Why Did Hitler Become Chancellor in 1933?

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Why Did Hitler Become Chancellor in 1933?

For ten years Germany was governed by the Weimar Republic – which endeavoured to be as fair and democratic as possible. The coalition government was just left of centre, and was continually elected by the German people. Yet, from 1929 onwards, support for the coalition government rapidly waned, and there was a shift to the extremes. By 1933, the German people had elected Hitler; a fascist, power hungry dictator, who despised democracy; and would turn Germany into one of the most notorious dictatorships the world had ever known. What caused the German people to lose confidence in the Weimar Republic, and turn to a system of government so disparate in its values?

The Weimar Republic itself, although it fulfilled the characteristics of a democracy, giving universal suffrage and equal indiscriminate rights to its people; had its weaknesses. Prior to its establishment, Germany had been a monarchy. The people of Germany had never been used to democracy – it was forced upon them by the Allies, who named the abdication of the Kaiser as a condition of the WW1 peace treaty. Consequently the Weimar Republic was on very uneasy footing - the political landscape of Germany was chaotic–it was a time when many political philosophies were flying around; untried and untested in Germany; especially with Russia fallen to Communism in the east, and Italy under a fascist regime in the South. Naturally there were many radically different political parties; Including a communist party to the extreme left and a nationalist group called the ‘Freikorps’ to the right, both of which tried to stage a revolution.

The main problem, however, was that because of its strict adherence to democratic principles, The Weimar Republic allowed such parties, which were so openly anti-democratic, to exist and take part in the governing process. Seats in the Reichstag were determined by proportional representation, so each party got the same percentage of seats as the percentage of votes they got from the public. After every election held in the Weimar Germany, at least 6 of the seven parties would gain 20 or more seats, and no party ever gained an overwhelming majority, so coalition governments had to be formed. (Compare this to the UK House of Commons, which consists of three main parties; typically the only ones to get more than 10 seats in the general elections, and there is usually always one party that gains an overall majority; due to the plurality voting system, so we have a very stable government.)

Therefore parliament was fragmented into many parties, often at loggerheads with each other; making it difficult for legislation to be passed through. Because power was shared between parties, there was no strong, decisive leadership, as the consent of all parties involved in the coalition government was needed to form policy. To the German people, parliament must have seemed like a bunch of squabbling politicians, who disagreed on everything and could not work together to lead the country.

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When the Great Depression hit Germany, the Weimar Republic could not respond in an efficient way. The coalition governments fell apart due to ideological differences, as again, they could not agree on the right course of action to take after the Depression. The chancellor had to rely on article 48 of the constitution, which gave the President emergency powers. The president of the Weimar Republic, Hindenburg, was an old army general, who was really and truly a monarchist – himself elected 4 years ago by the public, reflecting their attachment to the old regime. He was under the influence of ...

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