The rise of Hitlers power was based upon a number of long term problems that Germany had faced after the devastating World War. However I believe that the greatest factor that had lead to these problems was the Treaty of Versailles.

Henry Lin

H1AKN

Question 1:

Choose any one reason from the list and explain how it contributed to Hitler’s rise to power. (Treaty of Versailles )

The rise of Hitler’s power was based upon a number of long term problems that Germany had faced after the “devastating” World War. However I believe that the greatest factor that had lead to these problems was the Treaty of Versailles.

The Paris Peace Conference opened on the 12th of January 1919, at first meetings was held around various locations in Paris until the 10th of January, 1920. 32 international delegates represented over 75% of the world’s nations, however most decisions were dominated by the big 3 (of Britain, of France and of America). Representatives from Germany and her allied nations were not allowed to attend any meetings, however were forced to sign the treaty once the terms had been negotiated or be invaded by the allies. On the 28th of June 1919 the treaty was signed, in the hall of mirrors, Versailles palace, Versailles, France.it was signed by all the allied powers and Germany.

Prior to the completion of the treaty the German government was given 3 weeks to accept the terms and prepare their formal complaint, the Germans complained about almost every point, all but a few were ignored by the allies. Once signed, most of the German citizens (including Hitler) hated this ‘Diktat’. The reason for the word ‘Diktat’ was because vertically none of Wilsons 14 points were including in the treaty, in addition the treaty was dictated to Germans, without any real constitution. One of the treaty’s terms stated that the Kaiser be brought on trial. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and fled to Holland in 1918, and the Dutch refused to release him. This left both the German economy and the government in a highly unstable position.

Members of the big three debated the terms of the treaty for 5 months. Clemenceau and Wilson argued to a point where even the treaty was in danger of failing; however Lloyd George issued the , in which he persuaded both Wilson and Clemenceau to accept both the treaty and reparations. The instability of the Treaty was evident before the terms where even negotiated. From a German point of view this showed the instability the treaty had from the very beginning.

As Hitler was a soldier who fought on the front lines for Germany in 1918, along with many other Germans he was furious when he heard about Germanys defeat in the war. However he was even more enraged when the treaty of Versailles that was bound the cause the collapse of Germany as a nation.

The treaty forced Germany to give up everything that they had relied on to regained stability the economy after the war, this lead to an even more devastating en to the war for the Germans. With ¼ of their land being lost and now completely land locked Germany was struggling, to make matter worse Germanys largest industrial area – the Ruhr had now been disarmed of German troops and all exports where to be sent to the “winners”, as a form of reparation.

In addition to Germanys land loss, the Treaty stated that Germany was to surrender all her colonies to the League of Nations to become mandates. Prior to the Treaty Germany had colonies situated in 3 continents: Africa, China and the Pacific. Germany had relied on the her colonies in order to revive their collapsed government as she would use their exports to generate income, however now that Germany had been stripped of 1/4 of her land and colonies the chances for a successful comeback were slim. This resulted in the isolation of the many suffering German citizens from the government, people believed the only way Germany was going to regain its status was for a strong man to take control , a man who would change Germany forever : Adolf Hitler.

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In one last gesture of defiance, the captured German naval force held at Scapa Flow (north of Scotland) scuttled itself i.e. deliberately sank itself. The treaty left the whole of Germany in a crisis. With reparations Germany had to pay, thousands of German citizens became unemployed, and even more homeless to make matters worse the German mark was undergoing hyperinflation each day. Soup kitchens were set up, and amongst the lower class citizens a disease started to spread- communism. In an attempt to resolve Germany’s problems, a group of social democrats established the Weimar republic with President Friedrich Ebert as chancellor. The Weimar republic has restored Germany’s faith in the government once more, by establishing a loan with America. The loan created job opportunities for citizens. In addition the German mark was abolished and the Weimar government created a new German currency- the ‘rentenmark’.

On the other hand, a soldier named Adolf Hitler had been asked by the army to act as a spy on the Nazi party. Once he joined them in 1919, he had become fascinated with their fascist views and opinions. Hitler practiced his oratory, personality and leader ship whilst being a member of the Nazi party. Many of Hitler’s speeches

Within a period of 3 years Hitler had become the leader of the Nazi party.

However due to the success of the Weimar government, the Nazi party had not had much attention for German citizens. Germans became more occupied with the trends of all aspects to support a political party. Unfortunately due to the Wall Street Crash in 1929, Germany had once again been left in a state of mayhem. German citizens looked for a man with great confidence and power, to pull Germany of out this pit the German government had once again left Germany in. they needed – Adolf Hitler

“They would not listen nor understand that Versailles was a scandal and a disgrace and that the dictate signified an act of highway robbery against our people.”

Mein Kampf , Adolf Hitler

Question 2:

Using some of the causes in the list explain how both long-term and short-term causes contributed to Hitler’s rise to power.

Hitler’s rise to power did not take place over night, it took almost a decade. Many causes contributed to Hitler’s rise to power, both long term and short term.

The first was a long term cause, the treaty of Versailles. It caused a collapses of the German government, economy, military and belief in the government from German citizens. In an attempt to restore authority in Germany, a group of social democrats known as the ‘Social democratic part of Germany (SDP) established the Weimar government. The success of the Weimar government created numerous job opportunities for German citizen and almost completely ended starvation amongst Germans.

The Dawes plans April 1924. After the war Germany had difficulty paying the reparations that had been negotiated under the treaty of Versailles. As a result in 1923 troops from France and Belgium occupied Germany’s most industrial area – the Ruhr. This caused massive inflation and a rising unemployment rate in Germany. Eventually in 1924 the Dawes plan was created to allow Germany to pay a fixed amount of reparations on an annual basis and loans were borrowed from America. This stabilized the currency and hyperinflation was controllable. However Hitler despised this, he hated the fact that Germany had to pay reparations at all. Once Hitler rose to power he attacked the Dawes plan as it had not reduced the amount of reparations, he also disliked the fact that Germany economy was controlled by foreigners. Hitler was able to use the fact that the Dawes plan had not actually been as successful as most Germans believed it to have been, he was able to use this to persuade the public on the failures of the Weimar government. He made people believe that the government was wrong for accepting the terms of the treaty and in order to take ‘revenge’ on the allies they would have to join the Nazi party.

Hitler used many motivational speeches to persuade people to join the Nazi’s. Hitler’s Oratory, personality and leadership skills are all a long term cause which took years to have been developed. Many historians believed Hitler’s strange personality and incredible Oratory skills developed as a side effect of being shell shocked in the war. They believe the explosion could have altered his vocal chords resulting in his well-known passionate speeches. Hitler was able to use the passionate voice and dramatic bodily gestures which he had used so effectively in his speeches, to convey his messages. Whilst in the army Hitler’s officers found his left winged ideas incredibly impressive, he was set the task of political officer informing soldiers about politics. Prior to giving a speech Hitler always arrived late, he believe that this would create and atmosphere of tension and expectance amongst his audience. In the early months of Hitler’s speeches

He spoke haltingly and appeared nervous. However as the months progressed Hitler relaxed, and his speech delivery style had changed. He was known to rock from side to side and began gesticulating with hand gestures. As he progressed his volume and passion increased, and his voice cracked with emotion. He ranted about the injustice Germany had faced and played with the audience’s emotion. Towards the end of his speeches the almost hypnotics voice engaged the audience to listen to whatever he had suggested.

After Gustav Stresemann was appointed chancellor on the 13th of august 1923, he decided continue paying reparations to the allies once more. Hitler was now determined it was time he became the new leader of Germany. On the night of November the 8th 1923, whilst the Bavarian government held a meeting in the Munich beer hall Hitler along with members of the storm troopers stormed into the beer hall disrupting the meeting. The leader of the Bavarian Government were reluctant to support him at first, however after Hitler had threatened them they agreed to support him on his new quest. The next day Hitler and 3,000 men marched through the streets of Munich, at Odensplatz they had found the road had been blocked by the Munich police. Hitler and his men refused to stop , this resulted in a cross fire between Hitler’s men and the Police. The importance of the Munich putsch was that it had failed miserably, and Hitler was put on trial. While Hitler was on trial it gave him an opportunity to use his rhetoric that had entranced so many followers of the Nazi Party, as a result he was given a very lenient sentence of around 9 months in prison. His time in prison also gave him the opportunity to write Mein Kampf, which was to be used significantly in his rise to power.

Question 3:

Was any one of these reasons more important that the others in Hitler’s rise to power?

Hitler had relied on many things in order to rise to power, some of which played a much more significant role .It is difficult to distinguish which was more important , however they are based upon a web of causation making it difficult to separate out the role of one factor making it difficult to priorities.

In my treaty of Versailles had acted as a starting point towards Hitler’s rise to power. In Hitler’s book ‘Mein Kamp’ he wrote “[the treaty of] Versailles was a scandal and a disgrace and that the dictate signified an act of highway robbery against our people”

This shows his rage toward the fact that Germany had to pay reparations in the first place, “robbery” is used to describe the “scandal” In which had been committed by the treaty. Hitler was known to have hated the treaty; this is shown as he had planned to abolish the treaty of Versailles in ‘Hitler’s foreign policy’. Many Germanys agreed with Hitler’s plan to abolish the treaty, they had felt the treaty was unfair and acted as a ‘diktat’. Hitler used this to his advantage “Through this division of Europe nobody suffered more than the German people.” (A speech delivered in the German Reichstag on January 30th 1937). Hitler believe the Germans had suffered and persuaded citizens that if they had voted for Hitler he would tend to their basics need and destroy what had once scarred the German nation for life.

Hitler was well known for his passionate Oratory skills. Whilst in the German army he was appointed ‘Political general’, his job was to inform soldier about politics. Hitler first began developing his Oratory skills whilst in the army, however as his Oratory career progressed his styles and method began to change as well. Whilst a member Nazi party Hitler used his oratory skills to attract larger and larger audiences and more party donations. As Hitler success began to strive so did his speeches, he no longer looked nervous. Instead whilst speaking he was known to sway from side to side , as the speech progressed the volume of his voice would also increase, members of the audience would be so entranced by his words they were willing to do whatever he suggested. Hitler’s oratory skills took time to develop; I believe it was a big factor that allowed Hitler’s great success. The use of speeches by Hitler also played a huge factor in other significant time periods of Hitler’s rise to power.

As a result of the Treaty of Versailles Germany had been left in a state of Famine, civilians were unemployed, homeless, starving and contaminated with the infectious disease of communism. After the Weimar government , Germany saw a few good years ahead of them known as the ‘golden years’ however in 1929 due to the wall street crash in Washington , American bankers forced Germany to repay the debt they had owed. Along with many other politicians such as Alfred Hugenburg, Hitler hated the Dawes plan that had created the economic depression in Germany once again. Hitler did not agree with the face that Germany’s economy was now run by foreigners; in addition he hated how it had not actually reduced the amount of reparations set by the Treaty of Versailles. The aftermath of the Depression caused unemployment to reach 6 million by the year 1932. Germans were looking for someone to blame for their misfortune, and had looked to extreme solutions – Hitler gave them what they wanted. Germans turned to Nazism due to their desperation, as a result in July 1932 the number of Nazi seats rose from a mere 12 seats to 230 seats. The depression allowed both Hitler and the Nazis to gain supporters.

On November the 8th 1923 Hitler led a large group of his men to a beer hall in Munich where the Bavarian government had held a meeting; he attempted to gain as many supporters as possible that night. In the early hours of the 9th of November Hitler gave a speech to the anxious member of the audience in the beer hall asking for their support in the Nazi party, by 3am the audience were so intrigued that he led a group of them out to march through the streets of Munich. The coup was ended by brief gun fire between the Nazi’s and the Munich police, Hitler had fled the scene however he was caught 2 days later and charged with treason. He successfully used the subsequent trial to gain publicity for himself and his ideas. Following his trial, he was sentenced to five years in Landsberg prison, but served only six months. During his prison term, Hitler began to dictate his thoughts and philosophy to co-conspirator and cellmate Rudolf Hess, which became the book Mein Kampf. It became the blueprint for Hitler's political plans. In Mein Kampf, he contended that Germans should expand east, liquidate the Jews and turn the Slavs into slave labor. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's political and economic problems.

In the November election of 1932, the Nazi party had failed to obtain a majority of seats the German parliament. Hitler was so shocked by loss in votes that he contemplated suicide; however he was saved by Hindenburg. Franz Von Papen was chancellor of Germany at the time; however the Reichstag had not given him the support he needed as a result Hindenburg and Von Papen had to rule Germany under the Enabling act. Hitler had been offered the position of Vice-Chancellor in exchange for his support, the proposal was rejected Hitler demanded to be made Chancellor. Von Papen and Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor on the 30th of January 1933, they took the risk because they had believed they would be able to control him- they were wrong.

The death of Hindenburg in August 1934 allowed Hitler to combine the roles of both President and Chancellor, he renamed himself the Fuehrer. On the 23rd of March 1933 elected representative voted on Hitler’s enabling act. This act would give Hitler dictatorial powers and could rule Germany without the Reichstag’s consent, however in order to obtain such powers two thirds of the Reichstag would have to agree to pass the act. In which it did, Hitler now took over all the trade unions, all political parties were banned, all the leaders of such groups were sent to Concentration camps. However it was not only leaders of trade unions and political parties that were sent to the camps, The Gestapo also began arresting beggars, prostitutes, homosexuals, alcoholics and anyone who was incapable of working.

In my opinion the decision by Papen and Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, was the cause that played the most significant role. Although it is hard to distinguish important of causes I believe this one was most significant. On the other hand in order for this decision to have been made Hitler would have had to prove he was worthy. In my opinion without the causes stated above he would not have been appointed Chancellor, Therefore wouldn’t not have been able to use the enabling act in the final process of turning into history’s most infamous dictator.

Hitler’s quotes :