How important was the fear of socialism in explaining the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany between 1919 and 1933?

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How important was the fear of socialism in explaining the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany between 1919 and 1933?

By the end of 1918 it was clear that the axis powers had lost the Great War. The German people were demoralised and hungry. The nationalistic fervour with which they had greeted the start of the war had gradually evaporated – replaced by a desire for (fair) peace with the Allies. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had led his people into the debacle, was forced to abdicate. A Republic was declared on the 9th of November and an armistice shortly followed. A democratic constitution was signed in the city of Weimar, which leant its name to the new republic. The nationalist and bourgeois elements in Germany, some still hankering after the return of the Empire under the Kaiser, critically supported the new SPD (Socialist) led Government. They, and majority of the German people, wanted the guarantee of a fair and reasonable peace with the Allies. The government also gave an assurance that the revolution would go no further i.e. that it would not take a revolutionary socialist character. The Russian Revolution of October 1917 had sent shockwaves through the European ruling class. All over Europe, the barbarism of the ‘Great War’ had radicalised society. Old certainties were now questioned. Everything, it seemed, was up for grabs.

At Versailles in May 1919, the “fair peace” that Germans had been hoping for was not forthcoming. She lost large parts of her territory; was burdened with Reparations – the amount of which had not been determined – and the treaty included the infamous “war guilt” clause, which said that Germany was wholly responsible for the war and all damage and death thereafter. The Treaty of Versailles was roundly detested. Right-wing parties, previously suspicious of the Republic, became its sworn enemies. One of these parties was a new group called the German Workers’ Party – it would later rename itself the National Socialist Germans Workers’ Party (or Nazi Party). The party espoused a doctrine of anti-Semitic, anti-communist nationalism. They also attempted to appeal to the working class by using vague anti-capitalist rhetoric. An Austrian war veteran by the name of Adolph Hitler had joined the party in 1919 and earned himself a reputation for his powerful oratory skills. The party at this time was small and on the fringes. But by 1933, Hitler would be German chancellor and the Nazi Party would be on its way to complete domination of German society. To what extent does German ‘fear of socialism’ explain the Nazis’ rise to power? Do other factors such as hatred of the Treaty of Versailles, the Great depression or Nazi ideology and propaganda offer a better explanation?

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Anti-Marxism had been a staple of right-wing German political discourse since the days of Bismarck. The Nazi party were merely the inheritors of this tradition. The German ruling class, and the conservative middle classes, along with sections of the rural population had for a long time worried about the possibility of the socialist revolution in Germany. The revolutionary upheaval of 1918, in which Workers’ Soviets like those seen in Russia had spontaneously sprung up, only heightened the fear. The SPD President Ebert had allayed these fears in the earlier days of the Republic when he joined with the Army ...

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