Why Did Hitler Become Chancellor In 1933?
In 1933, Hitler became chancellor for many different reasons. These include the Depression, the weakness of the Weimar government, political manoeuvring between von Schleicher and von Papen, his leadership skills and Nazi tactics.
The Depression helped Hitler greatly in gaining the Chancellorship. This was because Hitler and the Nazis made a promise or gave an explanation as to each problem the depression had on Germany. Such as ‘Unemployment? The Nazis will get people back to work.’ ‘Worried about the communists? We have our own fighting force, the Nazi SA.’ All of these promises made people join the Nazis even though other parties were offering these solutions. The depression had made the government and oppositions weak. This caused the Nazi’s to grow in strength because the opposing parties underestimated the Nazi’s and were afraid of them. One of the promises that the Nazi’s made to the Germans was ‘The Weimar government is weak: you need a good leader. Hitler is your man.’ Posters, rallies and radio transmissions changed Hitler into a superman whom everyone loved and admired. On posters Hitler's physical image was changed so he looked amazing and the sort of person you would want to govern you. His public speaking skills were already amazing but he still improved on them. Although he needed glasses to read, he never wore his glasses in public because they affected his appearance. What he wrote for his speeches didn’t really matter because it was the way he delivered them that made people like him. The Nazi campaigns focused on his personality and his skills. The German people decided to support the Nazis during the depression because of five different reasons. Firstly, they used propaganda to make people join them. This helped them because they made the other parties look weak because the Nazis held massive rallies, got the SA to threaten and defeat any opposition on the streets, they took over national newspapers and they intimidated people at the elections. All of these propaganda techniques made people either join them because they shared the same ideas or they were so scared of the SA they did what they were told. The Nazi’s used technology to influence their propaganda. They did this by using the radio. In the 1932 presidential elections, Hindenburg only gave the one speech, whereas Hitler's propaganda minister, Goebbels, got planes to fly Hitler all over Germany to speak at four or five rallies per day. The organisation of the Nazis after the Wall Street Crash was amazing. They had gathered all of the retired soldiers from the First World War and made them into the SA, and they got local people who were well trained and motivated to join them. The flexibility of the Nazis was essential for their success. This was because whenever one of their ideas was not working they would quickly drop it and come up with another one, however this left some people unsure as to what the Nazis actually stood for.
