"Only the Great Depression put the wind into Hitler's sails" (A.J.P. Taylor) Do you agree that this was the most important factor in Hitler's rise to power in 1933, or are there other reasons which are equally important?

“Only the Great Depression put the wind into Hitler’s sails” (A.J.P. Taylor) Do you agree that this was the most important factor in Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, or are there other reasons which are equally important?

On 20th April 1889, at 18.30, Adolf Hitler was born in a small Austrian village. There is not one sole reason as to why this young farm boy grew up to become one of the world’s most well known leaders, but the main factors in Hitler’s rise to power were his natural leadership skills, clever use of words, charisma, passion for German nationalism, abhorrence of Jews, communists, foreigners and his ability to use the Treaty of Versailles, Wall Street Crash, Munich Putsch, Weimar Constitution and Enabling Act to his advantage.

Hitler’s father, Alois, greatly influenced Hitler’s personality; having retired from the Austrian civil service when Hitler was six, he was used to giving strict orders and seeing them obeyed. He was a strict authoritarian figure that watched over his children and expected them to be disciplined. This enforcement of discipline, need for order and traditionalism emotionally scarred young Adolf. He wanted to pursue his artistic talents but was forced, by his father, to attend a technical college in preparation for a career in the civil service, this left him feeling resentful and rebellious which was expanded on in Hitler’s semi autobiographical work, ‘Mein Kampf’; "I thought that once my father saw what little progress I was making at the (technical school) he would let me devote myself to the happiness I dreamed of”. Being the oldest in his year he developed leadership qualities from a very young age, and considered himself the ‘ring leader’ of his fellow peers. As a young boy Hitler enjoyed playing war games, of ‘cowboys and Indians’, as the tales of west America were popular with young German and Austrian boys. Using Karl May’s stories of how a white man always defeated the Native Americans through will power and bravery alone, Adolf re-enacted scenes and improved on his confidence and developed a racial intolerance, especially for the Slavs. These leadership qualities that Adolf had built up were enhanced further, as at the age of thirteen, his father died, leaving Hitler to become the head of the household. Hitler hence became a good, confident public speaker, and was defiant about what he believed in, showing his stubbornness and short temper that he inherited from his father. At a young age Adolf found and read a book on the war between the French and Germans, he soon became obsessed with it and read it over and over again, convincing himself that it had been a ‘glorious event’. Another of Adolf’s interests was the opera; he saw his first opera at the age of twelve and was captivated by its Germanic music, pagan myths, tales of ancient Kings and Knights and their glorious struggles against hated enemies. This led to another obsession of German nationalism, where he and his friends would use the German greeting ‘Heil’ and sing the German national anthem, ‘Deutschland Uber Alles’, as opposed to the Austrian Imperial Anthem.

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One of Hitler’s main dislikes was of the Jews; it was his hate of foreigners and influence from Ernest Rohm that encouraged him to enlist to the Bavarian army. After less than two months of training he fought his first battle against the Belgians and British, where he escaped death on numerous occasions. Having achieved the post of lance corporal and received two Iron Crosses for bravery, Hitler was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack in Belgium, in October 1918.Whilst recovering from his injuries, communism was rising and as some Jews led this, a general hatred of Jews developed. Hitler’s hatred of the Jews became one of the German Worker’s Party’s main points, which Hitler built up into a recognised political party, so he could use it as a vehicle to reach his own political ends. Through his emotional and charismatic speeches many people were inspired by this new, forceful young man and so donations flowed in, allowing the party to become even bigger and use the funds to promote the party and it’s anti-semetic, anti communist views. Having established the party and gained enough supporters, Hitler compiled his own party ‘manifesto’ comprised of 25 points. One of the main points in this 25 point programme was that of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler played on the German people’s natural and already present hate of the Treaty of Versailles to gain more Nazi supporters.

The Treaty of Versailles was indirectly a major cause as to why Hitler became Chancellor, as it led to a variety of reasons which helped in his rise to power. The German nation was angered by the Treaty of Versailles, especially at having to accept the blame for World War I, as they would have preferred to return to war again; so Hitler spoke of revenge on the decision made by the ‘November criminals’, (the people who signed the Treaty of Versailles) and people were hyped up by his charismatic speeches. Germany was forced to get rid of the majority of its army and navy, so when Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, he was made out a brave hero and showed that the allies were weak. The reparations costs was set at £6,600 million, this was impossible for Germany to pay as like a vast majority of other countries Germany was faced with the possibility of an economic crisis. When France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr in 1923 to claim reparations costs, the Germans were left frustrated and this consequently led to hyperinflation, where in only ten years the price of an egg had inflated to 30 million times its original price. This economic crisis, undermined the government, as in an attempt to help the nation, Ebert printed more money, however, when Stressman came to power, he established a new currency and with the help of the Americans he paid back the reparations. This was also partly the cause of the Great Depression in Germany of 1929.

The Wall Street Crash occurred in October 1929 and was a major economic crisis that affected the whole of the world, including Germany, as America had lent her some money through the Dawes Plan of April 1924 to help pay the reparations costs set by the Treaty of Versailles. However, the Depression meant further funds were not forthcoming from America. This had a domino effect on Germany which also slumped into a Great Depression that caused starvation, unemployment and a low morale of the people. Hitler took advantage of this and promised solutions to the problems facing Germany, he promised to improve and build it up as a new nation; this idea was appealing to most Germans, due to their quality of life and Hitler’s strong views and young, enthusiastic personality. The ‘white-collar workers’ were the ones most affected by the Depression, their disgruntlement, anger at the Treaty of Versailles and growing respect for Hitler and his words ensured that they would become his main supporters.

By storming the Munich Beer Garden, Hitler used violence in an attempt to gain power through a coup. However, it did not produce the fruition he wanted immediately. The right-wing local government of Bavaria led by Kahr (state commissioner), Lossow (local army commander) and Seisser (chief of police) wanted to rebel against the Weimar Republic. They planned to march in Berlin with 15,000 soldiers and Hitler intended to help them, but, on 4th November 1923, they decided to postpone the rebellion. This frustrated Hitler, who had storm troopers and his friend general Ludendorff (a World War I hero), whom he expected the troops to follow, ready to assist in the rebellion. On 9th November he planned to storm the meeting in the Munich Beer Garden and force the three leaders to carry through their original plan. Through violence, (Hitler held them at gunpoint) Hitler forced them to comply with his wishes and agree to support him. However, this plan backfired and the leaders went back on their word, causing Hitler and Ludendorff to be arrested and tried for treason a few days later, for the Munich Putsch. The trial lasted for twenty one days and was daily front page news; this gave Hitler the platform to muster further support for the Nazi cause. He portrayed the ‘November criminals’ as traitors and managed to elevate his image to that of the ‘saviour’ of the German people. The judges were so impressed by his oratory skills that they reduced his sentence to five years. Hitler served only nine months of this sentence and it was in prison that he wrote the first part of his semi auto biography, ‘Mein Kampf’, which became the ‘bible’ of the Nazi movement. Through his book, ‘Mein Kampf’, Hitler targeted the democrats, communists and internationalists, but most of all the Jews, whom he held responsible for Germany’s defeat in the war aswell as all the other problems and evils of the world. In contrast the Germans were of the ‘highest racial purity’, destined to be the ‘master race’. The sentence imposed on Hitler facilitated his rise to power, because, had he served the full term, Germany would have had time to restabilise and may not have been so ready to follow Hitler. Having served nine months, Hitler emerged a national figure and an obvious leader of the right wing opponents of the Weimar Republic.

Having realized that trying to gain power through a coup would not work, Hitler tried to seize power constitutionally by getting an invite to become Chancellor, and in 1924 reestablished the NSDAP (National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei). In September 1930, the Nazis electoral strategy to win northern farmers and ‘white collar workers’ proved successful resulting in a land slide victory. The Nazis refused the chance to form a coalition cabinet. Hitler skilfully outmanoeuvred the successive Chancellors, Kurt von Schleicher and Franz von Papen, by influencing Hindenburg. In 1932 Hitler ran for President and won 30% of the vote, but lost the presidential election to World War I veteran, Paul von Hindenburg. Hindenburg was forced to invite Hitler to become Chancellor on 30th January 1933 as part of a coalition government to try and keep Hitler and the Nazis under control.

When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler was able to pass the Enabling Act as he was the automatic successor. The economy had been improving gradually under Hindenburg and Hitler claimed credit for this, thus strengthening his position. At this point Hitler used the Weimar Constitution (which had originally been established in 1919) to his advantage. He abolished the post of president, making himself the Chancellor of Germany with ultimate power. The powers of the Reichstag were reduced when the Enabling Act was passed on 23rd March 1933. This act gave Hitler dictatorial authority for a term of four years. Hitler used Article 48 of the constitution, which stated that in the event of a national crisis the president could govern independently without the support of the Reichstag. However, as Hitler had abolished the role of president, this meant that all these powers and privileges were entrusted to him, as he had eliminated all possible opposition. Hitler now had the right to call an election, dismiss the government and secretly increase his own army and navy, which he called the Gustapo, in preparation for war against Europe. All members of the armed forces were forced to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler, which gave him total control over the army.

In conclusion, it is evident that Hitler’s rise to power was due to multiple factors. He developed leadership and public speaking skills at a young age becoming rebellious and defiant of his father’s authority. His interest in military expertise, anti communist, anti semetic, nationalistic feelings developed from a young age and propelled him to establish the Nazi party. He was cunning and manipulative both in public and behind the scenes. He used the Treaty of Versailles, Ruhr Crisis, Wall Street Crash, Munich Putsch, Weimar Constitution, and Enabling Act to establish himself as a dictatorial leader of Germany by 1934. Hitler used the opportunities presented by each of the afore mentioned to his advantage. However, the most significant factors for Hitler’s rise to power would be the Wall Street Crash, which resulted in global depression and growing unrest amongst the German people; the ‘failed’ Munich Putsch that propelled Hitler to the forefront of politics and made a martyr of him, for serving nine months in prison where he did not waste his time as he wrote his vision in the infamous ‘Mein Kampf’. He had an understanding of the general German public (had “his finger on the pulse of Germany” –Walden-) and was able to utilise effective propaganda to inflame the nation. The ineptitude of the Weimar Constitution was the ‘icing on the cake’ that gave Hitler ultimate power.

Aishaini Puvanendran