Austin Harper
L10 B
Why was Hitler able to come to power in 1933 and not by 1929?
In 1929 Germany was in disastrous problems with the depression and the death of Gustav Stresemann. This would seem the perfect opportunity for Hitler to seize power, however after the lessons he had learnt from the Munich putsch he knew that violence was not the answer, so he had would have to get in by other means; mainly by votes, as Hitler says in Mein Kampf-“We will keep out noses out of parliament till the time is right*”, also by canvassing for votes, using propaganda and speech Hitler would try to get into parliament. However Hitler also knew he would need a bit of help form inside. Four years after 1929 in January 1933 Hitler became Chancellor and in March he practically had full dictatorial power.
Propaganda had never been used before in Germany, but Hitler who loved the British propaganda decided to use it, using propaganda and Hitler’s amazing speaking abilities, alongside many other Nazi strengths, the German people would certainly turn and look at the Nazis as a good party to vote for. Hitler described propaganda as “The art of propaganda consists…in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings. Its chief function is to convince the masses; whose slowness of understanding needs to be given time in order that they may absorb information, and only constant repetition will finally succeed in imprinting the idea on the memory of the crowd”. This clearly shows the importance of propaganda to Hitler and how he believes it can win him votes; the main point is the repetition of a single message. The Nazis also had some very appealing policies in their 25-point programme; probably one of the most appealing was to scarp the treaty of Versailles; this appealed to the German people as after all these years people were still very bitter and were desperate to get rid of it, they were desperate. Another appealing policy was Hitler’s views on other parties, especially the communists, however he also criticised the Weimar government making people aware of their weaknesses and problems of past and present. The idea of practically blowing away the Communists helped Hitler gain support from the big businesses that were afraid of the Communists; with their support Hitler got money that helped him organise rallies and propaganda which were both a huge part of his voting campaign. Hitler also had his own private army “The SS” (had replaced The SA) who used violence to enforce policies and attack opposition; they created fear. Probably the main strength of the Nazis was Hitler’s great speaking abilities; he made it seem like he was speaking to each person individually and his words went like an arrow to a target, he created an atmosphere in which people were amazed at him and saw the future, he gave people confidence and he appealed to them getting him votes.
