Another way in which long term causes were more important than short term causes of Hitler’s work in increasing the power of the Nazi party from 1824 to 1828. During this time the Weimar Government made a superficial recovery because of the restoring of the German economy which was helped by the grant of American loans such as the Dawes plan, they were however then proved to be superficial after the Wall Street Crash. After this however Hitler and the Nazi’s were using their time wisely and began to re-build in order to take advantage if the opportunities might arise. Hitler did this by restructuring within the NSDAP and introducing a pyramidal structure, Hitler was at the top, followed by the Reich Directorate which was a close set of advisors to him. Beneath this there were shadow departments mirroring those of the Weimar government, charged with developing NSDAP policies. Below this were the Target Agencies whose role was to win over particular groups (e.g. doctors and lawyers), and lastly below this Hitler divided Germany into 35 Gaue (regions), each with a gauleiter (regional party leaders), in order to focus on the particular areas. The whole of the pyramidal structure depended on the fact that each leader at each level had absolute power over everyone below them. While it also gave Hitler enormous powers of patronage as he could reward loyal subordinates. Hitler then went about trying to re-assert his absolute control over the NSDAP, he did this by defeating his temporary replacements the socialist Strasser brothers at the Bamberg Party Conference and sacking the socialist leader of the SA Rohm. Whom he replaced him with the more malleable Von Pfeffer and changing the role of the SA more towards propaganda. Therefore this is very important because although on the surface the Nazi party did not appear to be making significant process against a strong Weimar, it was crucially building a foundation from which Hitler would be able to achieve the chancellorship.
One final reason why long term causes may be more important than short term cuases is because of Hitler’s exploitation of circumstances arising from 1828 to 1830. As a consequence of an agricultural depression and the success of big business and their workers, two groups were caused to suffer; the agricultural workers and the Mittelstand (lower middle class). Hitler recognised this and so he targeted them to gain support with the help of the other NSDAP party officials making speeches to encourage the support of the agricultural workers, especially pointing out point 17 of the 25 point party programme, emphasising that it was not aimed at farmers but was aimed at Jewish land spectators promising to confiscate and re-distribute the land. Hitler as well as this also opposed the renewal of the Dawes plan, which was also unpopular amongst the German people as it reminded them of the humiliation of the harsh terms of the treaty of Versailles. This led to Hitler and Hugenburg (the leader of the Nationalist party) drawing up a draft law against the Dawes plan, making anyone who voted for it liable to treason, although it was rejected it was important as it gave him national standing. The Wall Street crash and resultant depression caused huge amount of economic and social problems which (5 million unemployed) benefited the NSDAP as politics became polarise which meant an increased support for extremist left and right wing political parties. Coalition governments in the middle now broke down as these moderate parties had to more extreme to maintain support. As politics polarised the elite’s fears of the rise of communism and breakdown of order increased and so the elites began to take more control pulling the political strings from behind the scenes. Hitler’s exploitation of these crises and effective use of propaganda (through the drafting of the anti Dawes law), meant that he had gathered the significant support which would lead to the NSDAP becoming a major party.
In March 1830 the short term factors which led to Hitler becoming chancellor began. They started with the elites wanting a more right wing authoritarian regime; they replaced the Muller with Bruning. However when his budget was rejected by the Reichstag he called an election in September attempting to gain more support. However this backfired and resulted in the Nazis gaining 107 seats and the communist party gaining 54 seats. This small but important change led to Hitler being appointed as chancellor as it meant that he now had the support of the elites who showed to him that they were willing to help a politician who would give them a regime that they wanted.
Another way in which the short term causes were more important than the long term causes in Hitler being appointed as chancellor was because he managed to make the NSDAP into a massive political party and was able overcome the decline which followed after Papen’s second election. In 1932, Kurt Von Schleicher the political head of the army, made a deal with Hitler so that he would support Papen in return for the ban on the SA being lifted, Hitler agreed with Schleicher. However in the July 1932 elections the Nazi party won 230 seats, which led to Hitler revoking his support for Papen and demanding the Chancellorship. Hindenburg refused and subsequently Hitler also turned down the vice-chancellorship and proceeded in becoming opposition. However Papen had very little support and so he called a second election hoping that the Nazis would decline in order so that they could co-operate with him, however although the Nazi support did decline to 197 seats, Hitler still refused to support him. Papen then considered on launching a coup, but was stopped by Schleicher who told him that the army would not back him as they would be unable to cope with both the SA and the communists (as they both opposed such a coup) and so he was forced to resign. Schleicher now replaced Papen with himself, but he too needed to find support and so tried to divide support within the Nazis; however Hitler prevented Gregor Strasser’s defection to Schleicher. Meanwhile he was at the same time alienating the Junkers with plans to settle peasant farmers on bankrupt Junkers estates.
The most important of the short term causes which led to Hitler becoming chancellor in 1933 was the fact that Papen wanted to take revenge on Schleicher for having caused him to lose his chancellorship. The breakthrough for Hitler was on the 4th of January 1933 when for the first time an elite (Papen) with influence considered Hitler becoming chancellor. Papen at first told Hitler that it was impossible for him to become chancellor; however on the 22nd of January another breakthrough was made when Papen finally agreed to press for Hitler as chancellor. He began persuading President Hindenburg to accept Hitler as chancellor. Hindenburg however disliked Hitler, but Papen himself was a very close friend of both Ribbentrop and Hindenburg and after a huge amount of persuasion Ribbentrop was persuaded. On the 28th January Papen persuaded Hindenburg in a meeting that Hitler’s chancellorship was the only choice. Papen would then be vice-chancellor and prime minister of Prussia and it was hoped that he could control Hitler under the desired right wing authoritarian regime. However on the 29th of January Hitler now demanded new elections and an Enabling law, Hindenburg refused but Hitler promised that it would be the last election and so it was that the path was now clear for Hitler’s next day appointment as chancellor. So it can be seen that the short term political manoeuvrings of Hitler were most probably the most significant factors in his rise to power, as they brought about the chancellorship for Hitler when he his support had been declining.
In conclusion it can be seen that through the thorough examination of all the different long term and short term factors that in Hitler’s rise to power the short term factors were far more important in the appointment of Hitler as chancellor in 1933 as he would have been in decline had his political manoeuvrings not succeeded. However even though the short term causes without a doubt led to him becoming chancellor the long term causes put him in the position to be able gain the support he needed and have a strong foundation through the pyramidal structure of the NSDAP. The single most important cause in the appointment of Hitler as chancellor was the intervention of Papen as without him it would have been impossible to persuade Ribbentrop and Hindenburg and all the other conservative elites that Hitler was a good choice for chancellor.
