Even though Germany was in a depression, the Weimar politicians spent more time arguing with each other than trying to solve the problems Germany had. In 1930, millions of people voted for parties like the Nazis when an election was called. The Nazis increased their vote from 3 to 18 per cent. These parties planned to get rid of democracy altogether, but the Germans now listened to them because they needed extreme solutions to their extreme problems.
The Nazis made many promises because they knew that they could use Germany’s downfall to their advantage. They offered strong leadership, employment for all of Germany’s people and they promised to restore Germany’s pride. The Nazis were anti-communists and Hitler’s speeches convinced the German population that they were the superior race.
As unemployment rose, people began to worry about their situations. This resulted in more and more people supporting the Nazis as they offered the best solutions (promising jobs for all of Germany). In the 1930 elections the Nazis got 107 seats and there were just over 2 million unemployed Germans. However by 1933 unemployment had risen to around 6 million people in Germany and the Nazis had almost 300 sets in the Reichstag.
Of course there were other reasons for Hitler’s success, he was very devoted to his cause and he was passionate about his beliefs. Hitler was an extremely charismatic person, drawing people to his ideas. The fact that he was a very powerful and effective speaker also persuaded people to believe him and his ideas. This convinced them to vote for the Nazis. Germany’s population was frightened of a communist revolution. Communists wanted nationalization of all major industries, they believed in state control of the land but they didn’t believe in religion. This panicked businessmen, farmers, landowners and churchgoers who would all lose wealth and power; this caused them to turn to the Nazis who were against communism. Hitler’s rise to power could have been harder if the opposition had not been weak. Nazi messages were simple. They talked about Germany going back to the way it used to be. People liked this idea. The Nazis criticized Weimar politicians for signing the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazis gave the German population someone to blame as they attacked communists who wanted to take over Germany. To show that the Nazis were in touch with modern technology and ideas, Hitler travelled around by plane and the Nazis used the press and radio to deliver their messages to the public. Because the Nazis had smart uniforms and held organized meetings, they looked, to the Germans, as though they were the party to follow. The Nazis’ strongest chance of success was their leader, Hitler. Hitler was a confident and powerful speaker, the Germans felt like he understood them; they were looking for a strong leader.
There were lots of reasons why Hitler came to power in 1933; the depression, fear of communism, weakness of the opposition, Nazi election plans, Nazi use of propaganda and the Hitler effect (devotion to his cause, powerful speaker). In my opinion the most important reason was the depression because without the depression an extremist party like the Nazis would never have found so much support.
