History essay- Germany 1919 to 1933
Question: why did Hindenburg appoint Hitler as chancellor?
There were many reasons why Hitler became chancellor in 1933. In many ways the Depression was the most important reason why Hitler came to power in 1933. The depression derived from the Wall Street Crash, when people rushed to sell their shares because they realised the companies were doing badly. Thousands of businesses and people were ruined. This affected Germany because America withdrew its loans and the German economy collapsed. Millions were left unemployed. The new Weimar government broke down and people were ready to listen to groups like Hitler's Nazis, who promised a strong government and a better way of life. People who had never been
interested in politics before found themselves listening to extremist groups because the government had collapsed. The Depression was a tremendous piece of good luck for the Nazis, because it enabled them to get the majority of the vote in Germany (43.9%).
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the most important causes that led to Hitler's rise in Germany. From the German point of view the treaty was incredibly harsh and devastating for Germany. The leaders of the allies drew up this treaty to purposely revenge and weaken Germany. The treaty contained five major points that would be Germany's demise.
The first part was to revenge and weaken Germany. Many rules were laid down to Germany, which they had to obey. The German territory to the west of the Rhine would be occupied by allied troops for 15 years. The Germans did not like this because they did not want enemy troops in their own country. Even though the war was over they still hated the allies. Germany was not allowed to put any defences or troops on the east bank of the Rhine. This made Germany feel weak and vulnerable to invasion. They also hated the thought of a foreign president telling them what to do. Germany had to agree never to combine with Austria again. They had to strictly respect the independence of Austria. This was hard for both countries to accept as they both thought of each other as the same people. They didn't like to be stopped from working together. As well as respecting Austria's independence, Germany had to respect Poland's. Along with this, land was given to Poland from Germany, which Germany could never take back. Germany also lost her rights for trading overseas with places like, China. Along with this, Germany lost all her military power. By March 31st 1920, the German army consisted of only 7 divisions of infantry and 3 of cavalry. This meant that the army was cut to just 100,000 men and the navy just 15, 000 men and 36 ships. There were to be absolutely no Air force or submarines. All this humiliation made the country feel weak. The country also had a huge problem in dealing with the large population of unemployed soldiers. The country's economic status was about to become even worse as the Coalmines of Saar were given to France. The Saar Coalmines made a lot of money, and were very profitable to Germany. A big industry had been taken away from Germany. The rest of the Saar district was also taken away from Germany and was handed over to the League of Nations. At the end of 15 years it was to be decided by democracy, which government the people of Saar wanted to be placed under, France or Germany. The people of Saar disliked this settlement very much as most of them were Germans, who obviously didn't want to be ruled by the allies for 15 years. The most embarrassing part of the treaty for Germany was "The War Guilt Clause." This clause stated that Germany accepted all the blame for the war, including the starting of it. Germany felt this wasn't true. They felt that they hadn't started the war and that this clause was unnecessary. Even so, Germany had to accept this, or run the risk of starting the war all over again, which they would inevitably lose.
