Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933 because he was the leader of the most popular party in Germany. How far do you agree with this opinion?

The Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 actually played a huge role in turning Hitler’s ideology from trying to gain power through violence to doing it legally through elections. This was his first attempt at seizing power and its failure meant that Hitler was imprisoned for treason. In prison he reconsidered his political strategy and as he dictated Mein Kampf he decided that the Nazis had to legally gain power through elections. Therefore, the Nazis would be able to gain genuine support from the German people; they would be loved and not feared. If the Party had continued with its violent approach then they probably could have still gained power with enough support. However, it would leave many people feeling discontent with a high chance of attempts at overthrowing them. As they instead grew through their political campaign Hindenburg would have had more faith in appointing Hitler as Chancellor since he would be giving many German people what they wanted.

Despite changing their strategy to gain power, the Nazi violence continued through the SA, led by Ernst Rohm, as they looked to intimidate their opponents and gain further support. This was the reason for Hitler not being appointed Chancellor earlier, Hindenburg considered the Nazis to be a threat to democracy, hence why von Papen and Schleicher were appointed before him. In the end Hindenburg seemed to have no other choice than to appoint Hitler as Chancellor with the hope of ending the violence. Hitler also aimed to deal with the left wing parties whom Hindenburg also feared. If the Nazis had not continued to use violence then Hitler may never have become Chancellor as Hindenburg would not have feared him as much as he did. Although it can be argued that Hitler could be more appealing without the violence, some of his policies were also out of favour with Hindenburg. Therefore, no violence would mean no case for Hitler to become Chancellor.

The divisions within its main opponents aided the popularity of the Nazi Party. The split in the left wing between the Socialists and Communists meant that their votes were divided. The election of November 1932 saw the Nazi Party win 33% of the vote. Behind them were the SPD and KPD with 20.4% and 16.9% of the vote respectively. If the two parties had not been divided and instead worked together their combined vote would have actually beaten that of the Nazis. Then maybe one of their leaders in Otto Wels or Ernst Thalmann would have instead become Chancellor although this was not very likely due to Hindenburg’s fear of the left wing. This was not to be and so the NSDAP were able to win the election and show Hindenburg that they were the most favoured political party at the time.

In conclusion, I agree that the Nazi Party were the most popular party in Germany when Hitler was appointed as Chancellor. However, this was not the sole reason for his appointment. The fear and threat of violence from the SA meant that Hindenburg was ‘bullied’ into giving power to Hitler whilst the Great Depression caused by the Wall Street Crash gave the NSDAP the chance to win over more voters with the promise of leading the country to recovery. The division of the left wing between Socialism and Communism also benefited the Nazis slightly as one of the two parties alone could not win enough votes. Overall, it was the violence maintained whilst the party simultaneously tried to take power through legal methods that saw them in the position with the highest popularity, giving Hindenburg no choice but to appoint Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.