Why was Hitler made Chancellor of Germany?
In Germany in 1933, Hitler’s Nazis party was growing extremely popular with the Germans. This posed a problem for the current government, The Weimar republic who were losing popularity. Hitler promised things that the German people needed: Hitler offered a strong leadership, like that of the Kaiser, older Germans who were alive during the reign of the Kaiser, warmed to this type of ruling. Hitler promised the cancellation of the treaty of Versailles, which was still a subject which angered many people; many still held the signing of the treaty against the Weimar. Hitler’s use of the SA forced people into voting for him. Hitler knew he could not keep these promises, but he made the People of Germany believe him, he was able to touch people’s emotions, his rally’s created excitement and positivness in the German people. Hitler was their last chance to help restore Germany to her to respectability and powerfulness. Hindenburg seeing Hitler’s popularity grow, had to think of something to protect the Weimar but at the same time keep control of Hitler.
There are many reasons for Hitler being made Chancellor. Starting at the very beginning of The Weimar’s rein, they signed a treaty, which affected them for the rest of their time in power.
From the very beginning the Weimar appeared weak. They ended the war, which was bad enough for the German people but they the signed the treaty of Versailles. This through Germany into humiliation, as well as having many parts of Germany, taken away and given to other countries. The German army, who were very important to Germany as they represented the strength of Germany, were all taken away only being allowed to have a certain number of soldiers. After all this happening in the first few weeks of the Weimar’s reign, this already helped Hitler to realise that this could be his chance, he thought that the German people could not take much more of this weak government they needed a strong ruler who could steer them out of this corner. I think that even as early as this Hitler had ideas and plans even if they were only thoughts. Many Germans saw the ending of the war and the signing of the treaty of Versailles as being stabbed in the back by their own people, this would take a lot of time to get over this felling of betrayal. The invasion of the Ruhr, weakened the Weimar even more, the hyper inflation which occurred due to the passive resistance in the Ruhr, made matters even worse for the Government but even better for Hitler. When the whole of Germany went into poverty, the people of Germany needed help. The Weimar were doing nothing, this was a perfect time for Hitler to gain his support. Hitler joined the National socialist workers party (Nazis) Hitler put his ideas across. His speeches touched their emotions and a year later he was declared leader. The party grew in size promising the People of Germany thing that they needed which the Weimar was not providing. This a major step forward for Hitler and one of the major reasons why he was made chancellor. The strength of the Nazis grew as did the number of members. Hitler had a great talent in speaking he provoke emotions in people in the way in which he delivered himself. The use of the SA helped Hitler to get support through fear. The SA threatened and attacked other political groups in the Reichstag. The SA also caused riots in the streets which made the Weimar look weak as they could not control them. This helped to paint a picture of the weak government for the People of Germany. They fought with the communists on the streets and helped to add to disorder in Germany. Ironically the Nazis were seen as the party committed to law and order. The uniforms and parades that the SA did gave an impression of order and purpose; it reminded older Germans of the Kaiser’s Germany. After all of this the SA grew significantly and this helped Hitler gain support and become chancellor. The Nazis appealed to popular prejudices i.e. The Jews Many Germans disliked the Jews and wanted them out of Germany. The Nazis picked on popular targets to attack often falsely accusing them of causing Germany’s misery Most of theses accusation were aimed at the Jews. Anti-Semitism was already strong in Germany so many people supported the Nazis as a result of this. The social democrats were blamed for the treaty of Versailles. The communists were blamed for causing violence on the streets, so Hitler gave the people very reason for voting for him. The Nazi propaganda, especially at election times played a very important role in Hitler’s rise to chancellor. Their propaganda was often far ahead of the other parties. Goebbels organised very affective propaganda campaigns which involved huge rallies, radio broadcasts, films, concerts and sports days. Mass rallies were used by the Nazis to influence the emotions of large numbers of people. Hitler was portrayed as a super human who could restore German prosperity and pride. Hitler’s speeches led many Germans to believe that the Nazis were the only people who could save them. Hitler travelled all around Germany promoting his ideas; this propaganda defiantly was a key to helping him become chancellor.
