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 businesses closing and had their income cut; taxes rose and so they had suddenly gone from a rich lifestyle to a poor one, having barely enough money to spend on food and clothes. Farmers also did badly as people with no money eventually, driven by hunger, began to plunder their farms.
However, nothing could compare to the vast amount of unemployed people the depression had created. The numbers were so great that the government found it impossible to look after them all and as a result the unemployed sought help elsewhere-in extremist parties for example. This is what had happened to almost everyone in Germany as the depression progressed; the government was clearly incapable of improving things and they therefore looked to political extremist parties for help.
The battle for power not only raged outside the government, but inside it as well. In July 1932 the Nazis won 37% of the elections, their best result ever. They were by far the largest party in Germany and it was therefore expected that Hindenburg-the president who had the power to appoint chancellors- would appoint Hitler. However Hindenburg despised Hitler and his party and declined to do so, instead appointing Von Papen, a favourite of his. Von Papen had next to no support in the Reichstag but he hoped he could create a right-wing coalition government with the help of the Nazis and other right-wing parties. When Hitler refused to co-operate, Hindenburg decided to call another election. This November election went bad for the Nazis, as they lost 6% of their previous votes. They worked hard to regain lost support but achieved little. There was a sense of helplessness and gloom yet little did they know that success was just around the corner. At the end of 1932, Von Papen had done little for the Reichstag and so Hindenburg appointed General von Schleicher. He had been eager for power for a while and was able convince Hindenburg that he could do a much better job than Von Papen. However after a few months it was evident that he could not. Von Papen saw this and secretly decided to work with Hitler; Hitler would be chancellor if he could be in the cabinet. Hitler agreed and Von Papen went to Hindenburg to try to convince him to appoint Hitler as chancellor. Hidenburg knew that von Schleicher was useless but he was reluctant to appoint Hitler. He was advised that the alternative would be a Nazi revolt and so he complied. Hitler was made chancellor and Von Papen Vice-chancellor. These political conspiracies within the government not only helped to de-stabilise it but also helped Hitler to finally become chancellor.
However, it was not just through situations beyond Nazi control that they were able to seize power. The Nazi party itself was by far the most effective in terms of gaining support. After the failed Munich Putsch the Nazi party was forced to start again; they decided that they would have to take power by legal means. As soon as Hitler was released he began working to reorganise the party. This was at first very hard because it was so small. In order to make it more efficient Hitler decided to set up evening classes to train his members in public speaking. He sent each one all around Germany; into towns or small villages to make speeches and but up propaganda posters. At first they tried to gain the support of the working class but soon realised that they were not doing well. But they also found that they were getting support from the middle class and farmers. They immediately began to focus their campaign in attracting this section of society. As their party began to grow in size they were able to reach more and more people in Germany. After the radio was introduced they soon realised its significance and started to use it to get their message across. They used thousands of propaganda posters and made dramatic speeches to the people, managing to convince every sector of the German society that something was in it for them. Their organisation, motivation and knowledge of speech making were unrivalled, especially when it came to winning over undecided voters. Despite their extreme beliefs they were very flexible in the points they made. They experimented with these points, making sure that they were always keeping everyone happy. If they realised that something they were saying was making people unsure, they immediately scrapped it from their program and it was never mentioned again. Abrupt changes in strategies such as these, although they made the party look indesicive at times, helped winning over a lot of support. However, the Nazis had one trump card which other parties did not have the benefit of having, Hitler.
Hitler was easily one of the most effective and convincing speaker in his time. He never showed any sign of weakness during his speeches, for instance, although he needed glasses badly, he refused to wear them during speech making. He would fly all around Germany in a matter of days, making speeches to the gathering crowds. He always hammered home the points he wanted to make and it seemed that no matter what he said the crowd loved it. He was able to build his speeches up to huge climaxes at by the end would have the crowd shouting, screaming and saluting for him. But not only was he extremely useful in speech making but also in organising his party. He knew that he needed money to run his party and in order to obtain this money, they would have to get support from rich industrialists, which they then proceeded to do. He not only knew what the party needed but also what the people needed. He was able to distinguish things which were essential from things which weren’t. For instance, he knew that he needed to get his anti-communist beliefs understood among the people. He would send people into communist rallies and have them cause fights. The Nazis would then quickly intervene and could be seen ‘clearing up or dealing with the communists’ mess.’ He knew that he needed to make people believe that the Jews were the cause of all Germany’s problems and that getting rid of them was the only way to ‘cleanse’ Germany. He practically brain-washed the German people, by means of fear and propaganda, into believing this. Another thing which he felt would appeal to the people was his idea of a pure race and ‘Living space’. He claimed that normal, white Germans-Aryans, were pure and were superior to the other people and said that they needed more land to live on and this, they would take from inferior countries like Poland and Russia. And above all, he knew that what really mattered, were not the promises that you were making, but the fact that people trusted you.
Furthermore he focussed many of his campaigns into promoting himself as a leader of Germany. He was made out to be a superman, the strong leader Germany needed to build it up again and take revenge on the allies. Hitler made sure that anything he did appealed in one way or another to the German people and he was very much the foundation of the eventual Nazi success in 1933.
It is clear now that there were many factors involved in order to make the conditions right for Hitler to take power. Considering these factors all combined in 1933 it was inevitable that Hitler became ruler of Germany. The Weimar government had been a failure, it had no clear objectives and few supported it. Germany’s economy was in a complete mess due to the Great Depression and unemployement was becoming an increasing problem. People hated the Jews and feared the Communists and there were few other strong parties who opposed the Nazis. All these matters appeared to a peak towards the end of 1932, and it was the eventual political manoeuvring between Von Schleicher and Von Papen that granted Hitler access to power. It was this peak and the political conspiracies which led to Hindenburg, realising he could do nothing but hand over power, appointing Hitler as chancellor on January 30th 1933.
(it is clear that the nazis knew that it was support, not action that was needed)