To what extent was the Reichstag fire the key event to Nazi consolidation of power

spark and the reason for success in the other events. It can be further argued that without its occurrence, the communists would not have been liquidated from gaining mass support. The fact that the person found at the Reichstag was a communist gave the Nazis an excuse to accuse the communists of trying to overthrow the government. Furthermore it allowed the Nazis to evoke fear amongst the majority of the German populous, as shown by the official statement. “The burning of the Reichstag was intended to be the signal for a bloody uprising and civil war.” The statement also stated that “throughout Germany terrorism were to begin against prominent individuals” and against the “safety of the peaceful population.” It can be implied that a lot of fear and mass uncertainty was induced as a result of this official Nazi statement. This is because it inferred that the communists were preparing to rise up and attack people who were in parliament such as Hindenburg. Moreover the statement suggests that peoples lives would be in danger if the communists were to start a revolution. This also was beneficial to the Nazis, as the induced mass hysteria of communists would allow the Nazis to gain more support, thus take advantage of the situation to their own benefit and be able to have the excuse to liquidate communists brutally. Therefore this would make the Nazis to seem heroic to save and reassure the people and Reichstag from communist troubles. This is why the Reichstag fire was so important for the Nazis consolidation of power. On the other hand other events such as the night of the long knives also played an important role in the Nazi consolidation of power. However not as large as an extent than the Reichstag fire. Although Rohm was thought to be out of control when he wanted to merge the SA with the army to form a revolution, Hitler can be seen as too paranoid. Since he had already secured majority of support and obtained dictatorial and authoritative power from the 1933 elections and the enabling act. The likeliness of Rohm overthrowing someone as powerful of Hitler would not be as easy as Hitler thought it would be and therefore if this event had not happened the Nazi party would still have rose to power. In conclusion the Reichstag Fire was the key factor to the Nazis consolidation of power to a great extent, as it was the spark to other important events that ensured the Nazis rose to power strongly. Furthermore without the Communists knocked out the way, the events following would not have happened. Finally the majority of Nazi support was obtained from the Reichstag Fire.