The effects of the depression also played a major part leading to the success of the Nazis and Hitler. This was when the stock markets collapsed in America, whish led to a world economical crisis. The Wall Street crash of 1929 had a major impact on unemployment across the world, unemployment in Germany rose from 500,000 which was the total of people unemployed before 1929 to a massive total of 6 million by 1934. This also led to people being discontent, people were beginning to lose faith in the Weimar government, as they had now proven, on two occasions which were the occupation of the Ruhr and now the Wall Street crash that they were unable to keep control on the situations and they were showing signs of instability. Germany was struck with poverty, even those in the middle classes suffered. Due to the masses in unemployment and the poverty which was arising, people were becoming desperate and they began to find the extreme ideology of the Nazi party more appealing. People started to turn their attention to the views of the Nazis, the Nazis seemed to have all the answers, they promised to solve all of Germany’s problems so therefore people were starting to support the Nazis. Before all the chaos the Nazi party had been a very minority party, who people had ignored, but the depression showed a turning point and many people believed that they had no choice but to join the Nazi party.
Along with the depression, Hitler’s own personality was an important factor in the rise of the Nazi party. Hitler had great personal skills and was a brilliant orator, he could get big crowds of people to listen and get involved. He was very charismatic and this is what got the people involved in his campaign. Hitler’s messages were always very simple and direct, he made his point very clear and this was very appealing to the nationalistic population of the German people.
Another important factor was the effective use of propaganda. Hitler appointed Josef Goebbels as head of propaganda. He was a brilliant propagandist who organised and arranged all the election campaigns for Hitler, such as the Hitler over Germany campaign where he made use of the press, posters, radio, film, a number of public meetings and Hitler was the first politician to fly to many cities, which showed that they were one step ahead and that they made use of the latest technological devices. The use of propaganda played a massive part in the success of the Nazis as it was very persuasive. Hitler also used his own personal army the SA to use violence and intimidation to get rid of anyone who posed a threat to the Nazis and put fear into the eyes of anyone who tried to interfere with their plans, this way people were voting for the Nazis out of fear. The brilliant use of the propaganda, indoctrinated the Germans into believing the Nazis political ideology it was almost as if the German people were being brainwashed.
I believe that there were also other very important factors such as, the increase of support for the Nazi party which helped Hitler gain power. The industrialists and factory owners were absolutely terrified of the communists gaining power as this would result in them losing some of their wealth, as communists believe in equal right for all classes of people and believe that the wealth of the country should be equally distributed among all classes. As a result of this they began to support the Nazis, which was very beneficial for the Nazis as these industrialists and factory owners helped to fund their election campaigns.
Another factor was that the coalition governments of Weimar showed many weaknesses. They faced problems working together in order to solve the economical problems. There wasn’t much loyalty towards the Weimar government because of the memories of the political instability and hyperinflation of 1929. However, another important factor was the fact that Von Papen and President Hindenburg were the ones who invited Hitler into power, thinking that they would be able to control him, this proved to be one of the most terrible political miscalculations in history.
In conclusion, I would say that I agree that the Nazi policies was one of the most important factors in Hitler’s rise to power however, there are a variety of different factors which are as equally important. I believe that all of the events which took place at the time had a major effect and welcomed the Nazis into control. I also believe that many people voted for the Nazis purely out of fear and that people were afraid to speak up against the Nazis, fearing for their lives. I also feel that if Von Papen and Hindenburg had not invited Hitler into power and that they made a very big mistake by doing so, Germany’s history could have been rewritten and that the Nazi may never have gained power.
