Why was Hitler appointed Chancellor in January 1933?

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10/05/2007        Mr. Baker        Sammy Szamocki 10HN

Why was Hitler appointed Chancellor in January 1933?

There were a number of factors which contributed to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. Some of the main ones were: Weaknesses in the Weimar government, political conspiracies, Nazi tactics and the depression. There were of course many others, and it was in 1933 that they all happened to come together and give Hitler access to power and control over Germany.

The Weimar government had been extremely unpopular from the day it was officially formed. It had not been able to solve any of Germany’s problems after the war and to make matters worse, had sign the hated Treaty of Versailles. It failed to put down a number of political revolts because they lacked support and therefore political extremists like the Nazis were able to bide their time and wait for the right moment to strike again. By 1923 it had got Germany into a downward spiral of hyper inflation and by ending the passive resistance policy in the Ruhr, which although may have been the right thing to do for Germany, they became even more unpopular. After disturbances died down for a while the government thought it was safe, but then, in 1929, Germany was severely hit by the infamous Great Depression. The government feared that if they did not act soon they would see a repeat of the hyperinflation in 1923, and therefore the chancellor raised taxes, cut wages and reduced unemployment benefit. In doing this they had yet again managed to make themselves less popular and to top it all off, at the head of the government was an 84 year old war hero who was able to run the country as he wished using Article 48 of the Weimar constitution, incidentally this constitution was another of the governments failed attempt at improving things in Germany. Among other things, it forced the government to be formed by a coalition of small parties because a single party could never get enough votes; this created a very weak government. Overall, the country was in chaos and the situation in Germany simply continued to worsen under the Weimar government rule.

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The great depression not only brought on mistakes made by the Weimar government, but a whole host of other things too. In October 1929 the Wall Street Crash marked the beginning of a world wide landslide into the Great Depression. Everyone suffered as a result, especially Germany. What little stability they had had before the depression had been sustained by the loans they had been given by America. Now though, international trade stopped and America was forced to withdraw them all, leaving Germany in a desperate state. Everyone, from rich business men to factory workers, suffered. Business men saw their ...

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