Hitler’s Nazi party helped him greatly achieve power in Germany. After Hitler had joined in 1919, he seemed to be alot more familiar. The Nazi party were completely against the Weimar Republic and the treaty of Versailles. These policies of the party attracted all aspects of the German society as they wanted to blame someone for the depression which Hitler showed them was the president for the agreement of the treaty of Versailles and the Weimar republic. This made people support the aspects of the Nazi party and made them feel that the Nazi party would be the help they needed to acquire a better standard of living and a stronger country. The Nazi ideas appealed to Groups such as the proletariats, established middle class, big business’ and Protestants as it played on people’s fear of what Germany is becoming and what would be their nightmare scenarios. There seemed to be a definite increase in popularity during the early 1930’s when the numbers of its members had shot up from 129,563 to 2,493,870. People voted for them as it was a common feeling that when they had no one to turn to for help and guidance, they would look to the extremists in difficult situations especially when the communists were a threat. They did best in the rural areas and small town of the Protestants parts of Germany, particularly in the north and east. They received votes from the most rotted traditional sections of the German population. Different propaganda was used to appeal to the different types of people in Germany. The Nazi party’s organisation also helped in Hitler’s rise to power. The Nazi’s used propaganda too. Goebbels (minister of propaganda) used this technique to gain support. He had a good understanding of psychology which he put in his propaganda, according it to the people’s social and economic interests. The Nazi propaganda message was tailored to fit a whole range of people like telling the unemployed that the Nazi’s could get them work and food. An example of propaganda a poster saying ‘we want work and bread’. This appealed to the working class and how Goebbels used different techniques such as the use of the word ‘we’ to draw voters in. Technology played a big role too with the use of loud speakers, radio and film to promote the message. They also organised mass rallies with the intention of creating an atmosphere to provoke emotion so that the members of the crows would succumb to the Nazi’s. They also used a lot of scapegoats such as the November criminals, communist and Jews to take any blame for mistakes and problems; helping society with whom to blame for the depression. In addition the Nazi’s also built up a series of associated organisation for young people, women and students. For example the Nazi Welfare Organisation, this ran soup kitchens and organised food donations to people in distress which exploited the great depression and how they could help them.
Hitler also used his personality and characteristics to help in his rise to power. Hitler was a powerful speaker and used the countries problems as his advantage when delivering his speeches. Hitler showed how important he was to the Nazi party when the party fell after he was in prison. This helped him get superior leadership within the party, deciding on their policies and strategies. His strong willed personality with strong faith in his ideas and beliefs showed how he was a brilliant leader emphasised by how he helped the Nazi party so much when leading it. His powerful speeches made him able to gain popularity easily by telling the people of Germany exactly what they wanted to hear and offer them all the things they wanted. His persuasiveness drew the people in and because of this Hitler’s strong personality won the Nazi’s support and votes when they needed them most.
On the other hand there were other long term factors that helped him rise to power. Firstly there was the impact of the war. After the war Germany was left with the humiliation of accepting the terms of the treaty of Versailles which agreed to humiliating terms such as restricting their army troops to no more than 100,000. Hitler used this to his advantage to show the people how weak the government was at the moment and how it made Germany look weak compared to the rest of the world. This long term issue helped Hitler rise to power and let the people see that he was the answer to help Germany. He highlighted how the Weimar politicians had lied throughout the war, explaining how they were told they were always winning when in reality this was not true. They had been lied to through the propaganda used and the newspapers. Hitler showed the people how they could not trust them and needed someone they could trust. The country has been starved from food as most of it went towards the war and they were reduced to very little goods. He reminded them that they blamed the politicians for the lost of the war and that they were correct to do so. Historians quoted how "The dysfunctional nature of Weimar democracy ... aided in the rise of Nazism. The Weimar republic started in chaos, spent much of its short life in chaos, and dissolved without putting up much resistance.”
Another reason for Hitler’s rise to power was from the threats of communism. The threat of communism had begun to take over large parts of Europe which people began to fear and did not want it taking over Germany. People saw their only saviour turn to the extremes which meant voting for parties such as the Nazi’s and Hitler. This caused Hitler’s power to rise dramatically as people turned to him to get away from the threat of communism.
In this period, however, Hitler set about reorganising the Party. He put in place many of the things which helped it take power after 1928: He reduced the number of Storm troopers (SA) and set up the SS, a personal bodyguard fanatically loyal to himself. He set up a network of local parties. He merged with other right-wing parties, and then took them over. He set up the Hitler Youth, which attracted young people to the party. He put Josef Goebbels in charge of . Goebbels and Hitler believed that the best way to get the support of the masses was by appealing to their feelings rather than by argument. They waged a propaganda campaign using posters, leaflets, radio and film, and organised rallies. He cultivated the support of wealthy businessmen promising them that, if he came to power, he would destroy Communism and the Trade Unions. This gave him the finance to run his campaigns.
In conclusion, there were numerous factors as to why Hitler had gained power which included some long term factors; the treaty of Versailles and the impact of world war one. In addition, the humiliation and anger towards to treaty and the negative impact of the war on the country highlighted how Hitler’s words showed Germany that the government was a failure and that the people had been lied to as the war went on which Hitler seemed to bring to their attention. Other reasons included the weakness of the opposition after the communists failed to seize the country after the depression. People feared communism so turning to Hitler allowed him to gain more support. Despite this, from looking at the evidence we can see that the main reason Hitler gained power was due to the great depression. The great depression helped establish Hitler as a great leader through his effective speechmaking, reflecting how he and the Nazi’s could help and bring about change. They also used propaganda with the help of Goebbels effectively against the depression and the Wall Street crash to alter people’s opinions and decisions into favouring the Nazi’s.
