In January 1993, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Explain why this happened.

by syaqoob16 (student)

Shafaq Yaqoob

In January 1993, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Explain why this happened?

How far did the Depression cause Hitler to become Chancellor in January 1933?

Was the Nazi use if threats and violence the main reason why Hitler Became Chancellor Germany in January 1933?

After the Wall Street Crash in 1929 which triggered the Great Depression caused political and economic de-stabilisation in Germany. The German public was mostly unemployed due to the failure in industry saw that the democratic Weimar government was doing nothing about the problem at hand and made conditions worse by passing harsh laws. After this the German public started to look for a new strong government which would solve their problem. The Nazis took advantage of the conditions created by the Great Depression was this as an opportunity to attract people to their side. People found their policies attracting and by using the Weimar’s weaknesses the Nazis kept on breaking Weimar’s support.

The impact of the Great Depression was a turning point for the Nazis and the Weimar Republic. As Germany had not yet fully recovered from the effects of the First World War, their economy was still a very brittle position. When the American banks asked the German industry to return back the money borrowed, the German economy was badly hit. This caused the German public to face many problems such as homelessness and unemployment. The government introduced harsh laws that rose taxes and cut down unemployment benefits which made the public think that democratic system of Weimar was weak and was seen ineffectual and as a result it made the people turn to extremist parties, both left and right wing. This gave the Nazis an opportunity to introduce their policies to people which they found quite attracting as the Nazis were offering the solution to the German public’s problems. The Nazis seemed a better alternative to the people. However, it is really important to remember that due to the Depression not only the Nazis were gaining support but also the Communist. Perhaps it can be said that the Weimar weaknesses were much effective in leading the Hitler becoming more powerful.

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As the effects of the Depression became more transparent, Weimar’s weaknesses started to appear before people. As the government was afraid to go through another period of hyperinflation, Chancellor Brϋning brought up lass that would cut down on the government’s expenditure. However, he did not have a lot of support in the Reichstag therefore he had to use the Article 48 to pass laws that rose taxes, cut the unemployment benefits and wages were lowered. This not only made the Weimar Republic unpopular among the German public but the use of Article 48 side-lined the democracy and creating a kind of dictatorship. The Nazis only used the unpopular policies of the Weimar but also its previous association with the Treaty of Versailles and World War 1. They used the Treaty to remind people of how the Weimar Republic signed the Treaty which caused most of Germany’s problems and also about the humiliation the Germany suffered from signing the Armistice to end the World War 1 which the German public thought that they were winning. Later on when the coalition government was greatly weakened when the Social Democrats withdrew. This was one of the major setbacks in the constitution of the Weimar Republic as the government had to be coalitions due to proportional representation, so because of coalitions compromises had to made. The Nazis had another opportunity to exploit the fears and discontent of people in the 1930 election which allowed them to win 107 seats in the Reichstag. Maybe we can say that the Nazi strength were more important in helping Hitler become Chancellor of Germany.

The main factors that help the Nazis to become one of the most influential parties were that they appealed to many different groups in the German society. They knew that all and Germans wanted to make Germany great again by abolishing the Treaty of Versailles and conquering more land (Lebensraum). They said that they would restore Germany’s pride again by introducing conscription and rearmament which would also tackle unemployment. All these ideas brought by Hitler were really appealing to the people. The fact that the Nazis wanted to destroy Communism help them gain more support because there were many groups in Germany that left threatened by the increasing support of the Communisms. The middle class people supported the Nazis because of their promise to protect them from Communist and to finish unemployment. The industrialist also supported the Nazis due to the fear of Communism and also supported them financially. The farmers also supported the g due to their fear of Communism and the Nazis also promised to raise the prices of agricultural products. It was not only the fear of Communism that gained Hitler support but also his oratory skill were really developed which had an amazing effect on the people who were listening. The Nazis were also expert on using propaganda; they portrayed their idea on posters and used technology such as radio to get their message to more people. The Nazi rallies also had a great effect in the German people. However, the Nazi use of violence and threats helped them to crush their opponents but it lost them support in the Reichstag in the November 1932 election. Maybe it was the political manoeuvring done by President Hindenburg and von Papen that helped to make Hitler Chancellor of Germany.

Even though the Nazis were the single largest party in the Reichstag but they did not have enough majority to make Hitler the Chancellor. Instead von Papen was appointed the Chancellor. However even von Papen did not have enough support in the Reichstag and Hitler refused to work with him. When Hindenburg saw that von Papen was not successful in gaining support, he appointed Schleicher the Chancellor, who also had difficulty in keeping his support in the Reichstag. This gave von Papen chance to re-gain power and tried to persuade Hindenburg to make Hitler Chancellor but he refused. Later Schleicher resigned from his position of Chancellor due to lack of support, von Papen was then able to persuade Hindenburg to appoint Hitler Chancellor as long as the number of the Nazis were limited in the Cabinet, which would allow their extreme ideas to be contained. Appointing Hitler the Chancellor was also benefiting to Hindenburg and other industrialist as they also feared Communism. Therefore Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor on 30th January 1933.

In conclusion, the Depression acted as a catalyst to Weimar’s problems and made people look for alternatives that would help to lift them out of the effects of the Depression. The Depression created a perfect opportunity of the Nazis to introduce their policies and gave them a chance to criticise the Weimar and exploit their mistakes. In addition to this the Nazi rallies and Hitler’s oratorical skills were also important in gaining favour of people. The Depression showed that the Weimar was really weak and was unable to solve people’s problems which made the people resort to extremist parties, even the Communists. However, the Nazi use of violence lost them support in the November 1932 elections, so if Hindenburg was not persuade to appoint Hitler to become Chancellor, He might not have come into power, so we can deduce that the political manoeuvring done by Hindenburg and von Papen is an important factor that allowed Hitler to rise in power.