How did Hitler become Chancellor?

The Nazis used this to their advantage when gaining public support. The Nazis were very good at using propaganda and would use it to target particular groups with an appropriate message in the hope of gaining their support. The Nazis had a youthful image yet they still maintained the traditional German values of order and organisation. They had a military image with the use of uniforms, rallies and flags and to millions of German people at the time Hitler seemed to have all the answers. However, was this because of Hitler’s oozing charisma or because of the suffering and financial insecurity which had gone before them in the past few years. Perhaps they were losing faith in democracy. Maybe the public wanted a return to the old authoritarian style of rule.

The Nazi party attempted to make itself a ‘catch-all’ party so that they could attract people from all walks of life. Their use of propaganda proved very useful in achieving this and was very successful in most areas but still some people were more committed to the Nazis than others. The Nazis were most popular in rural areas amongst the Protestants and ex-servicemen and this popularity reflected strongly in the elections. In the two years between 1928 and 1930 the number of seats won by them rose from 12 to 107 which is a massive proportion of all votes.

However, as true as all this is Hitler could not have become chancellor by popularity alone. There was only one way in which he could become chancellor and this was for him to be appointed by the president, Hindenburg. Hitler was disliked by Hindenburg, yet his masses of followers meant that he could now not just be ignored. A major influence in Hitler’s appointment was that since the ‘Wall Street crash’ no government had lasted for much longer than a year or so. Germany now needed a Chancellor who would have the support of the German people, and for this Hitler was the obvious candidate especially when in 1932 the NSDAP became the largest party in the Reichstag winning a third of all votes. Initially however a plan thought up by Schleicher who was Chancellor at the end of 1932 was that they could weaken the Nazi party and bring control back to the Government by attracting a man named Strasse away from the NSDAP. Strasse was a key figure in the more left wing side of the Nazi party and it was thought that if he left the party then he would bring a large number of followers with him. However the plan failed as Hitler retained support and Strasse was left isolated. Perhaps if this plan had indeed worked Hitler would never have come to power.

Papen, who had been Chancellor in early 1932 and had a lot of influence over Hindenburg, felt like many others that Hitler would be easily manipulated. But he also knew that he would only form government if he was Chancellor and so he managed to persuade Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and so it could be said that were it not for Papen’s underestimation of Hitler then it is unlikely that Hitler would ever have been appointed as Chancellor.

So Hitler had an enormous amount of public support and was the leader of the largest and most popular political party in the Reichstag. As significant as these may have been they were not the real reasons as to why Hitler became Chancellor. So the most important factor in Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor and the main reason for him being given this position was that those with the power to appoint him underestimated his bid for power and felt that they would be able to benefit from his appointment.