Why was Hitler able to transform his political position to one of dictatorship by August 1934?

Authors Avatar

Why was Hitler able to transform his political position to one of dictatorship by August 1934?

There were six fundamental ideas of how Hitler strengthened his position between January 1933 and August 1934. Firstly, on the 27th February the Reichstag building was set on fire. The Nazis blamed the fire on Van de Lubbe, a young Dutch communist and the Nazis claimed that he intended to spark a communist uprising in Germany. At Van der Lubbe’s trial, he confessed to setting the building on fire. But the Nazis had been planning to set the Reichstag on fire. After the fire Hitler claimed that the fire was proof of a communist plot to take control of the government. He persuaded Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag fire decree. After Hindenburg signed the decree the Nazis had power to arrest communists and socialists and hold them for as long as they wanted, without having to appear in court. As they were put in prison this stopped them from campaigning for support in the election, as the parties were unable to put candidates forward.

Join now!

In the general election the Nazis got 44% of the vote, more than ever before and won them 288 seats. But this still meant the Nazis didn’t have full control of the Reichstag, but were helped and supported by the Nationalists, who gave the Nazis their 52 seats, which gave the Nazis control of the Reichstag.

Hitler passed the Enabling act, which meant that he could make decisions without the Reichstag’s approval. But Hitler did not have a 2/3 majority in the Reichstag. Hitler banned the 81 communists from the Reichstag by using the emergency powers act that Hitler ...

This is a preview of the whole essay