Why did Hitler come to power on the 30th of January?

  Although the governments were weak and ineffective, this had been the case for many years. However if was the Wall Street Crash that showed how weak the economy was and showed how ineffective the government were. The Nazis used this as the main basis for their propaganda in order to gain support.  Since everyone was affected by depression, when the pro Weimar government failed to resolve the problems of the depression, people lost confidence in the pro Weimar parties and move to the extreme left and right. Workers were worst affected as many faced unemployment and heavy pay cuts. By 1933, 1 in 3 were unemployed and they were unsatisfied by the government’s attempts to deal with unemployment and much of the unemployed felt abandoned as there was no increases in government help in the form of higher unemployment pay or less taxes. The entire state of the economy was in crisis. In the summer of 1931 5 major banks in Germany went bankrupt therefore many had lost their money and in 1933 agricultural prices were 16% down from their prices in 1913. This led to anger and a sense of gloom that made people listen to the extreme rhetoric and propaganda of the Nazis. The withdrawal of foreign loans around late 1930 helped to boost support for the Nazis in the September elections. The Nazis were able to gain support among farmers, the self-employed and workers. They got support by criticizing the government, as failures were clear. Muller feared hyperinflation and so took a policy of non-intervention and failed to agree on changing the unemployment pay. Bruning used the worsening economical state to end reparations. He did very little to curb the rising unemployment.  The economic collapse was the opening that the Nazis required to get a foothold in the Reichstag and was the first step for Hitler to become chancellor. Therefore the Wall Street Collapse acted a spark to help the Nazis gain support by exploiting a problem that was so difficult to overcome that people became extremists in desperation. Therefore it made Hitler’s appointment more likely as he had popular support. Although Hitler could have come to power with or without the economic collapse, the option of Hitler would have been avoided if the democratic element of government remained.

There were many factors that led to the growth of the Nazi Party, however the growth of the Nazi Party alone did not provide Hitler with the position of chancellor. After the elections of July 1932, Hitler did not come to power as Hindenburg disliked the ‘Bohemian corporal’ and refused him the position of chancellor and an Enabling Act to pass decrees on his own because he was extreme and his appointment would cause domestic unrest. It was only in January 1933 that he became chancellor. However, the President did not have to give him power.   If Hindenburg had left him out of government, there is a strong chance that slowly the Nazis would loss support and could return to a minority party.  However what brings him to power is the role of intrigue. After Muller resigned, Hindenburg had to select a new chancellor. General von Schleicher advised him in secret to appoint Bruning as Chancellor because he was right wing. Although Bruning struggled a lot and remains unpopular and unsuccessful that was not his downfall. He lost his position because he does not allow Hindenburg to stay president without elections and as a result of Bruning poor government Hindenburg does poorly in the elections. However the breaking point is when the elite turn against him after Bruning’s proposal to break up bankrupt Prussian estates. Then unpopular with Hindenburg and Schleicher he is dismissed. Then again through intrigue, Schleicher, Oskar von Hindenburg (the president’s son) and Meissher advise Hindenburg to put von Papen as chancellor with a government of barons. Also behind closed doors, Hitler talks to Schleicher, who agrees to drop the ban on the SA and have Reichstag elections so long as Hitler supports Papen. Papen struggles to run government and has an idea to over turn the Weimar constitution (close the Reichstag) and create an authoritarian government supported by the army.  However Schleicher (through intrigue) says that this will lead to civil war from the Nazis and the Communists. Hence Papen is replaced with Schleicher himself. Schleicher wanted a right wing government that helped the economy. He tried to split the Nazis by getting the support of Gregor Strasser (he offered him vice chancellorship). However this failed when Strasser realized he would get support. Therefore Schleicher had no popular support and had lost support form the trade unions and from some of the elite because they feared ‘agrarian Bolshevism’. Hitler finally came to power in January 1933 as a result of Papen’s intrigue against Schleicher. Papen took revenge on Schleicher. He met up with Hitler many times in January and agreed to Hitler as Chancellor and Papen as vice chancellor. Then after getting the support of Oskar and Hindenburg and other elites, Schleicher was dismissed and Hitler took government. The rise of Hitler is mainly accounted to Intrigue because they were suffering from so many problems in the party that they could have collapsed very quickly. Following the November 1932 elections, Hitler lost 2 million votes. He had lost support because he did not know what message to give and lost support among the middle classes because he was attacking Papen’s government. He also began to seem socialist by supporting the transport strike in November 1932 in Berlin. They were also very weak as a party because they had little funds after using them up for 3 election campaigns (two Reichstag elections and 1 presidential election) and on propaganda. He did not have much support form Big Business to provide him with financial support. He had also lost Gregor Strasser and was suffering great strife from the SA and he is forced to give in to their demands in this period.  At that time the governments were all created under intrigue because it was the President who had the power to appoint chancellor and without a ready government, he had the power to chose anyone who was able to run government as he liked it. Therefore this gave an opportunity to Hitler to come back after refusing to take the vice chancellorship and as his party was in the midst of a collapse. Without intrigue Hitler would have been unable to come to power.

Therefore Hitler came to power for one main reason he was heavily involved in intrigue and was the considered the next best thing once the intrigue swung in his direction. Intrigue allowed him to stay involved in the decisions of the elite even when the Nazis were in demise. However the growth of the Nazi Party to the largest party in Germany, as a result of the failure of the previous governments; the Weimar regime failure and the depression which together fuelled the people to listen to the Nazis and vote for them, gave him the opportunity to be considered as a possibility for chancellor. Therefore he became chancellor because of the Nazis became the largest party and so he was considered as chancellor because of this but most importantly because the favour of the elites shifted from Schleicher to Hitler during their discussions behind closed doors.