PART (B)
Why did Hitler make limited progress in the years 1924-1928?
The failed Munich Putsch on 8th November 1923 had an important impact on the Nazi Party. Hitler was jailed; its newspaper in Munich was banned, not to mention the party itself. This can partially explain the Nazis limited progress, but is not the sole, nor the most important reason, for the Nazis limited progress during the 1920s.
1925-1929 is often considered to be the “golden era” of Weimar Germany's political history. During these four years Germany were at their most stable, both politically and economically, since the early part of the twentieth century. This, understandably, had a great effect on Hitler in his bid for power, as a major “weapon” in his arsenal was the exploitation of the Weimar Government. This can help to explain the limited progress he made in his bid for power in the years 1924-1928.
Germany’s period of restructure and development meant that political support for extremist parties such as the Nazis was deteriorating. This is because no such extreme solutions were needed; Germany had been accepted into the League of Nations, a new currency, the Rentenmark, was established and agreements made with, “The Big Three” meant Germany were entering a period of revival. Most of these were reliant on Gustav Stresemann, the foreign secretary.
Stresemann was a hardworking and honest politician who had the respect of many overseas political leaders. He used this respect to great effect and ensured the economic stability of the nation through the successful negotiation of the Dawes and Young plans. These limited the amount of reparations that Germany had to pay and used loans to stabilize a new Germany currency.
Sensible and progressive foreign policies enabled Germany to come out of the imposed isolation. Germany was finally allowed to become a member of the League of Nations in 1925 because of the Locarno treaties. This, along with the previously mentioned economic developments ensured that German self esteem was significantly improved, and many of the miseries of the early 1920's were forgotten as life, in general, was improving for the majority of Germans.
Nevertheless, Stresemann was not Hitler’s only problem. As well as not being helped by the current stability in Germany, the Nazi party failed to gain support from the other major political parties. The central parties were in support of the Weimar and the communists were never going to help the Nazis. This severely prevented them from widening their publicity and gaining any needed support from the German public. It also had an effect on the Nazis financially and limited funds also meant limited publicity and hence, limited progress.
In conclusion, I feel that during the period 1924-1928 the Nazis made little progression because of the stability of Germany through this time. Gustav Stresemann’s brilliance secured an unwavering Germany, who were in no need of any extremist solutions. The Nazis were not helped, of course, by the lack of support from other parties. Nonetheless, without the aid of Gustav Stresemann Germany would never have been as economically or politically sound, and Hitler would have been able to gain support through the exploitation of the Weimar Government. As it stood, however, he lost this advantage and Hitler’s propaganda “arsenal” was brutally weakened, resulting in unsteady and limited progress through the years 1924-1928.
PART (C)
The most important reason for the dramatic increase in support for Hitler in the years 1929 – 1933 was the economic depression in Germany.” Explain how far you agree with this statement.
Between the year’s 1929-1933 Hitler saw a rapid increase in the support and progress for the Nazi party. The reasons for this sudden success can be placed into one of two categories: The economic crisis, and The political crisis. Ironically enough, both crises were sparked by two significant events in October 1929.
On 3rd October, Gustav Stresemann died. “Germany had lost one of its most able politicians”1 and now had no-one to look to in a time of crisis. This was the start of a major political calamity in Germany.
After the resignation of Hermann Müller in 1929, Heinrich Brüning was appointed as Chancellor of Germany. He did not have a majority in the Reichstag and had to rely on President Hindenburg to get his measures adopted. For the next two years, the Reichstag met less and less often and Hitler used the incompetence of the government to gain support through exploitation.
Then, on 29th October the Wall Street Crash began in America. This meant that American banks (who lost money in the crash due to the dramatic fall in share prices) called in loans from Germany causing German industry to come to a stand-still, especially as the American market for their goods had now collapsed. So now, after a glimpse of hope that Germany may be on the way to recovery, it is sunk back into economic depression leaving Germany resurfacing their old resentment towards the Weimar Government. Germany was now looking towards more extremist solutions such as the Nazis and the Communists.
Hitler used the economic depression to his advantage, claiming his party, if in power, would turn the economy around getting the country back on its feet. Many people saw this radical change in power as an answer to the problem and began voting for Hitler.
With the economic depression, came unemployment. Figures rose from just under three million in 1929, to six million in 1932. Hitler promised to tackle unemployment, which obviously appealed to all those out of work and the assurance of a strong government attracted the support of many middle-class Germans who “remembered the difficulties of 1923.”2
Hitler was able to win over the German public due to his great public speaking abilities, and the help of Joseph Goebbels, who made effective use of propaganda.
Hitler was also very clever in turning Germany against the Weimar Government by using the Treaty of Versailles. The promise to reverse the treaty and restore Germany’s military strength appealed to nationalists and those who believed the ‘stab in the back’ theory about the end of the war. Most importantly, it won the support of the German armed forces.
Another major factor effecting Hitler’s rise to power was the failure of the left wing parties to combine against Hitler and his party. The lack of acting as one whole unit meant that Hitler had dozens of small left winged parties to compete with, all of which had very little power. If these had been combined then Hitler would have found a much greater challenge in dominating with his powers.
In addition, the Nazi Party was anti-communist. This appealed to all those who feared what communism might bring, but particularly industrialists, who feared a communist government would take over their businesses.
Another major cause for Hitler’s rise to power, and what I believe to be the “trigger”, was the neglecting attitude of conservative politicians such as Von Papen. They allowed Hitler to step into power believing they would be able to control him and keep him suppressed and tamed with his actions. Von Papen thought that if Hitler was chancellor, he would be easily manipulated into making von Papen’s decisions. However their blindness towards Hitler’s political power and their sheer ignorance, gave Hitler the position he had been working towards and without Von Papen’s stupidity I believe Hitler would not have made chancellor in such quick fashion.
Hitler’s character played a major role in his rise to power. His powerful dictator skills hit the right criteria mark for what people in Germany wanted in a political leader at the time.
To conclude, I believe that without the economic depression in Germany, due to the Wall Street crash in 1929, Hitler would not have gained the support he needed to become chancellor of Germany. I think that people in Germany were in a state of worry as the country was suffering the worst hardship it had probably ever seen. This, I think, lead people to believing the only answer was a radical change in the political system, which Hitler provided to a full. However, I do not feel that this reason is the most important.
This is because I feel that other parties would have also gained from this, as they would also had been able to exploit the current government and it is only due to Hitler’s excellent propaganda skills and ability to exploit the government that gave him the edge over his competitor parties.
Hitler was able to “use” a variety of aspects of German life, such as the resentment of the Treaty of Versailles, to make the German public back the Nazi party and hence, secure his position as Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
