How Did Hitler Become Chancellor in 1933

Another area that contributed to Hitler becoming Chancellor was the weaknesses of the opposition.  They had two major weaknesses that Hitler was able to play upon to gain more support for the Nazi’s.  I feel the most important of the two was the oppositions failure to co-operate with one another as the other factor (the opposition’s failure to deal with the depression) could have been prevented if the parties were able to co-operate.  After WW1 the Weimar Constitution was to become one of the most advanced democracies in Europe and so a system of proportional representation was introduced in order to allow even small parties to gain seats in the Reichstag.  Therefore everyone’s preferred political party often got to represent them.  This would have been a clever system, except this meant there were lots of different parties with very different views in the Reichstag.  The phrase ‘two many cooks spoil the broth’ is highly appropriate here.  The fact that all the parties had very different policies meant that making a decision was highly difficult and when a problem needed a quick solution this was near enough impossible.  This fact caused a chain reaction, as it meant the Weimar government failed to deal with the depression because they could not make a decision quick enough.  The Weimar Government was made to look incapable of making important decisions concerning its country and it’s people.  Support and faith in the government flitted away and Hitler’s extreme policies were becoming more and more attractive.  Hitler may have never become so popular and in the situation to become Chancellor if the parties could have co-operated and dealt with the depression successfully.

The final area which historians divide the grounds as to why and how Hitler became Chancellor is that of other factors.  One of these is the German public’s memories of hyperinflation.  Hyperinflation was an after affect of the Treaty of Versailles, as Germany could not keep up with its ridiculous reparation payments and so Ebert and the Socialists decided the best way to solve this problem was to issue more money.  This would have been a simple solution, but because the government were printing more money prices began to rise, so the government then printed more money which then meant the prices rose even more.  This continued in an endless cycle until money became worthless.  Hyperinflation caused disastrous effects on many different groups of people throughout Germany.  People on fixed incomes suffered the most because the rise in prices meant their incomes were now too low to live on.  Not only this, but old age pensioners struggled to buy food, clothes and to heat their homes, as their pensions did not rise with the prices.  However some people did benefit from hyperinflation such as people who owed money as they could now pay their debts back with case.  In general more people suffered from hyperinflation than those who gained from it.  The people blamed the government as they had signed the Treaty that had caused these horrific circumstances.  Hitler gained even more support as his ‘stab in the back’ theory verified this fact and he promised to abolish the Treaty if he got into power.  Although hyperinflation was important in Hitler getting closer to becoming Chancellor it was merely a problem that derived from the Treaty of Versailles.  The Treaty was defiantly one of the most important reasons as to why Hitler got into power, as it was the source of all of Germany’s problems.  Through the Treaty of Versailles Germany were forced to pay the horrendous reparations, which ultimately led to starvation and death.  Germany lost its overseas empires and rich industrial areas of land such as the Sudetenland, which were needed for money so Germany could re-build after the war and pay the ridiculous reparations.  They also lost their main trading port (Danzig) to the Treaty and many countries did not trust Germany after the war, so it was virtually impossible to trade efficiently which meant a huge loss in money.  Not only did the Treaty mean loss of money that was needed in order to keep Germany out of crisis, but it also meant the loss of Germany’s national pride, their army.  It was reduced to 100,000 men, which made Germany feel vulnerable and humiliated.  The German people called the Treaty of Versailles a ‘diktat’ and believed it should have never been signed, as due to censorship they thought they had never lost the war.  They never accepted it and wanted it reversed.  When Hitler promised to do this support increased for him and he became a popular politician in a position to become Chancellor.

After the 1932 elections Hitler and the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag with 36% of the vote, but in order to run the country on their own they needed 50% of the vote.  Hitler did not agree with this and said that if he is the leader of the biggest party in the Reichstag then he should be in charge of the country.  President Hindenburg was suspicious of Hitler’s motives in wanting to become Chancellor and so appointed the leader of a centre party (a close friend) Franz von Papen.  The army disliked him however and so he appointed a more right-wing politician Von Schleicher, but he did not have much support in the Reichstag so he was forced to resign after just 8 weeks.  Hindenburg realised he needed a Chancellor whom was popular and so Hitler appeared his only option.  However he still did not trust Hitler, but thought that he could use Franz von Papen to tell Hitler how to run the country (make Hitler a puppet).  Therefore on the 30th January Hitler was invited into power due to Hindenburg’s underestimation of his character.

In conclusion, many elements contributed to Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor in 1933, the most important being Nazi policies, the oppositions failure to co-operate and the effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany.  All of the factors increased support for him and made him a popular politician, which enabled him to be in the position to be invited into power in 1933.  The day of 30th January was simply pure luck for Hitler and is not important in understanding why he came into power, as if it would not have been then it would have been soon after.  Hindenburg’s underestimation of Hitler was basically the spark that allowed Hitler to come to power, much like the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was the spark that engineered the 1st World War.  If it would not have been these actions it would have been another.  Overall Hitler’s intelligence and the weaknesses of the opposition allowed him to become Chancellor in 1933.