art of using men's weaknesses for one's ends." This clearly shows Hitler's
intentions on how to get the support of the German people, by appealing to
every single German regardless of social standing.
As a person his time in jail allowed him to concentrate on how he would be able to successfully rise to power, but also how quickly he would be able to achieve this. It gave him time to realise the Nazi party's strong points of reasoning and that they would not just need support from their people but that these people would need to feel that they could die for the cause, Nazi martyrs would need to be born from promotions, propaganda any tool that the Nazis had available to them. Most importantly from the time in jail due to the failure of the Munich putsch, the Nazi's used their trials, especially Hitler, to promote their cause. In the witness box he condemned the 12 men that signed the Treaty of Versailles who were called the November criminals and he condemned the Treaty itself. He believed heavily in the 'November Criminals' and 'Stab in the Back' theories. Hitler used this against the government as propaganda to whip up support for his own party. He believed that the Weimar republic had humiliated Germany and had put shame on the German people. In his speeches and staged events he would always keep the people in suspense, deliberately letting the tension increase, emphasizing the fact that they needed him to be able to regain Germany's stability and pride. He skilfully played on the emotions of the audience who were weak and corrupted; they surrendered to him any individualistic ideals that they had because he was the light at the end of an ever-darkening tunnel.
Hitler's ideas were built on his concept of race. He put at the lower end of his racial pyramid the Negroes, the Slavs, the Gypsies and, the particular focus of his hatred, the Jews. Hitler's anti-Semitism was violent and irrational. The Jew became the universal scapegoat for the nazis, responsible for all the problems of Germany past and present. Hitler saw the Jewish community as a kind of cancer within the German body politic - a disease that had to be treated.
The boost that Hitler got was in the form of the depression. The depression started in America 1929, when the Wall Street Crash sent nearly all of America's businesses and industries into a cash crisis. Due to America's large trade industries, the depression quickly spread all over the world. This put Germany into a dire state as unemployment rocketed. The Kellog pact, which was holding Germany's economics together, had to be cancelled. Unemployment in Germany grew from 1 million in 1928 to 3 million in 1932. This turned out to be
good news for the Nazis as votes increased from 1 million to 6 million in the
same time. The party had increased their seats in parliament from 13 seats to a
much healthier 107 seats. This made them the second largest party in the
Reichstag. By 1932 the Nazi's gained even more votes from 6 million to an enormous 13.7 million votes. I think that the Economic depression was the more influential reason why Hitler rose to power, but it was not the only reason why. All of the other reasons being; The Treaty of Versailles, The Munich Putsch, Hitler's oratory, personality and leadership, the decision by Von Papen and Hildenburg to appoint him as Chancellor in 1933, and the Enabling Law were all especially important in conjunction with the downfall of Germany's Economy, and all very significant to the ascend of Hitler and the Nazi party. I believe that the Economic depression sparked much unwanted controversy within the German Republic. It was a time of deep despair; Germany was in the grip of this great depression with a population suddenly finding themselves in a state of poverty, misery and uncertainty, whilst in the middle of a rapidly growing political instability. For Hitler, his long awaited opportunity to reach out to the German people had arrived. At this point in the German nation the citizens, downtrodden and tired of their economic situation, were more than willing too listen to someone with ideas or visions of a brighter and certainly more stable Germany.
The main reason why the economic depression was the most influential above all of the others was because it was the ongoing cause of many peoples unhappiness. It was the foundation upon which the Nazi's built their political messages.
The reason why Hitler became so popular over the Economic depression was because of a series of financial events which unfolded in the years 1921 to 1923 which propelled the Nazi party and himself to new heights of daring, which was highly linked with the speeches Hitler gave and the promotional stunts that the Nazi party held.
On February 27th 1933, the Reichstag in Berlin was burned down. When Hitler got
word of this, he immediately blamed the Communists. As it turned out, a
mentally unbalanced man called Martinus Van Der Lubbe was caught at the scene
of the crime. He was a 24-year Old Dutch Communist. That same night Hitler
ordered the arrest of all leading Communist functionaries. Politicians were
imprisoned as well as all other Communist supporters. Most were beaten up,
others worse. From then on, the Communists were blamed for just about anything
that went on. Still to this day it is not known who started the Reichstag fire.
It has never been proved that it was a solitary act, a Communist plot or even
Hitler's own doing. All that is known is that the Communists were blamed for
all of it. Hitler knew that the fire would work to his advantage. After word
had got out that all Communists had been captured, Communism practically ceased
to exist in Germany. The public now feared the Communists and entrusted
themselves in Hitler. They thought that the country was under attack by
dangerous extremists. In such an emergency situation they would be more likely
to support the government, and at the time, the Nazis were the government.
Hitler now had the nation exactly where he wanted it. Thanks to the fire, the
Nazis won the 1933 election with 17 million votes and 288 seats. As soon as
Hitler was appointed Chancellor, he felt that he did not have as much power as he could have. He proposed the Enabling act that would reduce the Reichstag's powers. This change required a two-thirds majority vote in the meeting of the newly elected Reichstag. He achieved this by expelling all communist MP's of the Reichstag. Then made an agreement with the centre party that in return for the Enabling act power the church would have a special guarantee of safety. The Law was passed and Hitler had an ultimate power of the people of Germany. What better and quicker way to rise to the top of the democracy.
Once Hitler had the power within the parliament he had to put it into practice by running peoples lives. This was achieved by his ever-popular propaganda stunts, he also wanted to strongly put across his message that he would be the new leader by using very inhumane police forces that specialized in terrorizing citizens and making them obey Hitler. Germany had turned into a totalitarian state. Although it does not seem to be a good way of living the economic crisis had driven people to give up their morals very easily. He had worn them down but in another way had pulled them up so that he could achieve the power that he wanted.
Some people say that Hitler was very clever in the way that he handled the
situation, others say he was very lucky. The answer is that he was clever and
lucky. He was lucky because of the occurrence of the great depression and the
Reichstag Fire. Surely without these two elements he wouldn't have got anywhere
near to achieving the role of chancellor, that is why they were so important.
Still, it was simply a case of good timing. However, we also cannot dispute the
fact, that he handled these situations excellently. When the depression came
along, he told the German people he would get them out of it and he did. It is
possible to say that if he hadn't plagued and brainwashed the German people
with his racist and destructive views, he would be one of the most memorable
politicians in Germany's history. Then he had to deal with the Reichstag Fire.
The answer he found was obvious. Blame the Communists, Hitler's opponents to
the forthcoming election. That was all that was needed to win the election.
Hitler was one of the first modern leaders to understand how to use propaganda to control people. He even had a government minister - Dr Goebells - in charge of propaganda. Here are Hitler's views on how to influence the masses of the people: 'The receptive powers of the masses are very restricted, and their
understanding is feeble'. This means he believed people quickly forgot. Such being the case, all effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials and these must be expressed as far as possible in stereotyped formulas. These slogans should be persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea. Propaganda must not investigate the truth objectively but must present only that aspect of truth, which is favourable to the party.
His individual skills were very important when trying to get his views across.
Hitler was able to use his great skills of communication to convince his party
members about his beliefs. Eventually, through time, his views were drilled
into his fellow party men so much that they actually believed in his views as
much as he did. This brainwashing technique was used on the whole nation during
his campaigning. Hitler's leadership skills were also as good as his communication skills. He used events, which occurred to his advantage. It was as if he knew what was going to happen, and that he had a plan for everything.
The party's tactics were very good and effective in their rise to power. However the success was really thanks to Hitler and the character that in the beginning I believe he was portraying but later became.
I believe that if there had not been an economic disaster at that time, had the country not stumbled into a state of hyperinflation, Hitler would never have successfully raised the amount of strong morale that he did, mainly due to pure human conscience. He also had great political skill, as he was so sure that he would get the job eventually. Hitler had the enabling law passed to get rid of democracy in Germany and put all the powers he needed into his own hands. This was undoubtedly due to his individual personality. He wanted all power and total control over the government. Overall, Hitler's oratory, personality and leadership were vital to his rise in Germany. This was obviously a Long-term cause to his rise as he was born with these qualities. He would rely on them all the way through his life. It is fair to say that if Hitler did not have these qualities, he would not of been noticed in Germany. All of these natural born skills were extremely important in Hitler's and the Nazis rise.