Was Economic Depression the Key Factor in the rise of the Nazis

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Was Economic Depression The Key Factor To The Rise Of The Nazis?

13th October 2005

Between the years 1924 and 1929 the Nazi party began to expand, fighting for the May 1924 Reichstag elections for the first time, winning a total of 32 seats. Eight years later, by 1932 the Nazi party were the largest political party in Germany, with a total of 230 seats in the Reichstag. Another year later on January 30th 1933, Hitler was the German Chancellor. The question is, was economic depression the key factor leading to the rise of the Nazis?

In 1929 the American stock market crashed. This was known as ‘The Wall Street Crash’. The USA went into economic depression, sending shockwaves of this around the world. One of the worst hit countries in the world was Germany. Germany had huge loans outstanding to America, in order to pay the reparations of the Treaty of Versailles. After the Wall Street Crash, America recalled many loans in order to keep the economy going. The Weimar Republic constitution with a firm balance of power made quick, decisive action difficult. This only made problems worse. The government was making slow decisions and the German people had lost faith in the Weimar Republic and democracy as a whole due to the size of the economic problems that had been caused by the Nazi-dubbed ‘November Criminals’.

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The Nazi party had been waiting since the Munich Putsch of 1923 for another weakness in the German government. From here on the rise of the Nazis continued more rapidly. With economic depression the Communist Party also chose to strike, but they were no competition for the Nazis.

During the following years the Communist, ‘Red Fighting League’ threatened the German people with street fights against the police. When the Nazi SA stepped in and combated this, bringing a vague semblance of order to the country, they gained supporters. Regular orderly marches and parades showed people this image, though it was ...

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