How far would you attribute the rise of the Nazi party to economic factors?

“the Nazi rise to power was essentially linked to the Great Depression” (Holtfrerich). It is true to say that the Nazi rise to power can be greatly attributed to economic hardships in the country, for example; hyperinflation, unemployment and the huge reparations which they had to pay. But is that the whole truth? In deciding if it is or not, we must also look at other things which helped the to gain power, such as the failure of the Weimar government, and the good organization of the Nazi party itself.

Historians such as Salmon believe that Germanys economic hardships were in fact the main reason for Nazi success “If Weimar had some chances of survival before [the depression], it had very little chance afterwards”. These economic adversities first started with the treaty of Versailles. After WW1 the Germans were forced to sign a very callous treaty, which included paying the allies £6 600 000 in civil damages and also the loss of much of their industry eg the Saar coalfield to be given to France for fifteen years. This left them economically crushed and people began to look for drastic measures to solve this problem.

Further more the invasion of the Ruhr added to these problems. The French claimed that Germany had fallen behind in their reparations (to the sum of 14 000 telegraph poles and a few train loads of coal) and so they tried to take it by force. In outrage at this the workers went on strike, thus inducing mass unemployment. To combat this the government began to print more and more money, causing huge hyperinflation. Overnight peoples savings became worthless and a wheelbarrow was worth more than as much money as it could carry. The hyperinflation increased even more when the Wall Street Crash happened as Germany was very close to USA’s economy because of the Dawes plan (this was a loan from America which allowed them to pay back the reparations over a longer period of time). “When people are desperate and miserable they tend to turn to extreme parties offering extreme solutions of the kill or cure variety” (The Growth of Nationalism Ronald Cameron, Charles Robertson, Christine Henderson pg 110). This is why many people believe that it was purely economic reasons which lead to the Nazi rise in power – it was the Great Depression which forced the people into looking to them for help.

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Nazi success can also be accredited to economic failures as it can be shown that when the country was doing well Nazi popularity dropped significantly. This shows that, perhaps, if the countries economy had remained stable they may never have come to power. During the years of Stresseman, when the Locarno pact was made (France and Germany were to respect each others borders); the new Rentenmark was introduced and the ruhr strike stopped, which meant the hyperinflation was solved to a great extent the Nazis’ went from having 32 seats in the Reichstag (4/5/24) to only 14 (7/12/24) and then right down to only 12 in 1928. However, in 1930, after the Wall Street Crash their popularity rose greatly and they gained 107 seats. People thought that things were going to be ok and everybody had enough money: nobody wanted the Nazis’ – but, when things got to extremes they needed extreme answers and that is how that Nazis’ came to power.

Conversely it can be said that there were other reasons apart from economic factors that allowed the Nazis’ to come to power. One of these reasons was the political ‘failures’ which occurred. As well as being an economic factor, the treaty of Versailles was also political. Hitler used this treaty to try and take popularity away from the new government and towards him. It was claimed that by signing this dictated peace treaty the government had stabbed the heroic German army in the back. Immediately this turned people away from the new democracy and an image of mistrust was created. Hitler meanwhile was portrayed in a good light and became popular. “No on in their right mind would claim that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles did not play a major role in the collapse of the Weimar Republic” (Geary) And so it is possible to take the opinion that the Republic was due to fail because of its origins, as historians such as Geary do.

As well as the foundations of the Weimar being dubious, the means by which it operated also caused problems. The voting system which was used was called Proportional Representation and the way in which it worked meant that no one party could get a majority. The system allowed very small parties to get seats and with so many different people and opinions no real decisions could be made. The ease at which parties could get into power made it much easier for Hitler to gain control. Eventually, when it became apparent that something needed to be done, Von Papen offered Chancellorship to Hitler in order to try and establish an authoritarian role. This was a catastrophic decision, and it was this that gave Hitler power.

Evidently the Nazi party themselves propelled them into power. Even with economic and political mistakes, if they had not been as organised as they were it may have been another party that claimed power. The first major advantage that they had was lessons that they had learned. From the Spartacist Revolt it was revealed that the Reichstag were dependant on their enemies: the army, the judges, and the civil servants. The KPD also never forgave the Majority Social Democrats from the way in which their revolt was crushed and so themselves and the Nazis often worked together to undermine the republic. The biggest lesson that Hitler learned though, came from the Munich putsch. He had tried to take power by force but the result was that he was arrested and sent to prison. On reflection he realised that he would have to gain power by democratic means and to do so on his own. This gave him indication as to how to get into power and to stay there.

As he wanted to stay in power, it was made sure that his party was extremely effective. New techniques of electioneering came into play and Hitler used aircrafts to reach all of his people, brass bands used music to stir peoples emotions and the SA gave them an image of glamour and power. This impressed the people and gave Hitler the support he wanted. The propaganda was mostly dealt with by Goebbels who stated “if you tell a lie, tell a big lie and tell it often. People will believe you.” He didn’t need to tell the truth: he said things which were impressive enough just to win people over. However, if the public did want to look to other parties there was also the effectual paramilitary organisation. Because they were more brutal than other organisations they were able to break up opposition meetings and beat up and intimidate rivals. Another thing that they had which other parties did not was their widespread appeal. The Nazis appealed to many different social classes ie to the workers they promised jobs and equally distributed wealth, the farmers they promised land from the Jews and to business men they promised to destroy communism. And one last final thing: Hitler. He was charismatic, charming, and a superb public speaker. Overall the Nazi party stood out above the rest and they were like a beacon to the people who admired their organisation, trustworthy image and glamour.

Of course economic factors did attribute to the rise of the Nazis, but the parties appeal to the people, their effectiveness and the political failures of the Weimar cannot be ignored. “The rise if Nazism [was due] to special conditions within a sixty year span” (Klaus Fischer). Each factor, including the inability of the Weimar to produce a stable government, the Great Depression and the attractiveness of the Nazi party to the population all added together to give the disastrous end result. I do not think that with only one of these factors they could have still gained power.

Mhairi B Thomson

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