How far do you agree that the fear of communism was the main reason Hitler came to power in 1933?
I agree to an extent that the fear of communism did help Hitler come to power but there were many more reasons for that Hitler came to power in 1933. After the Wall St Crash of October 1929 Germany fell into a deep depression. She had been a country built on foreign capital, mostly loans from America and was very dependent on foreign trade. When these loans suddenly came due and when the world market for German exports dried up, the well-oiled German industrial machine quickly ground to a halt. Hitler managed to use this disaster to increase his votes. It is widely known that in desperate times the public turn to extremes to get them out of poverty. This is the reason much of the public turned to Hitler. He offered them an alternative to the democratic Weimar republic. He offered them a similar situation to how the country had been ruled in the days of the Kaiser, before the First World War. The fact that he was a charismatic speaker helped him in the respect of getting the message of anti-Weimar across. Communism was undoubtedly an important reason in Hitler's coming to power. But also there were many other reasons for Example, the role of the elite, the weakness of the Weimar Republic, the appeal of the Nazis and the role of Hitler all contributed to Hitler's rise to power.
A major factor, which contributed to Hitler’s rise to power, was the extensive appeal of his Nazi party. At the time, many people feared the spread of communism. It would be predominantly destructive to Germany's poor economic situation if they were taken over by communists. Subsequently, the elite and other anti-Communists would turn towards such left-wing parties as the Nazis for help instead. Another great appeal of the party was their anti-Versailles policy. The German people felt robbed of their dignity by the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed as a peace agreement between Germany and the Allies. The Nazis promised to defeat the treaty. The Nazis provided hope to a Germany that was in desperate need of reform. It was in economic turmoil due to the great depression and its government, the Weimar Republic, was delicate and in trouble. However, the principles of the party relied on criticism of the government and external factors, without these factors Nazi appeal would have been very limited. Even so, their triumph did not only depend on their ideology; it was largely due to Hitler and his skills as a leader.
