
Hitler used his new power to pass the “Enabling act” on the 23rd March 1933. This gave Hitler dictatorial powers by enabling him to make decisions that had the same authority and power as those made through Reichstag. Under these powers Hitler was able to destroy the trade union movement of Germany. On 2nd may SA men raided trade union offices and officials were arrested. The Nazis replaced this with the “German Labour Front” which was compulsory for all workers.
Similarly, Hitler used these powers to destroy all opposing political parties, creating a one party state. The Final stage of Hitler´s Consolidation was with the destruction of the Parties internal opposition. The Night of the Long Knives was the name given to the purge of the SA, led by Ernst Rohm. Hitler believed that Rohm was conspiring to take over leadership. Rohm also wanted to create a new army, the “peoples army” out of the SA. This threatened the Wehrmacht, and so by the Sa´s destruction Hitler gained the oath of loyalty from the army.