How did Hitler Gain Support Up to 1933?
Adolf Hitler, the fascist dictator of Germany, has been placed among history’s most hated villains who led the deaths of millions in the Second World War. Simultaneously, he is viewed as the leader who led the Nazi party to victory and defeat, and brought the nationalist movement together. In today’s world, Hitler remains to be regarded as an enigmatic character. Indeed, Hitler’s rise of power after the First World War was a significant turning point of our history of mankind as a whole, and therefore, deserves to be questioned. After Germany’s defeat in the war (1914-18), a new constitution Weimar Republic was established in 1919, which was followed by three main periods. The first chaotic and anarchic period existed from 1919 to 1923, consisting of left/right wing rebellions and invasions and inflations. Those years encountered Hitler’s rise to power and his ability to be reflected as a strong leader to the German society. However, his support was not gained overnight. It was the result of his gift for mesmerizing the vast crowds with his frenzied speeches, his hatred towards the Treaty of Versailles and ‘inferior’ race who became Hitler’s scapegoat, thus providing an explanation to Germany’s problems.
Hitler
was a gifted public speaker who could collect the hopes and longings
of his audiences, then focus them with fascinating, vivid language. An
eyewitness account which captures the emotional appeal of
totalitarianism is as follows:“The speech is over. As it has proceeded
the voice has become higher, more staccato—hypnotizing as the rapid beat
of drumsticks on the tom-tom. The crowd is spellbound. As the speech
concludes a storm of cheers and ‘heils’ break out…”Although this account
comes from ten years after 1923, it does prove Hitler’s gift to
manipulate people’s mind through his exciting speeches. Sources describe
Hitler’s speech as slow and halting at the beginning, but which
gradually warms up when the spiritual atmosphere of the vast crowd is
engendered. Hitler waited for the feel of the audience, and as soon as
he founded it, the tempo increased until he shouted at the climax.
Through all this, the listener seemed to identify himself with Hitler’s
voice which became the voice of Germany. In fact, the outdoor
gatherings were held in huge sports stadiums, dramatically lit, and
accompanied by singing, torchlight processions and other emotionally
stirring features. They were often at night because as Goebbels,
Hitler’s best propagandist emphasized: “The beast in man comes out at
night.” There are no doubts in the view that Hitler possessed the
superior ability to address huge crowds in ways that excited them and
appealed to their emotions.
The
right wing Germans wanted to believe in the strong leader who vowed to
tear up the Versailles treaty and end Germany’s reparation. The
financial struggle begot from the inflation during 1922-23 was
devastating and families faced great hardships. Germany’s economies
were in ruins, but they were expected to pay 132 million marks of
reparations to the victorious Allies. The Weimar government had to
borrow a huge amount of money from other nations and the government’s
eventual decision to print out paper money exacerbated the situation.
This incident completely shattered the confidence of the Germans. In
result, people were willing to listen to a leader with extreme ideas
who promised a better quality of life and rescue them from the
suffering that started as the Treaty of Versailles was signed against
their wills in June 1919. The Germans felt strong anger toward the
treaty itself and to the leaders who agreed to the terms, referred as
the “November criminals” by the non-communists. Through overturning the
Treaty of Versailles, the Germans believed their lives would improve
by subsequently retrieving the lost territories and rebuilding the
army, getting self determination and being absolved from the
responsibility of the huge amount of reparation, which was the primary
cause of the economic down crash prior to the formation of Dawes Plan
in 1924 that eased German reparation payments. Therefore, many
supported Hitler for his hatred towards the Treaty of Versailles, and
sure enough, they expressed fresh enthusiasm for a leader who was
attempting to restore German honour.
Hitler’s
gain of support until 1923 also resulted from the hatred towards the
Jews and the Weimar Republic. He believed in the creation of a racially
pure German state would benefit the nation and provide more Lebensraum
for the Aryan race . Whether Hitler really wanted racial cleansing or
used it as a mere tool of gaining support is controversial. However, it
is to a large extent true that many of the Germans approved of such
racism. Although Hitler used the Jews and other sections of society,
such as the communists and the Weimar republic as scapegoats, blaming
all the problems on them, to Germans at the time Hitler made sense, thus
he united everyone by providing explanations for Germany’s problem.
During such a chaotic period from 1919-1923, Hitler confidently pointed
out all the factors that seemed to be contributing to the hardships of
people’s lives which gave his supporters hope for recovery through
eliminating the weaknesses of the nation.
However,
from certain respects, it is doubtful whether Hitler even gained much
support up to 1923. If he did, then why did Hitler not come to power in
1923 but succeeded in 1933? Reasons may vary. In 1923, Hitler’s Party
was newly formed and his supporters were numbered relatively small.
During this period his Party was not a major force in national politics,
and the problems facing those who supported democratic government in
1923 were not nearly as great as those facing Germany in 1933. Finally,
in 1923, the President did not invite Hitler to become Chancellor like
in 1933. Nevertheless, as to the question on how Hitler gained support
up to 1923, there may be a number of possible answers. Most
importantly, he enthralled his audience through delivering his
speeches, and people had common hatred with Hitler towards the Treaty
of Versailles, the Weimar Republic and the Jews for they all wanted an
explanation for Germany’s problems and had sought a solution to their
own despairs.
Why Did Hitler and the Nazi Party Lose Support from 1924-1929?
Anton
Drexler’s establishment of the National Socialist German Worker’s
Party in 1920, brought about the rise of Adolf Hitler who led the most
significant German political party of the twentieth century. By famous
historians such as Alan Bullock, the Nazi Party is regarded as an
organized conspiracy against the State which pursued power and position,
for the sole object was to secure power by one means or another.
Therefore, it may be misunderstood that Hitler and his Party gained
considerable support, thereby controlled the Weimar Republic from its
creation until the end of World War ||. There is a large degree of truth
that Hitler gained support from 1919 to 1923, when the Weimar was
surviving a series of severe crises consisted of inflation (1923),
invasion of the Ruhr (1924) by the Allied powers, and left/right wing
rebellions (1919-23) within the nation. Hitler promised people better
lives and sought solutions to the German problems through targeting the
scapegoats. Moreover, in 1933, Hitler eventually was given power by
Hindenburg as the steep decline of the German economy renewed
instability to democracy. However, 1924-1929 indeed have been the years
of declining for the Nazi Party in which they lost power due to several
varying reasons, such as the Golden Years led by the German foreign
minister Gustav Stresemann, and the disorganized Nazi Party as a
consequence of the leaders that were arrested after the failure of the
Munich Beer Hall Putsch, including Hitler becoming banned from speaking
publicly until 1928.
One major reason for the greatly weakening Nazi Party in the mid-20s was due to the prosperity of the Stresemann years, as he brought about the era of calm and serenity where economic recovery and political stability was achieved to a large extent. As the following examples prove, Weimar Germany 1924-9 was undergoing a renaissance. Under Stresemann’s policies, recovery was helped by the adoption of the Dawes Plan in 1924, which allowed Germany to extend the period over which reparations had to be paid, and stimulated a large loan from Wall Street that helped Germany to keep up with its payments. At the same time Stresemann took drastic measures to end inflation and restore German currency. This clearly affected the Nazi Party, for the hyperinflation of 1923 had been ruining the middle class and Hitler saw this crisis as an opportunity too good to miss as a tool for gaining power. Stresemann withdrew oldmarks from circulating and replaced by new rentenmarks, which gave people more confidence and enabled a temporary economic recovery. Furthermore, the French occupation of the Ruhr was ended in 1925 and the Locarno Treaty created a greater sense of security in Europe as it guaranteed the inviolability of the shared German, French, and Belgian borders. Even one of the most important steps in Germany’s return to full freedom was achieved, which was the admission to the League of Nations in September 1926. In result, the German industry had survived the galloping inflation reasonably and Germany was able to make its reparations payments to the powers of the Entente; they repaid their war debts to the US, and from there the money flowed back to Germany in the form of loans. This effective system revived the German economy with unusual speed from 1924 to 1929, and German production increased in volume by 50 percent, and many industries were able to regain their dominant position in world markets. Apparently, in the middle 1920s Germany regained her pre-war standard of living, although the real strength of the German recovery is, however, still controversial, for political and economic weaknesses continued. It has been stated in The Rise and Fall of Third Reich (1959) by William Shirer, an American journalist who lived in Germany from 1926 to 1941:“Support for the Nazi Party had grown due to the country’s problems of hyperinflation and the French invasion of the Ruhr. By 1928 Nazism appeared to be a dying cause. Now that Germany’s outlook was suddenly bright, the Nazi Party was rapidly withering away. One scarcely heard of Hitler or the Nazis except as a joke.”As this statement implies, the Gold Age of the Reichstag meant that the Nazi’s message became less appealing and the party lost support for the Nazi Party’s ideologies were too extreme and was mostly based on expressing German hatred toward the Treaty of Versailles, the current status of Germany and the ‘inferior’ race, to gain support. However, the happier the Germans felt toward the economic prosperity brought by Stresemann’s policies, the greater they became uninterested in extremists politics. In result, the extremist party did badly at the elections.
In three elections held between 1924-9 their representation in the Reichstag was very low compared to other parties and was politically very weak. Thus, it remained the smallest Party in the Reichstag up to 1928. As unemployment fell and Germany was changing radically for the better, people were less discontented, and this resulted on the decline in support for the extreme right and the extreme left, also due to people’s lack of interest in the views of those who desired to overthrow the prosperous Weimar regime. On the other hand, the relative stability coincided with the increase in support for the Social Democratic Party which gradually regrouped and played the leader of the opposition lending its support to Stresemann’s policies, which the Nazi Party detested.
The failure of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch weakened Hitler and withered his Party due to the many leaders being arrested and sentenced to jail, as well as Hitler being banned from speaking publicly until the end of 1920s. During Hitler’s years in prison turning the energies to writing his autobiography Mein Kampf, the Nazi Party had broken up almost completely. The end of 1923 and 1924 had been followed by the arrest or flight of the leaders from the Party. For example, the Nazi commander-in-chief Hermann Goring remained abroad until 1927, Hitler’s chief advisor Scheubner-Richter had been killed, and Dietrich Eckart, a journalist who was a key early member in the Nazi died at the end of 1923 due to illness. Furthermore, what disabled Hitler from gaining back support was the banning from speaking publicly until 1928, which was caused by the two new objectives set by Hitler in 1925 when he was released from prison. Hitler’s new policies alarmed the authorities especially on legality which they viewed as hostility towards the Republic with the purpose of overthrowing the government. Thereby, Hitler was immediately prohibited from speaking in public, first in Bavaria until May 1927, and soon this prohibition extended to other German states as well which lasted until 1928. Sure enough, this was a severe handicap for a leader whose greatest asset was his ability as a speaker. Some may argue that the ban on his public speaking allowed Hitler to turn more to writing between 1925 and 1928, and therefore cannot be counted as the major reason to why Hitler and his Party had lost power. However, although during these years Hitler wrote the first (1925) and second volume of his autobiography Mein Kampf, the book was filled with pages of turgid discussion of Hitler’s ideas, written in a verbose style which was both difficult and dull to read, to the extent that Max Amann, who was to publish the book, was deeply disappointed. According to one of Britain’s most distinguished scholars, Alan Bullock, Mein Kamf was an interesting book for anyone trying to understand Hitler’s mind, but as a party tract or a political best-seller it was a failure because only a few, even among the party members had the patience to read due to his thwarted intellectual ambition, the desire to make people to take him seriously as an original thinker and the use of long words and constant repetitions. In fact, the book sold 9,473 copies the year it was published, but sales went down from 6,913 in 1926 to 3,015 in 1928, which shows how the Germans were getting uninterested in his extreme policies. However, in the year that set an end to the Golden Age when the Germans needed answers to their problems encountered again, the sales more than doubled and shot up to 50,000 in 1930 and 1931. By 1940, six million copies had been sold. This proves how Hitler was ignored by people in the mid-20s due to his lack of communication and unstable Party, but gained support almost immediately as the Great Depression started as people were in need of solutions to their struggles.
For Hitler and his Nazi Party, 1924 to 1929 had been the years of decline and reorganizing for the rise of power. During this period of economic recovery and political stability, the extreme right wing Party had been losing support due to the bright vision of future Germany and the ineffectiveness of the Party itself. They were eventually saved by the Wall Street Crash of October 1929, the event which was crucial to the Nazis as higher levels of unemployment was gradually emerging as a problem and people were unhappy with their living standards. The world-wide slump and the decline of the German economy, though not a sufficient explanation, was certainly an essential precondition for the ‘Nazified’ Germany. In our world today, the rise of the Nazis is regarded inevitable; however, regardless of the fundamental flaws of the Reichstag, the period of Golden Age for the Weimar Republic suggested the possibility of preventing the world’s greatest tragedy from occurring to a certain extent.
One major reason for the greatly weakening Nazi Party in the mid-20s was due to the prosperity of the Stresemann years, as he brought about the era of calm and serenity where economic recovery and political stability was achieved to a large extent. As the following examples prove, Weimar Germany 1924-9 was undergoing a renaissance. Under Stresemann’s policies, recovery was helped by the adoption of the Dawes Plan in 1924, which allowed Germany to extend the period over which reparations had to be paid, and stimulated a large loan from Wall Street that helped Germany to keep up with its payments. At the same time Stresemann took drastic measures to end inflation and restore German currency. This clearly affected the Nazi Party, for the hyperinflation of 1923 had been ruining the middle class and Hitler saw this crisis as an opportunity too good to miss as a tool for gaining power. Stresemann withdrew oldmarks from circulating and replaced by new rentenmarks, which gave people more confidence and enabled a temporary economic recovery. Furthermore, the French occupation of the Ruhr was ended in 1925 and the Locarno Treaty created a greater sense of security in Europe as it guaranteed the inviolability of the shared German, French, and Belgian borders. Even one of the most important steps in Germany’s return to full freedom was achieved, which was the admission to the League of Nations in September 1926. In result, the German industry had survived the galloping inflation reasonably and Germany was able to make its reparations payments to the powers of the Entente; they repaid their war debts to the US, and from there the money flowed back to Germany in the form of loans. This effective system revived the German economy with unusual speed from 1924 to 1929, and German production increased in volume by 50 percent, and many industries were able to regain their dominant position in world markets. Apparently, in the middle 1920s Germany regained her pre-war standard of living, although the real strength of the German recovery is, however, still controversial, for political and economic weaknesses continued. It has been stated in The Rise and Fall of Third Reich (1959) by William Shirer, an American journalist who lived in Germany from 1926 to 1941:“Support for the Nazi Party had grown due to the country’s problems of hyperinflation and the French invasion of the Ruhr. By 1928 Nazism appeared to be a dying cause. Now that Germany’s outlook was suddenly bright, the Nazi Party was rapidly withering away. One scarcely heard of Hitler or the Nazis except as a joke.”As this statement implies, the Gold Age of the Reichstag meant that the Nazi’s message became less appealing and the party lost support for the Nazi Party’s ideologies were too extreme and was mostly based on expressing German hatred toward the Treaty of Versailles, the current status of Germany and the ‘inferior’ race, to gain support. However, the happier the Germans felt toward the economic prosperity brought by Stresemann’s policies, the greater they became uninterested in extremists politics. In result, the extremist party did badly at the elections.
In three elections held between 1924-9 their representation in the Reichstag was very low compared to other parties and was politically very weak. Thus, it remained the smallest Party in the Reichstag up to 1928. As unemployment fell and Germany was changing radically for the better, people were less discontented, and this resulted on the decline in support for the extreme right and the extreme left, also due to people’s lack of interest in the views of those who desired to overthrow the prosperous Weimar regime. On the other hand, the relative stability coincided with the increase in support for the Social Democratic Party which gradually regrouped and played the leader of the opposition lending its support to Stresemann’s policies, which the Nazi Party detested.
The failure of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch weakened Hitler and withered his Party due to the many leaders being arrested and sentenced to jail, as well as Hitler being banned from speaking publicly until the end of 1920s. During Hitler’s years in prison turning the energies to writing his autobiography Mein Kampf, the Nazi Party had broken up almost completely. The end of 1923 and 1924 had been followed by the arrest or flight of the leaders from the Party. For example, the Nazi commander-in-chief Hermann Goring remained abroad until 1927, Hitler’s chief advisor Scheubner-Richter had been killed, and Dietrich Eckart, a journalist who was a key early member in the Nazi died at the end of 1923 due to illness. Furthermore, what disabled Hitler from gaining back support was the banning from speaking publicly until 1928, which was caused by the two new objectives set by Hitler in 1925 when he was released from prison. Hitler’s new policies alarmed the authorities especially on legality which they viewed as hostility towards the Republic with the purpose of overthrowing the government. Thereby, Hitler was immediately prohibited from speaking in public, first in Bavaria until May 1927, and soon this prohibition extended to other German states as well which lasted until 1928. Sure enough, this was a severe handicap for a leader whose greatest asset was his ability as a speaker. Some may argue that the ban on his public speaking allowed Hitler to turn more to writing between 1925 and 1928, and therefore cannot be counted as the major reason to why Hitler and his Party had lost power. However, although during these years Hitler wrote the first (1925) and second volume of his autobiography Mein Kampf, the book was filled with pages of turgid discussion of Hitler’s ideas, written in a verbose style which was both difficult and dull to read, to the extent that Max Amann, who was to publish the book, was deeply disappointed. According to one of Britain’s most distinguished scholars, Alan Bullock, Mein Kamf was an interesting book for anyone trying to understand Hitler’s mind, but as a party tract or a political best-seller it was a failure because only a few, even among the party members had the patience to read due to his thwarted intellectual ambition, the desire to make people to take him seriously as an original thinker and the use of long words and constant repetitions. In fact, the book sold 9,473 copies the year it was published, but sales went down from 6,913 in 1926 to 3,015 in 1928, which shows how the Germans were getting uninterested in his extreme policies. However, in the year that set an end to the Golden Age when the Germans needed answers to their problems encountered again, the sales more than doubled and shot up to 50,000 in 1930 and 1931. By 1940, six million copies had been sold. This proves how Hitler was ignored by people in the mid-20s due to his lack of communication and unstable Party, but gained support almost immediately as the Great Depression started as people were in need of solutions to their struggles.
For Hitler and his Nazi Party, 1924 to 1929 had been the years of decline and reorganizing for the rise of power. During this period of economic recovery and political stability, the extreme right wing Party had been losing support due to the bright vision of future Germany and the ineffectiveness of the Party itself. They were eventually saved by the Wall Street Crash of October 1929, the event which was crucial to the Nazis as higher levels of unemployment was gradually emerging as a problem and people were unhappy with their living standards. The world-wide slump and the decline of the German economy, though not a sufficient explanation, was certainly an essential precondition for the ‘Nazified’ Germany. In our world today, the rise of the Nazis is regarded inevitable; however, regardless of the fundamental flaws of the Reichstag, the period of Golden Age for the Weimar Republic suggested the possibility of preventing the world’s greatest tragedy from occurring to a certain extent.
Why was Hitler Appointed Chancellor in 1933?
“How fortunate for governments that the people they
administer don’t think.”
- Adolf Hitler
Perhaps
the most qualified to answer the question of why Hitler was appointed
Chancellor on the 30th of January, 1933 would be the man himself, as Hitler
stated. it was a result of the German Reichstag’s failure to think, and their
miscalculations in which they believed they could control him when they decided
to ‘job him into office’ that
truly resulted in his rise to power. To be able to attempt and succeed to
answer this question one must understand the intricacies and inner-workings of
the country at the time, to look at the political, social and economic
situation that the populus faced and to attempt to understand the appearance
and power that the dictator had that resulted in him convincing a nation of
people to follow him.
To
attempt to provide an answer to this question one must acknowledge and
distinguish the difference between luck, situation and tactical action; that is
to say one must recognise that the 19th century ‘Great Man Theory’ has partial
validity however people are just as much a product of their environment. To
analyse this all a person studying the matter must do is look at the percentage
of the votes that the NSDAP received in the years leading up to 1933. Following
Hitler’s early release from imprisonment due to his involvement in organising
the Munich Beer Hall putsch on the 8th of November 1923, the National Socialist
party was reformed with Hitler as its undisputed leader. With this reform the
nazi party ‘declared to have given up all militaristic endeavors’ and were
instead purely political with the SA and the SS being ‘support groups’. Thus on
December 7th, 1924 the NSDAP took part in the German Federal Election, the
results were an abysmal 3%, the following elections in 1928 the support dropped
to 2.6%. Thus the idea of the ‘Great Man Theory’ which would suggest the
NSDAP’s success in ‘33 to be solely attributable to Hitler is debunked.
Therefore the question must be asked what changed between 1928 and 1930 where
the percentage that supported the nazi party rose by an exceptional amount to
18%. As 20th century historian, A.J.P. Taylor said, “The Depression put the
wind in Hitler’s Sails”.
The
Great Depression of 1929, effects felt world-wide but most known for the impact
on the U.S. has been argued to be the main contributing factor that resulted in
the German people voting for the NSDAP; to understand this one must develop a
comprehension of the economic dynamic that existed between Germany and the
United States at the time. Following the end of WWI and the events that
unfurled proceeding it, the belligerents were in the process of attempting to
collect reparations, mainly from Germany as stated by clause 232 of the Treaty
of Versailles. However the German government was newly reformed and thus a
dilemma was formed of being able to pay off reparations while furthering the
countries industry and paying salaries in the Ruhr to not work so as to strike
against the French invaders. Therefore in a complicated and somewhat backward
attempt to retrieve debts from the United Kingdom and France, an economist and
banker in the US by the name of Charles G. Dawes headed a committee that
produced the Dawes Plan; the plan decided that Germany’s annual payments were
to be reduced and the US would lend money to the German people to rebuild the
industry so that in turn Germany could return reparations to the other allied
powers who would be able to fulfill their debts to the US. Because of this
Germany reached a golden point where their economy seemed to flourish and
people felt a much lower need for change resulting in lower votes for the more
extreme parties. However when, in 1929, the Great Depression hit the US, the
country was forced to call back its loans resulting in Germany having more debt
over a shorter period than before. The economy started to weaken and the people
began to feel the need for change grow.
The
events of 1929 might lead a person to claim that Hitler was indeed a product of
his surroundings and the luck of the situation resulted in people choosing the
extremist parties in a desperate reach for change, despite the fact that this
statement does hold a certain amount of ground it should be taken into
consideration that the NSDAP’s approach to campaigning changed with the times.
Hitler reacted to the people; the target audience was changed from angry
veterans, bitter about the loss of the war, instead he appealed to the broader
people. He used his ability to move people with his sheer emotion and power of
his voice in his speeches; the 1932 campaign was famous for the posters that were
labelled Die Führer uber Deutschland; the
NSDAP focused their campaign on specific towns and cities, Hitler travelled by
aeroplane, something unheard of at the time, to as many as 5 cities a day. And
by the 1932 July elections it seemed to be working, the NSDAP received an
astonishing 37%, incredibly high considering the amount of parties but not
enough for a majority and the party was known for lack of tolerance resulting
in a refusal to create a coalition. The re-vote in November showed a drop of 4%
to 34%, it seemed that the nazis had their chance and missed it.
Therefore
the question is reinstated, why was Hitler able to become chancellor when it
seemed as if the NSDAP was over; the issue lies with the Reichstag’s
miscalculations. In 1932 the German military was still limited to 100,000
soldiers as stipulated by the Treaty of Versailles and using this and the
police force they had to keep peace within their country and defend their
borders. For almost a decade extremists from boths wings caused strife and
created conflict, the far left with the KPD and the far right with the NSDAP.
In the year leading up to 1932 the SA were often viewed as useful by the German
Government as they were a deterrent to the Communists however Bruening
recognised the growing strength and decided to ban the organisation. The next
year Bruening was removed from office and replaced with Franz Von Papen, a
known nazi sympathiser who removed the ban; the next few weeks saw open warfare
between the two wings where 86 people were killed. As the NSDAP’s votes
increased so did the members of the SS and the SA, the members of the German
government started to recognise the dilemma of defending the borders and the
interior and came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to do both with
the workforce, so in assuming that Hitler was broken as indicated by the
lowering votes Hindenburg instated him as Chancellor on the 10th of January
1933, with the full intent that they would be able to control the 3 nazis in
the office with the 7 of them, a miscalculation on their part with their
underestimating of Hitler’s personality, his rise being both a combination of
fortunate events for him and his own initiative.
How
did Hitler come to power in 1933?
Historical professor Joseph W.
Bendersky wrote, “Hitler came to power through persistent and calculated
opportunism”. This claim can be argued, as his more disastrous attempts at
power (such as the Munich Beer hall Putsch) can hardly be considered thoroughly
“calculated” or masterfully crafted. There are, however, a variety of reasons
to believe professor Bendersky, as a wide range of events, crisis and
opportunities arose and presented themselves for Hitler to exploit. Chris Read implied
that Adolf Hitler was “clumsily found himself in office”, however one does not
so easily stumble into a position of dictatorship over Germany after the Nazi
party received some of its most humiliating and feverish resistance in the
years prior to 1933. This essay will seek to shed light on how events such as
an the Great Depression, Nationalism, and shear political influence allowed him
to rise from a corporal in the first World War to dictator in 1933.
AJP Taylor said that the “depression
put the wind in Hitler’s sails”. What this means is that because the United
States had invested large sums of money in Germany through the Dawes plan in
April of 1924, the Wall Street crash of 1929 saw the US recall its loan from
Germany, further crippling the already impoverish and exhausted country
economically. Hitler chose to take advantage of this through the promise of
rebuilding Germany and restoring it to its previous economic stability of
pre-World War I. Naturally, this attracted the support of many German workers
and evidence to show the support is present in the statistics of the pre-crash
Nazi vote compared to the post war vote. Nearly 7 million Germans voted for the
Nazi party in 1930, whereas only 800,000 voted for them just two years prior in
1928. It’s commonly said that when the United States sneezes, the rest of the
world catches a cold. And while this rang true economically in the 1930’s,
politically it created a tempting window of opportunity for Hitler to exploit
the vulnerability and panic of the German volk, consequentially leading to his
rise to power in 1933.
Richard J Evans wrote that Hitler’s
appeal to nationalism, the most prominent ideology in fascism, lead to a
natural attraction from the German people to his cause. The Ruhr crisis from
1922-24 lead to an increase for German discontent for foreigners. The distrust
that the occupation by the French in the Ruhr led to allowed for Hitler to
press his view that the Germany was being extorted and taken advantage of
unfairly on the basis of what he considered the unjust consequences laid upon
Germany through the war guilt clause of the Versailles Treaty. The volk largely
shared similar viewpoints, and Hitler’s added distrust for Jews and the left
wing proved ever more favourable with farmers as well as white-collar working
Germans. The various economic, political and constitutional changes thrust upon
Germany created a confusion of the nations identity. Hitler sought to ratify
that by uniting the Volk under a right wing extremist view, with an enormously
powerful emphasis on nationalism and the importance of being a united people.
While few made remarks about Adolf as being “cold” and “disconnected”, his
popularity with the defeated but passionate people was heavily fostered by his
speeches in which he charismatically captivated his audiences with nationalist
view points and fascist ideology.
Alan Bullock argues that Hitler was
“jobbed into office”, and this point holds merit in that one can clearly
witness how when the Nazi’s were elected as the majority party in July of 1932
of the Reichstag, Paul von Hindenburg (the then president) attempted to
side-line Adolf. The strategy was to position Hitler in a largely ceremonial
and frankly disempowering place within the presidential cabinet. Nevertheless,
he had to make a compromise to the National Socialists, as they at the time had
the largest percentage of popular support. Hindenburg’s death in August 1934
saw Hitler quickly assume dictatorial power over Germany, largely thanks to the
manipulative influence that his party had over the German people. Historian
Steve Smith argued that had it not been for the growing amounts of Germans in
support of Nazi ideology, Hindenburg would never have had to appoint Hitler as
chancellor. This however can be argued, as some may suggest Hitler’s previous
relations with von Hindenburg (notably their collaboration in the Munich Beer
hall Putsch), as well as their similar rightwing ideologies, meant that Adolf
was naturally favoured to be appointed chancellor by Hindenburg, and he was
simply able to out manipulate his path to the position in such a fashion that
his successors (von Schleicher and von Papen) were not able to do.
While there is clearly not one sole
event or cause that led to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, it can be said for
certain that he would not have stopped at a ceremonial and meaningless cabinet
position in von Hindenburg’s administration. A young American lawyer in 1826
said it best, when he spoke to a Men’s Lyceum in Illinois, on the subject of
political malpractice. “Some men could not be satisfied with a gubernatorial
seat,” said Abraham Lincoln. “Think you those chairs would satisfy a Caesar,
and Alexander, a Napoleon?”
How and why was Hitler able to become Chancellor of Germany?
"The
[Nazi party] should not become a constable of public opinion, but must
dominate it. It must not become a servant of the masses, but their
master!"- Adolf Hitler. This was the view from a man who under other
circumstances, would have made a brief appearance in the annals of
history and then be forgotten forever. Instead, he became the dictator
of an entire nation, and then became the sole reason for the deaths of
at least 6 million innocents. As the head of the Nationalist Socialist
German Worker's Party, Hitler was an ambitious man whose sole purpose
was to become head of Germany. However, at the peak of his support, he
only had 44% of support in the Reichstag--never even a majority. In
fact, the year before he took chancellorship, the Nazi Party was
experiencing a dramatic fall in the number of seats in the Reichstag.
The eternal question remains; how did Hitler come to power if his party
never even had majority support? Hitler's appointment to
chancellorship on January 30th of 1933 was the culmination of a series
of events that led Hindenburg to appoint him chancellor--the effects of
the economic depression, his appeal to the people and to the Reichstag,
the growing power he was wielding through terror, and the
miscalculation and ineffective plotting of others.
The
Great Depression because of the Wall Street Crash in October 1929 had a
terrible effect on Weimar Germany--because of the horrible conditions,
Hitler's support gained momentum, making him a viable contender in the
eyes of those that mattered. The German economy collapsed after the US
withdrew its loans from the banks of Weimar Germany, and soon,
unemployment was rampant. In 1928, before the Depression, unemployment
levels were at 2 million people, or 8 percent of the population.
However, only 3 years after the advent of the Depression, 1932,
unemployment was at 6 million people, or about 29.9 percent of the
population. This shows the rapid decline of conditions in the Weimar
Republic. Because of their situation, the people turned toward Hitler,
who seemed to them to be a beacon of change and an end to the democracy
the public hated so much. As two chancellors had been appointed by
1932, von Papen and Schleicher, and neither had done much to combat the
growing numbers of unemployment, the public was more than ready for a
change in leadership, and hoped it to be Hitler. He presented himself
as the salvation for the German people, and the German people accepted
that illusion. It is extremely significant to note that the people were
not the ones that elected Hitler into chancellorship--rather it was
the President at the time. However, Hitler's support from the people
was nevertheless a factor in his rise to power, as President Hindenburg
noted that Hitler's popularity with the public would spill over into
support for him if Hindenburg displayed to the people that he was taking
Hitler under his wing.
Hitler's
personal decisions and powers also helped him gain the
chancellorship--once Hindenburg saw the public's and the Reichstag's
attraction to him, Hitler became a contender for Hindenburg. His
speeches and oratorical powers of persuasion and convincing were
legendary in the political circles, and Hindenburg and his aides took
note of his influence in speech-making as well. He was aware of the
people's problems and what they craved to hear, and how best to craft
his policies and present them so as to have the maximum effect upon his
audience. It must be taken into account that in 1928, the Nazis held a
mere 2.6 percent of the vote in the Reichstag, but because of their
merging with other parties in the following years, the Nazis were
brought into a socially influential right-wing coalition, as a result
making connections with wealthy financial backers. His propaganda was
also a great factor in his growing influence in the political sphere.
His Nazi propagandist Jospeh Goebbels began an intensive media campaign
that continued to focus on the points that Hitler was pushing in his
25-point plan: eradication of the Jews because of their usurping of jobs
and money, and Germans over all. Through their intense campaigning,
the entire public spectrum was appealed to, and this made Hitler a
strong presence in the political field, in terms of public support.
This public support also helped him gain votes in the Reichstag, even
though he never had a majority in it, he still had a substantial
percentage--44% in 1932. He especially had the support of the
right-wing conservative members in the Reichstag. All these factors
made Hindenburg realize Hitler's influence with the Reichstag,
specifically with the anti-democratic right-wingers, and contemplate
his value. Hitler's personal decisions and powers such as his
oratorical gifts, his use of propaganda, and his reformation of the
party all served for Hindenburg to take note of Hitler's expanding
political presence.
Hitler's
path to chancellorship was also marked by his use of terror to achieve
his aims, and the President's decision to fight that. At the creation
of the Treaty of Versailles, one of the conditions placed upon Germany
was the limitation of the Weimar Republic's army to that of 100,000
men, a miniscule military. As Hitler expanded his Party, he created
sub-organizations such as the SA, SS, and the Gestapo. He called them
his bodyguards, his stormtroopers, and his secret police, but in reality
they served him as his own private army. Hitler used his army to
strike terror into the hearts of his opponents--he sent them out to
carry out ruthless killings of opponents. In total, his personal
military numbered at around 2 million men, more than twenty times
greater in numbers than the official governmental military.
Furthermore, because of Hitler's financial support, arming his men was
possible. In short, Hitler had a massive, fully-armed military at his
disposal. If Hitler were to create trouble with his SS and SA, the
official military did not have enough power to suppress it.
Additionally, Hitler's army would be extremely effective in crushing
Communist revolt, especially if in collaboration with the governmental
army. President Hindenburg was able to see that if Hitler were to start
a revolution with his men, there would be chaos and terror presiding
over all. With this in mind, Hindenburg realized that if Hitler were in
the chancellor position, his army would be under control and even more
effective when crushing the Communists, who Hindenburg despised.
Because of Hitler's use of terror and force to advocate his party, the
President came to realize Hitler's use in the chancellorship position.
As
Hindenburg closely watched Hitler's political movements and saw his
usefulness if appropriately harnessed, he collaborated with his aides
to plan a method to control Hitler, which was the reason for his final
appointment to chancellorship. Von Papen was the chancellor in 1932,
but the Reichstag gave him next to no support when he tried to pass
legislation. He had the support of Hindenburg, however had no rapport
with the parliament. Therefore, General Schleicher, a fervent
anti-republican, convinced Hindenburg to dismiss Papen. In December of
1932, Schleicher formed a new government, but lost Hindenburg's support
within a month. Finally, the decision came to offer the position of
chancellorship to Hitler. This was the culmination of Hindenburg's
tracking of Hitler, and his ulterior motives to giving Hitler the
chancellorship were numerous. Firstly, he had noted Hitler's popularity
with the people, and had noticed that this popularity had given him
significant influence within the Reichstag. Even though Hitler did not
have majority support in the parliament, the support he did have was
much weightier than that of the two previous chancellors. Secondly,
Hindenburg considered Hitler's power over his multitudinous army, the
SS and the SA. If Hitler were to initiate a revolution with his
military at the head, Hindenburg would be powerless to stop it. He then
realized that if he brought Hitler on his side, he could "tame" him by
providing him with governmental responsibility, and in doing so,
Hitler's popularity in the Reichstag would transfer to him.
Furthermore, if Hitler were harnessed, his army could be utilized to
combat Communist uprisings, and there would be no danger of Hitler
using the SA and SS against the government itself. Von Papen and
Hindenburg listed these apparent benefits in giving the chancellorship
to Hitler, and therein lies the truth to Hitler's ascent to power. Most
importantly, Hitler did not take power per se, but was handed it by
others in authority. Nevertheless, certain factors such as his
popularity and his terrorizing helped him into power, but overall Von
Papen and Hindenburg provided Hitler with the chancellorship--through
their plotting and miscalculation.
A
series of unfortunate events paved the way for Hitler's eventual
takeover of the Weimar Republic, leading to genocide and war of the
worst kind. Had Hitler never taken the chancellor's position, it is
likely that he would have briefly made his mark in history and melted
back into the shadows of time. However, due to the terrible effects of
the Great Depression, his personal powers in attracting popularity with
the public and in the Reichstag, his manipulation of the political
world through terror, and scheming of others, Hitler was made
chancellor of the Weimar Republic. Through the underestimation of him
of unwise authorities, the entire course of history was changed
forever. "Adolf Hitler was one of the most influential historical figures of the 20th century” [1]as written in John Toland’s biography of Adolf Hitler. He was an extremely nationalistic rightist who wanted Germany under his leadership to become a militaristic state. His craving
As Hitler stated, “we have already set a target, and for this struggle we will fight, until the death!”[3]
This goal was Hitler accomplished in 1933 when he became Chancellor.
Hitler was released from Landsburg Prison on 20 December, 1924.[4] On the 16th of February 1925 the ban on the Nazi Party was lifted as he promised to achieve power without violence.[5]
But he was not allowed to speak publicly until 1928. By 1928 the Nazi
Party only had 12 seats in the Reichstag. However by November 1933 they
were the dominant party in the Reichstag with 196 seats. Over the
course of 5 years he was able to revive the Nazi Party and bring it
into power. But above all, we should ask how this was possible.?
Hitler had the ability to emotionally stimulate masses of population
with his remarkable speeches and influence people into completely loving
him. he wrote in Mein Kampf, Hitler raised the emotional level of people to the point that they cheered insanely. “…In ever greater spontaneous outbursts” as he put it[6], and when
his speech was coming to the end. Someone in the audience started to
sing the national anthem and everyone followed. Hitler wrote, “Did the
audience find its relaxing conclusion…”[7] Another example would be Ernst Hanfstaengl’s wife and Goebbels complete admiration of him. As we can see in “Rise of Evil”,[8] both of these people fell in
love with Hitler and as written in Goebbels diary, this is confirmed.
“I Love him. The social question. A completely new insight…I bow to the
greater man, to the political genius,”[9] from this extraction from
one of his journal entries we can notice how much Goebbels worships
Hitler. This not only tells us how persuasive Hitler was, but how
emotionally moving, charismatic and manipulative his speeches must have
been. This was but one of his personal attributes which allowed him to
stand out among many German Party spokespersons. Apart from being a
magnet to the many German people who attended his speeches, another
character which made him stand aloof from other politicians would be his
attitude and strong beliefs. As Hitler stated in the Rise of Evil
after his return from Landsburg prison: “There are only two possible
out comes, either we cross over the enemy’s body, or there cross over
ours…But I will not fail….” From this extraction we see how audacious a
person Hitler was to an extant he confirmed to his party that they will
not fail. Better proof of this would be his turning down of
Hindenburg’s offer of Vice-Chancellorship; he was determined. “The
chess game for power begins,” Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary. “The
chief thing is that we remain strong and make no compromises.”[10]
This was the exact attitude Hitler had towards everything thrown
against him. However, Hitler’s personal qualities were not the only
factor which encouraged the German people to vote for him. We should
also take into consideration the political background of Germany at the
time. In fact we could start right from the creation of Weimar Germany.
As A.J.P Taylor said: “Weimar Germany was doomed from the start.[11]”
This was very true and in fact William Shirer shared a very similar
approach as he wrote in “The Rise and fall of the Third Reich suggesting that
Germany had no democratic tradition and many parties were against the
creation of a Democracy. These people were generally old monarchists,
the army, the industrialists, the nationalists and many other
conservative parties. In fact there were many parties in the far left
and rightwing that constantly tried to overthrow it. In addition, the
constitution was corrupt as the Reichstag consisted of 600
representatives and by 1930 there were no less than 28 parties competing
for election. With many parties existing, compromise was
impracticable. This meant that there were always elections and that the
political status of Germany was astoundingly unstable. This also made
it very easy for Hitler to manipulate the Reichstag because his Nazi
party held 196 seats in November, 1932 making them the biggest party. [12]As shown in Rise of Evil, his party was leaving the Reich
Hitler never had more than 37 percent of support from honest
elections, whereby the opposition stood strongly with 63 percent
support.[17] So if at the time, Germany was truly democratic, why was Hitler able to become Chancellor in 1933? First of all, Tthe
German government had many fatal flaws which contributed to
ineffective decision making or in fact, you could say complete failure
in decision making. There were never less than 28 different parties
competing for election which made it impossible to attain a majority
vote on many issues. Apart from that, many German leaders had a weak
devotion to democracy. Even the elected President, Hindenburg strongly
detested democracy as he constantly used Article 48 as a way of
maintaining power In
contrast with Fredrick Ebert, Hindenburg used Article 48 as a means of
dictatorially ruling Germany. But The Great Depression which hit
Germany harder than any other nation was what truly simulated masses of
people into voting radically for leftwing and rightwing parties and
especially the Nazi’s. In 1928 there were 2 million unemployed in
Germany and The Nazi Party had 12 seats in the Reichstag.[18]
By 1932 when there were 6 million unemployed people, both the Nazi and
Communist Party had significant increases in numbers but most
outstanding would be the increase in numbers of the Nazi Party to 196
seats in the Parliament by November, 1932. [19]
However, modern historians question the “true” reason behind why he
became Chancellor in January, 1933. Many historians such as Lord Bullock
argue that it was not really by great rise in his supporters but in
fact:” “Hitler
came to office in 1933 as the result, not of any irresistible
revolutionary or national movement sweeping him into power, nor even of a
popular victory at the polls, but as part of a shoddy political deal
with the 'Old Gang' whom he had been attacking for months… Hitler did
not seize power; he was jobbed into office by a backstairs intrigue.”[20]
In other words what Bullock is arguing is that with the decrease in
number of Nazi representatives in the Reichstag, President Hindenburg
believed that since Hitler was losing support he could be manipulated.
So Hindenburg by Presidential powers invited Hitler to become
Chancellor. Hitler did not gain Chancellorship by election as he did not
gain majority support of the Reichstag. However, he got Chancellorship
because of “backroom deals.” In brief, the reason why Hitler was given
the position of Chancellorship was a “mistake” made on behalf of
Hindenburg, but not by democratic elections. Hitler was invited to
become Chancellor of Germany.
In January 1933, Hitler was officially made Chancellor of
Germany. This was a true turning point in German history as Hitler
later began the creation of Nazi dictatorship. As Goebbels wrote in his
Journal: “Now
it will be easy to carry on the fight, for we can call on all the
resources of the State. Radio and press are at our disposal. We shall
stage a masterpiece of propaganda. And this time, naturally, there is no
lack of money.”[21]
Hitler’s rise to power was more than a coincidence of events and
timing. Even though Hitler’s personal attributes did play a big part of
his rise to power and influence over masses of people. But what truly
allowed him to attain this position was in fact the social and political
background of Germany and the Weimar Government.
[1] John Toland, “Adolf Hitler”, prologue.
[2]http://www.japanweb.info/browse.php?u=aHR0cDovL2VuLndpa2lwZWRpYS5vcmcvd2lraS9BZG9sZl9IaXRsZXI%3D&b=31
[3]http://www2.laohekou.com.cn/dispbbs.asp?boardid=25&ID=13166 : Translation from Chinese.
[4]http;//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler's_rise_to_power
[5]http://www.japanweb.info/browse.php?u=aHR0cDovL2VuLndpa2lwZWRpYS5vcmcvd2lraS9IaXRsZXIlMjdzX3Jpc2VfdG9fcG93ZXI%3D&b=31
[6] Mein Kampf , page 561-562.
[7] Ibid
[8] Rise of Evil directed by Christian Duguay
[9] The Devil’s Disciples, Anthony Read, page 150-151
[10] The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer, page 148
[11] The origin of the Second World War, A.J.P Taylor, page 149
[12] http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitlerdemo.htm
[13] Cambridge, Perspectives in History, Conflict, Communism and Fascism, Europe 1890-1945, Frank McDonough, page 92
[14] The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer, page 137
[15] The Little Red Book, Mao Zedong
[16] http://thinkexist.com/quotes/adolf_hitler/
[17] http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitlerdemo.htm
[18] http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar7.htm
[19] http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar6.htm#Elections%20and%20decline
[20] Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, Lord Bullock, page 137.
[21] The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer, page179
EXAMPLE 2
“There must be no majority decisions, but only responsible persons... Surely every man will have advisers by his side, but the decision will be made by one man.[1]” As shown in this sentence from Mein Kampf, the book Hitler wrote while living in Landsberg Prison, Adolf Hitler had an adamant ambition of being a dictator. Despite his eagerness, the Nazi party did not seem (seem? It’s pretty clear it didn’t through the elections alone) to gain a lot of support in the 1920s. Hitler’s Munich Putsch in 1923[2] to overthrow the democratic government led by Ebert ended up as a failure that led him to the prison and the number of Nazis elected to the Reichstag in May 1924 even dropped from 32 to 19 in the election of November[3]. Then how could Hitler gain authority after this repetition of failures? Not only had his personal qualities and efforts were the factors that enabled him to rise to power but more significantly Hitler could be given his position due to environmental changes that were abysmal recessions of the nation at that time. Nonetheless, the triggering reason, which is the reason that made the President to invite Hitler for the designation of Chancellor on January 30, 1933,[4] was his aim to make Hitler become controllable and use his popularity to give more credibility to his government. Good assertion
Hitler
took power due to his personal qualities such as strong and
consolidated beliefs and charisma along with his speeches. He made his
points very clear from the beginning in the Twenty-Five Point Program
proclaimed in Munich in February 1920, the main points of which were:
Führerprinzip, German term for “leadership principle” which gave
ultimate authority to the leader; nationalism; self-determination of
German people; racism involving anti-Semitism; and Lebensraum, meaning
“living space.”[5]
Although the majority of people did not agree with his idea at the
beginning (I think they might have agreed, but either had no faith in
him, distrusted his movement and use of terror, or had many many other
parties saying the same thing they could follow), he gradually got
credit for maintaining his obstinacy regardless of his chagrin (?) he
had to suffer through failures such as Munich Putsch. Though he was sent
into jail, Hitler still did not concede his beliefs but expressed his
ambition in the book called Mein Kampf, “Thus my faith grew
that my beautiful dream for the future would become reality after all,
even though this might require long years.”[6]
Try to question the strength of the sources you’re using. hitler
contradicts himself many times in his book, and this was written for
publication- is he actually being honest? Despite of his failure he was
still having self-belief that he would achieve his aims and become a
great dictator in the future. He also reemphasized his Twenty-Five
Points, such as the principle of Lebensraum for example, in the
book, “The acquisition of new soil for the settlement of the excess
population possesses an infinite number of advantages... It must be
said that such a territorial policy cannot be fulfilled in the
Cameroons, but today almost exclusively in Europe.”[7]
This sentence was not simply being an exposition of Hitler’s belief but
also warned of invading European countries, which gave people strong
impression. Besides his ideology, Hitler could rise to power due to the
fact that he had the ability to make his ideas and himself intriguing
to the citizens. In the election of 1930 in Munich, he said, “It is not
for seats in parliament that we fight, but we win seats in parliament
in order that one day we may be able to liberate the German people.”[8]
How does this explain your vague claim about needing citizens to be
“intrigued” by him specifically? His speech was making people to regard
him as their hope which would enable them to gain freedom and get more
united as a strong and confident nation, leading them to a conclusion
that they should vote for him if they wanted better lives and better
country because Hitler’s aim was not the growth of his party but
improvement of Germany. He was turning people into adherents of the
Nazis by making them to get excited and appealed to his strong and
inspiring speeches. So far this essay you offer little authority to
support your claims. Where did you hear he succeeded in doing such a
thing? Eventually, the Nazi Party which seemed it an arduous task to
gain further support with only 2.6 per cent of vote in 1928 became the
largest party in 1932 with 27.3 per cent of electoral vote.[9]
This huge change in the support for Nazis proved that Hitler was
making his rise to power to be possible n reality with his consolidate
beliefs and intriguing speeches that made his ideology sound reasonable
and agreeable to the audience.
Even though Hitler possessed noteworthy qualities including
his speeches and ideology I think his ideas were a mishmash of unclear
and unworkable thoughts that embarrassed many Nazis- what provokes you
to consider them “noteworthy qualities?”, there was a period of time,
from 1924 to 1928[10],
when the Nazi Party experienced a setback in electoral votes, which
meant there were other reasons for Hitler being able come to power:
economic changes and political agitation at that time. The following
graph shows the increasing support for the Nazi Party from 1920 to 1924
and its decline from 1924 to 1928. From 1919 to 1923, Germany was full
of chaos and political disturbance. There were 21 different coalition
governments with no any dominant party[12]
so there was no compromising and thus created difficult condition to
make decisions. This led to numerous conflicts between parties and
though the president, Fredrich Ebert, tried to sustain democracy at that
time, the outbreaks of political revolts were unstoppable in this
period. From left-wing, communists were trying to seize power through
Spartacist revolt in January 1919[13] while Bavaria already had become a socialist republic in 1918[14],
adopting its own political system. still waiting to see how this
applies to Hitler… There also were revolts from right-wing, such as Kapp
Putsch in March 1920[15] and even political assassinations.[16]
In addition, economy was also problematic at that time. Germany had to
economically suffer from paying reparations by the Treaty of
Versailles[17]
and it was made worse when Ebert paid Germans to go on a strike in
order to stop Kapp Putsch and started printing money to cope with all
the costs.[18]
It finally led to an economic phenomenon, the so-called “hyper
inflation,” and this is also shown in the Source 2, the number of
unemployed was increasing.
While
the Weimar Germany was politically and economically receding, the
support for the Nazis was increasing. However, from 1925 to 1929,
German economy had recovered as a result of the accomplishments done by
Gustav Stresemann, the foreign minister who was German chancellor in
1923.[20] The Dawes Plan that postponed the time to pay reparations[21] and the Rentenmark[22],
the new currency issued by Stresemann were made great contributions to
economic stability of Germany but this economic recovery was an
obstacle for the Nazi Party, who had to suffer decline in its votes.
The year 1929, was the year of Stresemann’s death but also the year
when the Wall Street Crash occurred, bringing Weimar Germany again into
an economic chaos. The US loans were no more available and the
unemployment rose from 2.2 million in 1929 to 6 million in 1932[23].
Similar to the first era of Weimar Germany (1919-1923), the support of
the Nazi party was increasing but much more rapidly. Every time when
Germany was in facing crises, the German citizens were looking for
extreme solutions that could get rid of their troublesome environment.
At the right moment, Hitler was placing all the blame on Jews, saying
"The Jews are a people of robbers. He has never founded any
civilisation, though he has destroyed civilisations by the
hundred...everything he has stolen…it is foreigners who shed their
blood for him."[24]
when did he say this? Did he really say this around the time of the
Depression? Your footnote doesn’t say this, and I was of the opinion
that he toned down his rhetoric about the Jews to make him appeal to
more people. The citizens thus were persuaded to think Jews were the
causes of Germany’s deterioration and supporting to Hitler was their
last hope and solution to the crises. How were they persuaded? Read your
quote- does this sound logical and rational? Why would any intelligent
German be “persuaded”? The rapid increase in the electoral votes for
the Nazi Party was also for the same reason as it was at the initial
period of the Weimar Germany. On the other hand, less people were
supporting the Nazi Party in the elections in the Stresemann years
(1924-1929) when Germany had economic recovery, and these changes
altogether proved the point that people were only listening to Hitler
when they were in trouble to be prominent. Therefore the decline in
political and economic situation of Weimar Germany should also be
regarded as significant factors that made Hitler to gain authority.
Although there were many party leaders besides Hitler, the
reason why he was the chosen one for German chancellor was because of
his popularity and power that made Hindenburg feel the need to control
him by offering chancellorship. With massive support from all classes
of German citizens, Hitler decided to stand against Hindenburg in the
election, so he got German citizenship on February 25th, 1932.[25] In the presidential election of March 13th, Hitler (30.1%) lost to Hindenburg (49.6%)[26] who 2 months later appointed Franz von Papen as Chancellor.[27] Although Hitler lost the election, the Nazi party soon (that year) became the largest party[28]
and he asked Hindenburg for the position of Chancellor, which led
Hindenburg to wrath and astonishment. According to the movie “Hitler:
The Rise of Evil,” Franz von Papen suggested Hindenburg to designate
Hitler as Vice Chancellor, the job which is below Chancellor but still
is a high position that probably might satisfy Hitler and simultaneously
allow Hindenburg to “control” Hitler. As mentioned above about
Hitler’s eagerness to get awarded with an extreme authority, Hitler
refused the position of Vice Chancellor but insisted on Chancellorship.
When General Schleicher fortuitously became Chancellor[29],
von Papen, with irritation, went to privately talk with Hitler,
promising to make him Chancellor and as Schleicher failed in making a
coalition government that would make lessen other parties’ support for
the Nazi Party[30],
Hindenburg had no other choice but to award Hitler the German
Chancellorship when von Papen persuaded him to make Hitler Chancellor
and Papen to become Vice Chancellor. Even though Hindenburg hated
Hitler, he still gave Chancellorship to him because he believed that it
would make him to control Hitler and make use of Hitler’s popularity
which would help Weimar government to gain more support. It seemed that
von Papen was simply helping Hitler because he still wanted any high
position in the Cabinet but on the other hand it is argued that he was
also using Hitler to benefit himself. In Papen’s point of view, he could
have positional parity with Hitler or even be more powerful because
Vice-Chancellor had better position of Minister as President of Prussia
and was allowed to be present any time when the Chancellor made reports
to the President.[31]
Also he even was making Hitler experience instability in his position
by castigating the SA and some behaviour of the Nazis in his speech at
the University of Marburg.[32]
Both Hindenburg and Papen thought Hitler could be beneficial to their
positions, Hindenburg seeing Hitler as a booster of Weimar government’s
prosperity due to rapidly increasing fame and Papen using him to
restore his high position, although not as Chancellor, in the Cabinet.
Important point
Adolf Hitler, even as a distrustful figure to the President
and a foreigner, could become German Chancellor. This came to reality
mainly by his ability to attract people, especially with impressive
speeches, and the social desperation of the citizens caused by economic
and political deterioration which made Hitler’s speeches more
appealing and praiseworthy. However, the reason why Hitler was chosen
to be German Chancellor was due to Hindenburg’s intrigue to control him
by awarding Chancellorship. Unfortunate for the President, this
conferment of Chancellorship proved to be a big mistake of Hindenburg
and Papen because it became an awarding of total power for Hitler soon
when Hitler got dictatorial power by Enabling Act on March 23rd.[33]
[1] http://www.allgreatquotes.com/adolf_hitler_quotes4.shtml
[2] http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/putsch2.htm
[3] http://www.thecorner.org/hist/total/n-german.htm
[4] Alan Bullock, Hitler, A Study in Tyranny, Harper Torchbooks, 1962, Pg.258
[5] http://www.scribd.com/doc/226622/25-Points-of-Hitler?ga_related_doc=1
[6] http://nobeliefs.com/hitler.htm
[7] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensraum#_ref-4
[8] http://www.hitler.org/speeches/09-16-30.html
[9] Frank McDonough, Conflict,Communism and Fascism, Europe 1890-1945 Cambridge University Press 2001 pg.91
[10] http://www.colorado.edu/IBS/PEC/johno/pub/nazi_long/Pnazi_long.htm
[11] http://wsarch.ucr.edu/archive/books/tausch/spar3.html
[12] Frank McDonough, Conflict,Communism and Fascism, Europe 1890-1945 Cambridge University Press 2001 pg.83
[13] http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/gap/germany/fgermany1919jan.htm
[14] http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERbavarian.htm
[15] http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-311790/Kapp-Putsch
[16] http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-58204/Germany
[17] Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau & Annette Becker, 1914-1918 Understanding the Great War, pg.229
[18] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic
[19] http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/statistik/arbeits11b/index.gif
[20] http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Stresema.html
[21] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_reparations
[22] http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/gcse/germany/goldeneraofweimargermany.htm
[23] http://www.history-ontheweb.co.uk/sources/62_wallstreetcrash.pdf
[24] http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Jews_Nazi_Germany.htm
[25] http://www.secondworldwar.co.uk/ahitler.html
[26] http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger100.html
[27] http://www.germannotes.com/hist_franz_papen.shtml
[28] http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-373163.html
[29] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Schleicher
[30] http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch16.htm
[31] Alan Bullock, Hitler, A Study in Tyranny, Harper Torchbooks, 1962, Pg. 256
[32] http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-roehm.htm
[33] http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/chronology/1933-1938/1933/chronology_1933_5.html
[34] The origin of the Second World War, A.J.P Taylor, page 149
How Did Hitler Become Chancellor?
“By appointing Adolf Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you have handed over our sacred German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action.” With hindsight, Erich Ludendorff’s words, aimed at Hindenburg after the nomination of Hitler as Reichskanzler in January 1933, are astoundingly accurate. The seizure of the Chancellorship was the leap onto the path to totalitarianism, genocide and world war. Yet one must remember that at the time, this was unpredictable. In order to understand how the appointment was possible, one must untangle the mélange of civilian, economic and authoritative procedures that laid the foundation for Hitler’s rise to the post.
Historians such as Michael R. Hayse argue that the NSDAP enjoyed a rapid influx of votes during the last years of Weimar simply due to “protest votes”[1]. After Gustav Stresemann’s disadvantageous demise in October 1929 for instance, the DVP suffered a sudden oscillation of voting results due to the forfeiture of its main head supplying concrete direction and purpose. Müller and Brüning’s chimerical attempts at coalitions failed, as the principal parties found it impossible to coordinate their conflicting policies. In addition to that, during the Great Depression that broke out in the same month as Stresemann’s death, moderate parties appeared to lose millions of votes to more radical groups explicitly opposing democracy. This is manifested in the election results of 1930: the NSDAP won 107 seats in the Reichstag, second only to the SPD with 143 seats, closely followed by the KPD with 77 seats. During times of increasing unemployment and penury, “voters, it seemed, were losing faith in the larger parties”[2], choosing to express their discontent by casting their ballots for extremist, anti-democratic organisations instead. Paul Bookbinder similarly argues that the NSDAP received many votes from anti-Catholic Protestants[3]. However, this is a simplistic approach that labels the entire concept of democracy a sham; it is ridiculous to suggest that millions of people would hoax their own representative government and consciously choose to have it dissolved, despite their deprivation. One must not disregard the genuine appeal that the NSDAP had to all facets of German society as an honest party. Propaganda, deployed by publicity-mastermind Dr. Paul Josef Goebbels, “succeeded in transcending social boundaries and uniting highly disparate social groups on the basis of a common ideology”[4], aiming at all citizens: workers, farmers, men, women, youth. It drew on the rigid German customs familiar to everyone; in a society cultivating the grounded fear of social upheaval from radical Communists, the NSDAP had reassuring voice calling for the return to order and tradition. It offered the stability and concrete beliefs that the SPD, DVP and ZP could not; its solidity was sharply silhouetted against the whimsical haze of the others.
“Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.” George Bernard Shaw’s words are tailored to illustrate Hitler’s opportunity to become Chancellor after his party became the largest in the Reichstag in July 1932 with 37.3% of the votes. After the foundering of four consecutive Chancellors since 1928, President Hindenburg, executing Article 48 of the Weimar constitution, was obliged to appoint a new one. The orthodox notion is that he naturally looked to Hitler due to the fact that he was the leader of the strongest political party and thus had clear piloting potential. However, this is not the case; in fact, this was the point at which Hitler was at his weakest. In the parliamentary election of November 1932, the NSDAP lost 4.2% of votes, dropping to 33.1%, while the KPD and DVP showed slight increases[5]. It appeared that Hitler’s career had reached an anticlimax. While conditions in Germany improved (unemployment fell from 5.5 to 4.5 million)[6], the NSDAP rapidly lost support. Hindenburg chose someone he thought would be unassuming and highly unlikely to do anything drastic. Franz von Papen, bitter about his replacement by General Kurt von Schleicher, hoped to oust the latter; his conspiracy[7] involved the placement of Hitler as Chancellor and himself as a manipulative Vice-Chancellor. Hitler was guessed to be safe and muted. This was possibly the gravest miscalculation in history. Difficult as it is to express, knowing what he brought to the twentieth century, Hitler’s political astuteness was greatly underestimated. Not only were his speeches gripping, his eyes captivating[8] and his ideas substantial, Hitler also had the invaluable talent of political infighting by playing ministers against one another.[9] According to French Ambassador André-Francois Poncet, “he was an ice-cold realist, a profoundly calculating person.” This would be a factor leading to his eventual seizure of absolute power as undisputed Führer of the German Reich in 1934.
One of the most important driving forces of the early twentieth century, often forgotten as a main catalyst of socio-political changes in the Weimar Republic, was the sweeping fear of Communism. 1917 saw the fall of one of the most well-anchored dynasties in Eurasia: the Romanov monarchy. Heath, Laird of Glencairn, persuasively argues that communism was a realistic threat to Weimar: 50,000 Spartacists, led by Liebknecht and Luxembourg, who in turn seemed to be Lenin’s puppets, roamed the streets of Berlin in 1919[10]; the Red Army and workers’ councils called for a Socialist revolution, Bolshevism and anarchy seemed close to vanquishing the last shred of order. Hitler’s NSDAP displayed a clear stance against this threat, unlike many of the moderate parties. Industry and businesses chose to trust Hitler’s promise of capitalism, sponsoring him in the hope of purging Weimar of the threat of nationalization. These included successful businessmen Thyssen, Krupp and Ford[11]. Their money gave Hitler the ability to campaign and reach vast areas of the country: he was able to fly from town to town and broadcast speeches via radio, thus winning the hearts of countless Germans. The Sturmabteilung, violent as it was, personified a distinct front against Communism and not only eradicated Hitler’s left-wing opponents, but also proved to the public how resolute he was to act against the Marxist terror. However, this also had another effect. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany’s army was limited to 100,000 men. With 3 million members in the Sturmabteilung opposing the vast number of Communist sympathisers, a German civil war would be a cataclysm impossible to mollify. It was clear to Hindenburg that Hitler, were he not elected Chancellor, had the power to begin it, since he would have no more to lose. The army, their nationalist purpose naturally precipitating a loathing for Communism, had to accept Hitler as the most stable choice, albeit supposedly temporary.
Tragically, Hitler’s rise to power was everything but temporary.
[1] Hayse, Michael R. Recasting West German Elites: Higher Civil Servants, Business Leaders and Physicians in Hesse Between Nazism and Democracy, 1945-1955. Page 20. Berghahn Books, 2003.
[2] Shelton, Dinah. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, Volume 1. Page 400. Macmillan Reference, 2005.
[3] Bookbinder, Paul. Weimar Germany: The Republic of the Reasonable. Page 81. Manchester University Press, 1996.
[4] Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich. Page 264. London: Penguin Books Ldt, 2003.
[5] Orlow, Dietrich. Weimar Prussia, 1925-1933: The Illusion of Strength. Page 162. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991.
[6] Stachura, Peter D. Unemployment and the Great Depression in Weimar Germany. Page 109. Macmillan 1986.
[7] Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich. Page 306. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2003.
[8] Pinkus, Oscar. The War Aims and Strategies of Adolf Hitler. Page 8. McFarland, 2005.
[9] Harvey, Richard. Hitler and the Third Reich. Page 60. Nelson Thornes, 1998.
[10] Bookbinder, Paul. Weimar Germany: The Republic of the Reasonable. Page 57. Manchester University Press, 1996.
[11] Duthel, Heinz. The Bilderberger Group - Saviors or Destroyers? Page 423. 2008.
Example 2
On January 30th, 1933 Adolf Hitler walked into Hindenburg's office to assume his hard fought role as chancellor and grab hold of the reigns of a 14 year-old German democratic republic. On this day Ludendorff would warn Hindenburg of the future repercussions of his decision; “by appointing Adolf Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you have handed over our sacred German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action.” This insight would later prove to ring true and mark the end of Hitler’s “rise” and the beginning of the end for Weimar Germany and German democracy for the next 12 years. In order to understand how this position was obtained, one must examine the economic, political and social implications of the years that preceded the achievement as well as Hitler’s own ideology and personal assets.
AJP Taylor stated, "Only the Great Depression put the wind into Hitler's sails". Indeed, this declaration illustrates a view that is commonly used to explain the drastic increase in popularity of the NSDAP after Stresemann’s death in 1929. In 1930 the Nazi party saw their seats increase from 12 in 1928, to 107 seats in the German federal election. One could argue that these statistics can be explained by examining the effects that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 had on Germany. After the Wall Street Crash, the US called in its loans to Germany, thus leading to an economic collapse and social disorder as rates of unemployment and starvation grew. Numbers of unemployment rapidly and consistently increased from 2 million in 1928 to 2.5 million in 1929, 3 million in 1930, 5 million in 1931 and finally 6 million in 1932 just before Hitler took his place as Chancellor. In 1930 Chancellor Bruning cut government expenditure, wages and unemployment pay in hopes of establishing a means to an end. This legislature, however, was not approved by the Reichstag and thus led to President Hindenburg instituting the use of Article 48 in order to pass the measures by decree. Contrary to creating any solutions, this act put the government in further disorder and created an anarchist movement from the people. As put by historian Tony Howarth, “Hitler's policies were half-baked, racist clap-trap... but among the jumble of hysterical ideas Hitler showed a sure sense of how to appeal to the lowest instincts of frightened masses”. Amidst the chaos, Germans began looking for radical solutions and a source to blame their desperations on and Hitler gave them just that. His sympathetic policies and use of propaganda appealed to the masses. The middle class, after a shocking awakening to the obvious failure of democracy, opted for an extremist government. Nationalists and racists supported Hitler’s view that the Treaty of Versailles and reparations were to blame for Germany’s distraught social and economic situation. Although many of the workers turned to communism, this scared the wealthier classes in to financing Hitler’s campaign. Conclusively, Hitler took advantage of the vulnerable economic state of his country in order to gain support for his radically right winged party.
Despite the obvious correlation between economics and political growth, to blame Hitler’s rise to power solely on The Great Depression and the failure of Democracy in Weimar Germany is a simplistic approach to a much more complicated accomplishment. Hitler’s achievement was due far more to his party’s appeal to German society than it was to the people’s disapproval for the previous government. The NSDAP offered Germany what the other parties could not; a return to a nation built upon a traditional lifestyle of customs and security. Dr. Paul Josef Goebbels who was in charge of propaganda did a thorough job in effectively communicating these ideas and increasing support by targeting the interests of specific groups in society. The Berlin chapter of the Nazi party began printing Der Angriff as a form of propaganda. As Goebbels stressed himself, “the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly- it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”. In the case of the Nazis, these points were mainly anti-Semitism and an obvious criticism of the Weimar Republic. Evidently this tactic appealed to the public as a growing demand caused circulation to increase from 2,000 copies in 1927 to 146,694 by 1936. Furthermore, Hitler’s party took a clear stance against the rational fear of impending Communism on Weimar Germany. Unlike central parties such as the SPD who appeared to be impartial to the movement, the NSDAP put to rest many of the people’s uncertainty by employing the use of the Sturmabteilung in order to eradicate extremist left-wing opponents. Although the group’s success was made possible through the use of committing acts of violence and terror, this proved to be a success in its own right because it scared off other potential opponents in addition to the targeted groups. Through a combination of tailored appeal to the population and the suppression of potential opposition, Hitler had made it possible to gain a sufficient lead in the polls.
However, by 1933 when it came time for President Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor, conditions in Germany had already begun to improve. Levels of unemployment fell from 5.5 to 4.5 million with starvation rates to match. Surprisingly, in the parliamentary elections of Novemeber 1932 the NSDAP’s votes dropped from 4.2 % to 33.1 % while other, smaller party’s support actually increased. Hitler’s personal qualities had been a crucial aspect in carrying him so far. One of his early followers, Karl Ludecke described him by saying; “He was holding the masses, and me with them, under an hypnotic spell by the sheer force of his beliefs. His words were like a whip. When he spoke of the disgrace of Germany, I felt ready to attack any enemy.” Attributes such as captivating, manipulative speech, self-confidence and determination which gave Hitler his powerful, appealing façade was overlooked by Hindenburg and Papen who offered him the position of Chancellor. With the results of the latest polls, they were under the false perception of Hitler’s true intentions and potential and thus maintained the disillusionment that they would be able to maintain control over him after handing over to him the position.
With hindsight, this conception would prove to be false and more dangerous than anyone could have foreseen. Instead of being controlled, Hitler would use Article 48 to obtain absolute power. After years of gradually gaining support through manipulation of Germany’s vulnerable economic and social status as well as his party’s personal appeal to society, he had obtained his final position as Chancellor before absolute dictatorship.
On January 30th, 1933 Adolf Hitler walked into Hindenburg's office to assume his hard fought role as chancellor and grab hold of the reigns of a 14 year-old German democratic republic. On this day Ludendorff would warn Hindenburg of the future repercussions of his decision; “by appointing Adolf Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you have handed over our sacred German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action.” This insight would later prove to ring true and mark the end of Hitler’s “rise” and the beginning of the end for Weimar Germany and German democracy for the next 12 years. In order to understand how this position was obtained, one must examine the economic, political and social implications of the years that preceded the achievement as well as Hitler’s own ideology and personal assets.
AJP Taylor stated, "Only the Great Depression put the wind into Hitler's sails". Indeed, this declaration illustrates a view that is commonly used to explain the drastic increase in popularity of the NSDAP after Stresemann’s death in 1929. In 1930 the Nazi party saw their seats increase from 12 in 1928, to 107 seats in the German federal election. One could argue that these statistics can be explained by examining the effects that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 had on Germany. After the Wall Street Crash, the US called in its loans to Germany, thus leading to an economic collapse and social disorder as rates of unemployment and starvation grew. Numbers of unemployment rapidly and consistently increased from 2 million in 1928 to 2.5 million in 1929, 3 million in 1930, 5 million in 1931 and finally 6 million in 1932 just before Hitler took his place as Chancellor. In 1930 Chancellor Bruning cut government expenditure, wages and unemployment pay in hopes of establishing a means to an end. This legislature, however, was not approved by the Reichstag and thus led to President Hindenburg instituting the use of Article 48 in order to pass the measures by decree. Contrary to creating any solutions, this act put the government in further disorder and created an anarchist movement from the people. As put by historian Tony Howarth, “Hitler's policies were half-baked, racist clap-trap... but among the jumble of hysterical ideas Hitler showed a sure sense of how to appeal to the lowest instincts of frightened masses”. Amidst the chaos, Germans began looking for radical solutions and a source to blame their desperations on and Hitler gave them just that. His sympathetic policies and use of propaganda appealed to the masses. The middle class, after a shocking awakening to the obvious failure of democracy, opted for an extremist government. Nationalists and racists supported Hitler’s view that the Treaty of Versailles and reparations were to blame for Germany’s distraught social and economic situation. Although many of the workers turned to communism, this scared the wealthier classes in to financing Hitler’s campaign. Conclusively, Hitler took advantage of the vulnerable economic state of his country in order to gain support for his radically right winged party.
Despite the obvious correlation between economics and political growth, to blame Hitler’s rise to power solely on The Great Depression and the failure of Democracy in Weimar Germany is a simplistic approach to a much more complicated accomplishment. Hitler’s achievement was due far more to his party’s appeal to German society than it was to the people’s disapproval for the previous government. The NSDAP offered Germany what the other parties could not; a return to a nation built upon a traditional lifestyle of customs and security. Dr. Paul Josef Goebbels who was in charge of propaganda did a thorough job in effectively communicating these ideas and increasing support by targeting the interests of specific groups in society. The Berlin chapter of the Nazi party began printing Der Angriff as a form of propaganda. As Goebbels stressed himself, “the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly- it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”. In the case of the Nazis, these points were mainly anti-Semitism and an obvious criticism of the Weimar Republic. Evidently this tactic appealed to the public as a growing demand caused circulation to increase from 2,000 copies in 1927 to 146,694 by 1936. Furthermore, Hitler’s party took a clear stance against the rational fear of impending Communism on Weimar Germany. Unlike central parties such as the SPD who appeared to be impartial to the movement, the NSDAP put to rest many of the people’s uncertainty by employing the use of the Sturmabteilung in order to eradicate extremist left-wing opponents. Although the group’s success was made possible through the use of committing acts of violence and terror, this proved to be a success in its own right because it scared off other potential opponents in addition to the targeted groups. Through a combination of tailored appeal to the population and the suppression of potential opposition, Hitler had made it possible to gain a sufficient lead in the polls.
However, by 1933 when it came time for President Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor, conditions in Germany had already begun to improve. Levels of unemployment fell from 5.5 to 4.5 million with starvation rates to match. Surprisingly, in the parliamentary elections of Novemeber 1932 the NSDAP’s votes dropped from 4.2 % to 33.1 % while other, smaller party’s support actually increased. Hitler’s personal qualities had been a crucial aspect in carrying him so far. One of his early followers, Karl Ludecke described him by saying; “He was holding the masses, and me with them, under an hypnotic spell by the sheer force of his beliefs. His words were like a whip. When he spoke of the disgrace of Germany, I felt ready to attack any enemy.” Attributes such as captivating, manipulative speech, self-confidence and determination which gave Hitler his powerful, appealing façade was overlooked by Hindenburg and Papen who offered him the position of Chancellor. With the results of the latest polls, they were under the false perception of Hitler’s true intentions and potential and thus maintained the disillusionment that they would be able to maintain control over him after handing over to him the position.
With hindsight, this conception would prove to be false and more dangerous than anyone could have foreseen. Instead of being controlled, Hitler would use Article 48 to obtain absolute power. After years of gradually gaining support through manipulation of Germany’s vulnerable economic and social status as well as his party’s personal appeal to society, he had obtained his final position as Chancellor before absolute dictatorship.
EXAMPLE 3: Why was
Hitler appointed chancellor in 1933?
On January 30th 1933, president
Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany and providing him with
the position he needed to receive total dictorial powers just two months later
with the help of the Reichstag. The question at hand is how Hitler managed to get
into office, considering the weaknesses his Nazi-Party faced just months
before. However, the answer to this doesn’t lie in how Hitler himself got into
office, but rather which circumstances enabled him to reach this position. As
the British historian Allan Bullock famously stated, Hitler was “jobbed into
office”, which statement this essay will analyse and argue while looking at
economical, and political issues at that time as well as analysing Hitler’s
personal qualities and efforts as a counterargument.
“I have never met happier people than
the Germans and Hitler is one of the greatest men. The old trust him; the young
idolise him. It is the worship of a national hero who has saved his country.”
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George stated 1936 what many Germans saw in
Hitler during the years that followed his rise to power. Nazis created
mythologies like the so-called “Kampfjahre” about Hitler’s success, stating
that it was his destiny to lead the German people and, in fact, he was an
extraordinary orator, organiser and politician and was even named “Man of the
Year” by Times Magazine in 1938.
Hitler was a master of coercion. He managed to appeal to large crowds and form
them as he pleased. In his book Mein
Kampf he explains the strategies behind his speeches. Important here is
that they all follow the same pattern. A few of these strategies he describes
are to “reduce concepts down into stereotypes which are black and white”, “use
lots of repetition; repeat your points over and over again” and “forget
literary beauty, scientific reasoning, balance, or novelty”. Hitler often
relied on psychological approaches, which may be the key to his success on a
personal basis. He was often inspired by the French social psychologist Gustav
Le Bon and his work The Crowd: A study of
the Popular Mind, which especially analysed the ’superiority’ of men.
Hitler’s use of strategies was often imitated throughout history, which speaks
for the success he was able to achieve with this. One person to have replicated
Hitler’s speech methods near perfectly was Martin Luther King Jr. with his
speech I Have a Dream, which much
like Hitler’s speeches stirred up emotions and convinced and formed people. Considering all of this, it lies close
to assume that Adolf Hitler was able to be appointed chancellor simply because
of his personal qualities and ability to manipulate the crowds and perhaps
politicians as well, however this view is far too simplistic as it neglects
economic and political issues and views that Germany faced during the period of
the Weimar Republic.
For many years before Hitler was
appointed chancellor, German politics were facing great struggles. Due to too
many parties in the Reichstag and the German people being divided when it came
to political manners, coalitions had to be formed and often Hindenburg had to
govern under the emergency decree. This weakness in politics can be seen as a
main argument for why Hitler was appointed chancellor. Since the lost war and
the Treaty of Versailles, the ‘Stab-In-The-Back’ myth convinced many people
that the government turned on them. Resulting from this were over 36 different
parties, many of whom were extremist parties like the communist KPD and the
nationalist NSDAP. Because a ‘five-percent rule’ to get a seat in the Reichstag
as it exists today, wasn’t established during the time of the Weimar Republic,
every party gained seats. The problem with the parties was that they all
appealed to a specific class of people, thus all gaining only little support.
Even the biggest party, the SPD, only received 165 seats at its peak. Hitler’s
NSDAP had a significant advantage over the other parties here, as they appealed
to a wide range of people. Members in the 1920s included for example 33%
skilled workers, 19% businessmen, 11% Farmers and 4% Students. This range of
members promised great support and as the unemployment rate rose from 1928
until 1932 to 6 million, the Nazi Party had 230 seats in the Reichstag at its
peak. It was this same popularity across a wide range of social classes, which
led Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor, as the previous chancellor
Franz von Papen could not get enough support and this, amongst other factors
mentioned before, led to the use of Article 48. Hindenburg thought he could
control Hitler, as there were only one other Nazis in parliament when he was
put into office and it seemed easy to overrule them as they were completely
outnumbered. This however was a huge miscalculation and as Ludendorff warned
him, ”I solemnly prophesy that this accursed man will cast our Reich into the
abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery.” This makes clear that
Hitler did not take power, but was given it largely due to political issues to
his advantage.
Besides political aspects, economic
issues were also an important factor in Hitler’s rise to power. As mentioned
previously, there were many problems the Weimar Republic was facing
economically like the unemployment rate rising rapidly, hyperinflation and
overall economic depression After the time of economic prosperity from
1923-1929 in which German economy slowly recovered from inflation, the Wall
Street Crash of 1929 caused Germany to fall back into economic crisis.
Unemployment rates grew, one more reason for people to turn towards the Nazi
party, which is backed up by the rise of seats the party received. From a weak
12 seats in the Reichstag in 1928, it grew to 230 seats in the July elections
1932. However, the very next year, the NSDAP lost in votes and the seats went
down to 196. Still inhabiting a large amount of support, yet not appearing as a
threat, Hindenburg felt save with the idea of putting Hitler into office and
using him to get more support. Another reason for the popularity Hitler’s,
leading to Hindenburg jobbing him into office was that after the First World War
and economic depressions, people were looking for someone to blame and extreme
solutions, needs which they did not feel the government as it was could
fulfill. Hitler’s Party on the other hand presented the people with exactly
this and a program, which appealed to the masses, rather then single groups.
Adding onto that, the Nazi propaganda, lead by Joseph Göbbels, was a crucial
instrument in Hitler’s rise, as it managed to spread the party’s ideas and
instantly convince people. It was also the Nazis themselves who gave the word
propaganda the negative connotations it has today. This mixture of economic
crisis, program, propaganda and appealing to the masses was the trigger that
caused Hindenburg to even consider Hitler for the job of chancellor, and it is
due to this mixture, that Hitler’s rise to power was possible in the first
place.
Coming back to Bullock’s thesis that
Hitler was “jobbed into office” rather then taking power himself, it can be argued
that it was largely due to outside circumstances like economic failure and
political struggle, however one must acknowledge that Hitler’s personal
character was also a reason for why he was appointed chancellor. It was the
combination of all three factors that made his rise to power exceptional and
widely discussed, even today.
Example 4
Example 4
On January
30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler to be chancellor. AJP
Taylor states that “The depression put the wind in Hitler sails”, which means
that Hitler was able to gain favour due to the Economic situation of the 1930’s.
Others believe that “Hitler was jobbed into office” by the old guard, which was
famously stated by Allan Bullock. This entails that Hitler was able to achieve
his position through the decisions of people in higher political positions,
thinking that they would be able to ‘control him’, once the places him as
Chancellor. However, to truly be able to answer this question, one must look at
both the economic situation at the time, and the political decisions that took
place to ensure greater goals in the favour of Germany's future.
To understand why Hitler was
appointed Chancellor in 1933, one must first understand the outcome, and how
the events that took place led to a ‘severe miscalculation’. Allan Bullock
believes that “Hitler was jobbed into office” by the old guard, this means that
Hitler was appointed purely in the self interest of Germany, and the political
aspect and stand point of the events. The decisions that took place where
mainly political, President Hindenburg decided to place Hitler and two other
members of the NSDAP into the Reichstag, so that they would be able to keep him
‘in check’. The chancellor was appointed by the President, and was frequently a
member of the majority party in the Reichstag. However, if the president wanted
to control Hitler, he had to appoint him in 1933, as this was the point where
Hitler’s popularity peaked. In 1928, Hitler’s party received 2.6% of votes,
with 2 million unemployed. In 1930, the party received 18% of votes, which had 3,217,000 in unemployment, which was a great change compared to
the vote of 2.6% two years previous, however, due to the Wall Street crash in
1929, many believe that this caused a shift in power, and gave Hitler more
votes, this lead had 2,850,000
people in unemployment.
This doubled the votes in 1932, where in July he received 37%, with
unemployment at 6,042,000. The unemployment is key, as the
NSDAP was the German peoples party, and the more unemployed there was, the more
people would get behind Hitler’s cause. The NSDAP was representing the German
peoples, it appealed to all classes within German. It appealed to the middle
class, as it was a protecting against communism and restored law and order, the
upper class was in favour as it was a reprisal
for the Treaty of Versailles, and the creation of a strong government. Was favoured by the large industrialists as it was a suspension of trade unions,
appealed to the working class, as it created jobs and was protecting workers,
ordinary people from the country side were in favour, as they planned on
increasing the price of agricultural produced which gave theme more money, and
finally, was favoured by women as it emphasized on the family and morals. Due to proportional representation,
the number of people that voted for him represented a percentage of the people
voting. However, July was the point where he received his peak in votes, where
he received 33% in November. This meant that if Hindenburg wanted to appoint
Hitler as chancellor he had to do it then using article 48, he did this as both
the uprising of the SA men and communism were threatening factors that cause
Hindenburg to act and eliminate one problem, by controlling the man in charge
of the SA, however, this soon proved to be a terrible mistake.
To look at the economical aspect one
must first understand the statement by AJP Taylor, “The depression put the wind
in Hitler’s sails”, this can be interpreted that due to the 1929 Wall Street
crash, the leading vote went to Hitler due to the depression, which is how he
was able to get into power. In 1929, the Wall Street crashed occurred, which
lead to a turn around in votes, due to the fact that the global economy, which
was the beginning of what is called “the great depression”. This lead to an
increase in unemployment, and a drastic increase in the votes received by
Hitler, with 1928 the NSDAP having a mere 2.6%, and the in 1930 they received
18% votes. As NSDAP was the German peoples party, people voted for it as they
believed that they would stand behind the people, especially the working class,
since the depression lead to production levels falling and workers being laid
off. Germany was the worst effected, as it was established upon with the loans
from American, and dependent on foreign trade. However, once the Wall Street
crash occurred, America requested that all their loans would be repaid and
foreign trade would immediately stop, as countries wished for their wealth to
stay within their country. This sent Germany catastrophically down hill, with their
being no more money circulating through their economy, this lead every class in
Germany to be greatly affected, and as previously mentioned, there were many
classes that stood behind the NSDAP ideals, and their desire to stand behind
all classes, ensuring jobs, along with job security. Hitler was also appointed
as the German government was having issues with both the SA (brown shirts),
from the NSDAP, and radical communism. However, they did not have the manpower
or the funding to fight both causes, so the council, along with Hindenburg,
decided that to save funding they would have ‘control’ over the NSDAP, by
appointing Hitler as chancellor, with 2 more people from the NSDAP in the
council.
Lastly, to understand why Hitler was appointed
chancellor one must look at the structure of the German government. There were
many people that wished a change in the German government, as there was a lot
of argument over its ability to be a well run and efficient government. The
republic had many issues, with its wish to be a democracy, but failing to be
one, with the power of article 48 and the issue of so many parties within the
republic that there would never be anything accomplished. The president was
only voted every seven years with immense power such as article 48, with the
chancellor that was appointed by the president, which meant that the German
people would have no say over the matter, which proved to be an issue as the
chancellor would be in charge of the Reichstag, which worked on the votes of
the people, but could be changed if the chancellor wished so. The Reichstag was
also elected every four years, with the basis of its voting on proportional
representation, and since the number of seats were ever increasing for the
NSDAP, Hitler was able to achieve a large amount of power. Although this system
was the most advance system to give power to the people, it was flawed and had
several issues that lead to the worst dictator to this day.
In conclusion, Hitler was appointed
chancellor due to several factors; the leading factors are the political
aspects, severe economic downturn in 1929 and great miscalculation by the
Reichstag. The Reichstag believed that they would be able to ‘control’ him, and
keep him in check, so that he would do what they told him to do. Due to the fact
that there was a multitude of social classes standing behind Hitler, during the
march elections of 1933, Hitler still only achieved 44% of the votes, which
means that even when he was in power, he was still unable to gain the majority
of votes, standing behind his campaign. However, placing Hitler into power was
greatly miscalculated, as Hitler had plans of his own, which changed the way
that Germany would in follow its future.
EXAMPLE 5:
Why was Hitler
appointed chancellor in 1933?
Hitler in contrast to Mussolini did not seize
the power - he was as Alan Bullock put it ‘jobbed into office.’ Hitler was
legally appointed chancellor by Hindenburg on 30th of January and he
was supported by other individuals such as Von Papen and Oscar von Hindenburg.
In this essay I will outline the reasons that led Hitler to become a chancellor
and the means and strategies which he used to achieve this post.
Nazi party achieved a strong electoral
support. Hitler’s policies appealed to many people. There were 6 million
unemployed in 1932 and Nazi party promised job creation schemes thus appealing
to those masses. Nazis also promised
economic stability which was much desired by Germans after years of economic crises.
In fact many unemployed joined Nazi’s SA because in this way they got access to
food and other necessities. Hitler’s Nazi party had become extremely popular in
1932 when they gained 230 (37%) seats in the Reichstag after July elections
thus becoming the biggest party in the Reichstag. After Hitler’s party became
the biggest party in the Reichstag, Von Papen asked him to form a coalition
government. However Hitler would only agree to form a coalition if he became a
chancellor. Even after second elections which took place in November Nazis
still had the biggest percentage of supporters – 33% thus remaining the biggest
party in the Reichstag.
Two chancellors before Hitler, Schleicher
and Von Papen, had weak policies, did not achieve much and their mistakes and
miscalculations led Hitler to become chancellor. Hitler’s firm refusal to join the government
unless he is a chancellor put a cross on Von Papen’s career. Von Papen in his
desperation wanted to dissolve the Reichstag, to form a presidential dictatorship
and declare a martial law. Schleicher thought that this would cause a civil war
and he negotiated with Hindenburg who then decided to dismiss Von Papen. On the
3rd of December 1932 Schleicher was appointed chancellor and it is
in fact his strategies and miscalculations which led Hitler to become
chancellor. Richard J.Evans wrote that ‘Schleicher’s failure to win over the
Nazis was to prove decisive’. Schleicher wanted to encourage Nazi to join the
government but he took the wrong tactic. He thought that he could achieve this
by splitting the Nazi party. He offered a post in government to Strasser but Hitler
strongly opposed this. He fired Strassers’
supporters and claimed that Strasser was a traitor almost like Lenin claimed
that Trotsky was a traitor in USSR. Hitler, with the help of Goebbels managed
to save the party and this led to Schleicher’s collapse. Hitler would never
form a coalition government with Schleicher after this incident. Schleichers’ policies were not welcomed by
Hindenburg and Von Papen and they were afraid that the civil war may break out.
They also thought about the necessity of bringing Nazi party into government.
Schleicher was dismissed on 28th of January after his demand of emergency
powers from the president. New Chancellor was needed and as Von Papen was not
popular among masses, Hitler seemed to be best suited for this position.
Von Papen was against Schleicher. He wanted to
regain his chancellorship but it was impossible because he had little support
from German people. He negotiated with Hitler and agreed that if Hitler becomes
a chancellor then he would be appointed a vice-chancellor. Hitler agreed to
this and thus he had support from Von Papen.
The other factor that led Hitler to become
chancellor was the weakening of Nazi Party. First sign of it’s decline was
after the November elections when the percentage of votes went down from 37.3%
to 33% reducing the number of seats in the Reichstag from 230 to 196. In
addition there were hostilities within the party because of Hitler’s refusal to
form a coalition. As a result von Papen and Hindenburg thought that by
appointing Hitler they would be able to control him.
To sum up, the main causes which led Hitler to
become a chancellor were the strong electoral support of the Nazi party, Hitler’s refusal to form a coalition
and bad tactics and miscalculations of von Papen, Schleicher and Hindenburg.
How Did Hitler Consolidate Power?
As A.J.P Taylor said, “Hitler’s rise to power was consequential;
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”[3] This is one of Hitler’s most famous statements and the ideology he followed. Hitler’s primary method of consolidating power was to forcefully entice the German people by the means
of terror and use of propaganda. In other words, even if the German
people did not know that they were being dragged to supporting Hitler
against their will, this was exactly what Hitler was doing. On the other
hand, for the Germans that were reactionary against his Nazi regime,
they were sentenced to time in concentration camps. This did not bother
him as he already had control and strong support from a great number of
the German youth. As Hitler said: “He alone, who owns the youth, gains
the future.” [4]
He had the future of Germany in his grasp. But for Hitler to better
control Germany and diminish rebellions he had to strike terror into the
people and those who would oppose his rule. Therefore, Hermann Goering
established the GESTAPO on April 26, 1933. [5]
Goering wrote in his book “Germany Reborn” “Finally I alone created,
on my own initiative, the State Secret Police Department. This is the
instrument which is so much feared by the enemies of the State, and
which is chiefly responsible for the fact that in Germany and Prussia
today there is no question of a Marxist or Communist danger.”[6]
But it was in April, 1934, when Goering handed the GESTAPO over to
Himmler that it began to develop as a division of the SS, where after
they truly became a terrorizing force over the German people.[7]
However, it was not until the Gestapo law publicized by the government
on February 10, 1936 that the Gestapo organization was above the law. [8] This meant that the courts were not allowed to
interfere with the activities of the Gestapo in anyway. The “enemies of
state” were placed in ‘Schutzhaft’ or protective custody but this did
not mean the person was protected against harm.[9]
They were placed in concentration camps and tortured depending upon
their hierarchical standing. This was but one method in which the Nazi
party tried to forcefully get the German people to blindly support them.? Whilst
terror was being applied to manipulate the actions of the German
people, propaganda was also extensively used to control the way people
thought. Hitler appointed Dr. Joseph Goebbels as Reichminister for
propaganda and National Enlightenment in 1933. [10]Goebbels’s
job was to control what was shown to the public, certifying that
nothing damaging to the Nazi Party was shared with the public. He also
tried to propagandize the views of the Nazi party and in return give off
a positive sentiment. Goebbels, with the title of Reichminister for
propaganda was given complete control over the press, radio, cinema and
theatre all of which materially benefited Hitler’s consolidation of
power. One of the first demonstrations against non-Nazi teachings,
illustrating Nazi mind control over the German youth was on the midnight
of 1933, May 10th, where thousands of Nazi College students participated in the mass burning of books. [11]
Many of the books which were already censored and written by Jews and
communists; approximately 20,000 books were burnt outside the
University of Berlin.[12]
In addition, Goebbels and other members of the Nazi party were already
rewriting all textbooks and teachings to educate the German youth.
This was very important in fact in creating loyal followers of Hitler
and the Nazi party. The Nazi schooling curriculum would include
biology, history, geography, science, etc. But the aim of the Nazi
teachings would be to promote a knowing a race superiority,
self-discipline and strong nationalistic fervour at a young age. For example, biology was the study of different races to ‘scientifically prove’ racial superiority.[13]
“Racial Instruction” began at the age of six and Hitler himself decreed
that “no boy or girl should leave school without complete knowledge of
the necessity and meaning of blood purity.” [14]As
Hitler himself said,: “Let me control the textbooks and I will control
the state. The state will take youth and give to youth its own
education and its own upbringing.”[15]
Another key element in Goebbel’s propaganda movement was to heighten
Hitler’s position as Fuhrer in the eyes of the German people. In other
words it was to make him appear even greater. On Hitler’s birthday,
Joseph Goebbels would always prepare a speech in front of the German
masses to compliment him for what he has been ‘doing’ for Germany. On
Hitler’s 49th birthday in 1938, Goebbels said: “In
these moving moments, we saw in the Fuhrer's face that the pain of his
people was his pain, that he shared their pain and misery, that no one
could suffer more for his homeland than he.” [16]This
is only just one extraction from the long speech Goebbels had to make.
However, it shows how Goebbels was through propaganda in speech making
Hitler appear to the German people as an honorary hero of Germany. He wanted to make the people see Hitler as their saviour
and moreover as their “God.” At the same time, Hitler and his Nazi
party was also brainwashing kids into an organization known as the
Hitler Jugend. In 1932, there was just under 107,956 youths in the
Hitler Jugend. By the end of 1939, there was over 8,000,000 enrolling.[17]
He stated that: “When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to
your side,’ I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to us already... What are
you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new
camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new
community.’”[18]
This is exactly what Hitler had accomplished. They were loyal to him
as the SS were. For when Allied forces invaded Germany near the end of
war, the Hitler Jugend stood against them. The new generation of
Germany had been completely brainwashed by Hitler and Nazi propaganda.
Hitler was able to consolidate power through many ways, but the
easiest way in which he did so was by “forcefully” making people
support by “brainwashing” people with the use of propaganda and
striking terror in them. He had the support of a large number of the
youth in Germany and regular Germans so controlling and improving his
view to the German people was not too hard.
Another
way in which Hitler was able to consolidate power was by pleasing the
German people. Hitler at the time was seen as an icon of victory. He
had three main aims which many historians argue today were long term
effects in Germany leading to World War Two: ‘tearing up’ the Treaty of
Versailles, Lebensraum and uniting the Germans in a single country.
However, these long term effects set the foundation for a stronger
Germany. In 1934, a year after Hitler’s coming to power; he gave
orders to rearm Germany. The army grew from 100,000 men to 300,000 by
October 1, 1934. [19]
They also constructed two battle cruisers called the Scharnhorst and
the Gneisenau and six submarines which were all prohibited by the Treaty
of Versailles.[20] In just a year’s time, Hitler openly announced the decree of conscription and that the army would be increased to 550,000 men.[21]
At the same time, countries around Germany were forming diplomatic
alliances but none did anything to stop Germany’s breaching of the
Treaty of Versailles. On March 2, 1936, Hitler ordered his army to
march into Rhineland. [22]
He sent in 30,000 equipped troops but it was a gamble as he noted that
if the French were to act “we would have had to withdraw with our
tails between our legs.”[23]
But out of luck, the British refused to help the French and they also
did not fight. So the Germans were able to easily occupy the Rhineland.
During the same year as the occupying of the Rhineland in 1036, Hitler
also formed a number of foreign alliances. In 1936, he had the
Rome-Berlin Axis pact with Mussolini and the Anti-Comintern Pact with
Japan on the other side of the globe. By forming these alliances with
foreign countries he was not only strengthening Germany, but he was also
building up an even greater belief in him within the German people. In
1938, Hitler was ready to form a union, or Anschluss with Austria. He
wanted to bring German speaking people into a single country. But the
Anschluss was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.[24]
Hitler began by ordering the Nazi Party in Austria to create chaos.
When the Austrian leader Schuschnigg banned this, Hitler held a meeting
with him whereby he threatened to invade if the Nazis were not given
the most important roles in the Austrian government. Schuschnigg had to
agree but he tried to hold a vote for Austria to remain independent or
part of Germany. However Hitler had other plans, Schuschnigg was
replaced by and Austrian Nazi called Seyss-Inquart and asked Hitler to
send German army into Austria to restore order. Later on, the Gestapo
and SS were sent in to deal other enemies. Austria was now part of
Germany and its people lived under the Nazi reign of terror. However,
Hitler wanted more land. He looked to the richest part of
Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland as it contained 3 million people living
there that spoke German because it was part of the Austrian Empire
before 1919.[25] Hitler ordered the Sudeten German Party leader, Konrad Henlein to stir up trouble in Sudetenland[26].
Henlein arranged riots complaining that the Czech government was
treating Sudeten Germans unfairly. Whilst this was happening Hitler
gathered his armies around the border ready to fight. But this time they
couldn’t invade as the Czechs had a powerful ally, France to help
them. Hitler was not ready to battle two countries at the same time.
But within a few months time, Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of
Britain persuaded France to let Germany have Sudetenland as they feared
that it could escalate into a big war. France agreed with Britain that
they would not be involved and Germany took over the Sudetenland.
Hitler was keeping his promises to the German people. He promised
‘living space’ and breaking of the Treaty of Versailles and that is
what he gave them. By doing this Hitler gained an even greater support
from the German people and was able to consolidate power fairly easily
with few people against him.
Hitler
was able to consolidate power by keeping his promises to the German
people. He had gained an allegiance from them and could further expand
his power by taking over other countries with support from Germany.
Britain and France adopting a policy of appeasement made it even easier
for Hitler to consolidate power. He was gaining more support than he
ever had and was becoming overly audacious in his plans. However, Hitler
did not stop and with his invasion into Poland whereby he knew Britain
would protect them he did not layback. This was the final string
triggering World War II.
How did Hitler consolidate his power and continue to gain support, using propaganda, after taking power?
"Propaganda
attempts to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works
on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them
ripe for the victory of this idea." These were the words of Adolf
Hitler himself, written in his book Mein Kampf of 1926, on the use of
propaganda as a political tactic. Propaganda, defined as "a specific
type of message presentation aimed at serving an agenda", was
enthusiastically used by the Nazi Party to advocate themselves and
their philosophies, especially after Hitler's appointment to
chancellorship in January 1933. The Nazis utilized propaganda to ensure
that the public had no access to anything that would damage the Nazi
image, and to spread the beliefs of the Nazis as effectively as
possible. In charge of Nazi propaganda was Josef Goebbels, given the
official title "Minister of Propaganda and National Enlightenment", who
headed the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda,
established in 1933 after Hitler's rise to power. Hitler used
propaganda to consolidate his power and to continue to gain support
after becoming chancellor by targeting the youth of the country,
knowing and expanding his propaganda's audience, and successfully
infiltrating himself into his public's eyes through his total control of
all forms of communication.
The
Nazi Party, led by Hitler, consolidated their power by including the
country's youth in their propaganda campaigns, thereby ensuring support
in the future from the next generation. Firstly, the Nazi Party
targeted schools in the country, moulding the curriculum and the
teaching materials to their liking. For example, beginning in 1933,
textbooks and books were removed by censors due to "inappropriate"
content relating to the Nazi Party's beliefs and ideals, and new
textbooks and reading materials were integrated into the classroom,
advocating deference to the party, worship for Hitler, and
Anti-Semitism. Schools were forced to implement holidays that
celebrated occasions such as Hitler's birthday and the anniversary of
his accession to chancellorship. The Nazi Party made an effort to
control all aspects of the youth's lives, even religious rituals. The
transition from age 14 to 15 traditionally called for a church ritual;
the Nazi Party eventually introduced their own system of indoctrination
into the youths' 15th year. The Nazi Party then led adolescents into
the Hitler Youth for boys, and the League of German Girls for girls,
training them to develop an all-consuming love for the Nazi Party. At a
young age, children were taught to become Hitler Youth Speakers,
learning to communicate Nazi beliefs. In 1933, membership in the Hitler
Youth stood at 100,000. This quickly rose to 4 million in 1936, when
it became practically compulsory to join. The members of the Hitler
Youth were forced to engage in activities such as marching, bayonet
drill, grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defence, use
of dugouts, how to get under barbed wire and pistol shooting.
Basically, Hitler was building his future army under the guise of a
youth movement. Students were also provided with pamphlets filled with
Nazi ideology that emphasized the children's duty to the Party. These
were simply a few methods employed by the Nazi Party in their campaign
to ensnare their generation's youth. Hitler effectively used propaganda
and other campaigns to focus on the youth, as he knew that they were
his future people, his future soldiers, and his future workers. By
moulding the youth at a most vulnerable age, Hitler was able to create a
massive group of unthinking followers already conforming to his every
whim and wish. He realized that by targeting the young when they could
be most effectively brainwashed, the population of the next generation
would need no coercion to comply to the Nazi Party rule--in contrast,
they would already be in a position to support Hitler and his
decisions. His tactic of creating a militaristic youth movement also was
a way for him to build an army without overtly defying the Treaty of
Versailles; his need for an army was significant, considering his plans
for the future of Germany. Through his inclusion of the youth in his
propaganda campaigns, Hitler further consolidated his power after
becoming chancellor.
The
Nazi Party utilized propaganda most effectively to gain further
support, especially through the careful familiarization of themselves
with their audience, and their decision to include a large variety of
groups in the population as their campaign targets. Overall, the Nazi
Party intended to reach as many groups as possible, conveying as many
messages as possible, and thereby spreading their influence to maximum
effect. For example, potential enemies such as France and Britain, were
given the message that the Germans had no issues with the people of
those nations, but just that their governments were attempting to go to
war with Germany. This was in an effort to alienate Germany's
neighbours from their governments. The Ethnic Germans residing in
countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the
Baltic states were told that their blood ties to Germany were more
important than their citizenship in those states-- the Nazis' aim being
the reminder of German supremacy and the Nazis' representation of that
superiority. Finally, audiences in Germany were reminded of the Nazi
Party's struggle against foreign enemies and internal enemies, such as
Jews. This was in an effort to tell the German people about the way the
Nazis "protected" them, and the lengths to which they went to keep a
stable German state. Within the Germans, the population was composed of
a variety of different groups: skilled workers, unskilled workers,
intellectuals, nobles, soldiers, etc. When the Nazi Party launched
their campaign, all groups within the German population were addressed,
so as to ensure the complete integration of Nazi beliefs into the
entire society. Visual forms of propaganda catered to all these groups,
making certain that no demographic in the German population was left
untargeted. Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to successfully reach
all of their population because of the methodical and meticulous
familarisation with their audience, to learn how to best communicate
their objectives to the intended audience. The Nazis developed a highly
efficient propaganda office system which collected regionally based
information which was then used in formulating the propaganda. Gau
offices were regional Nazi divisions, whereas Kreis offices were
county-based. Local groups and neighbourhood groups had to inform the
central offices of their activities and plans, and these offices had
detailed election statistics, election plans, and reports. The Nazis
kept a very close watch on the different groups within their
population, in order to best learn how to reach the different groups
most effectively. Through their targeting of a variety of different
groups, and their familiarization with those groups, the Nazis used
propaganda to further consolidate their power after Hitler's
appointment to chancellor.
One
of the most forceful manifestations of Hitler's propaganda campaign in
gaining support among his people was his infiltration of the Nazi
Party into all forms of media and communication, becoming a constant
presence in his public's subconscious. The Nazis took over all aspects
of life at the time, all medias and public arenas. Literature, art,
music, radio, film, newspapers, public spaces, were all taken over by
the Nazis. From the start of Hitler's reign as chancellor, during the
spring of 1933, Nazi student organizations, professors and librarians
composed a list of banned books. On May 10th, 1933, Nazis conducted a
raid on libraries and bookstores, and proceeded with a massive bonfire,
burning over 25,000 books, both from Jewish and non-Jewish
writers. To produce any form of media, one had to be a member of the
Reich Chamber, and the Nazis were in charge of whether someone would be
allowed the credentials. The Nazis also controlled film production;
films were only allowed to focus specific issues such as the Jews,
Hitler's greatness, the Nazi way of life, especially for children, and
how badly Germans in other countries were oppressed. As films were
controlled, so were cinemas, and what could be viewed in them. Anything
shown in public had to be first approved by the Nazis. Furthermore,
Goebbels engineered an ingenious plan to place the Nazi party in every
home in Germany. He organized the sale of inexpensive radios called the
"People's Receiver", which cost only 76 marks--35 marks for a smaller
version. His notion was that if Hitler made speeches, everyone should
be able to listen to them. Loudspeakers were also erected in public
spaces such as streets and cafes, and other establishments were ordered
to play speeches by Hitler and promote him through other forms. One of
the most impressive forms of Hitler's prominence were the "cathedral
of light" demonstrations. Every August, rallies at Nuremberg
accommodated 400,000 people and had light displays consisting of 150
powerful search lights pointing vertically into the sky. These were in
celebration of Hitler and the Nazi Party. This materialization of the
Party in every aspect of life meant that Hitler was in the public's
eyes and mind at all times; there was barely a moment when the public
was not reminded of the Nazi Party's presence and prominence. This type
of subliminal message led to subconscious manifestations in the
public, eventually leading to Hitler's mass support. Goebbels realized
that if Hitler were forced into the public eye and made to remain
there, the public would eventually accept Hitler as a way of life; this
came to be the case when the standard greeting became "Heil Hitler!".
Through the Nazi's integration of themselves into every aspect of the
media and public communication, their support from the public
strengthened.
"The
essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so
sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and
can never escape from it." This comes from the Minister of Propaganda
himself, Josef Goebbels, and explains the passion with which he carried
out his job. After Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the Nazi Party
launched an enthusiastic propaganda campaign. Through the use of
propaganda, the Nazi Party consolidated their power and gained further
support through the targeting of the youth, the inclusion of all groups
in the campaign and familiarization of the Party with the audience, and
the gradual infiltration of the Nazi Party into the public eye to
become a constant fixture in society.
Evaluation of the Appeasement of Hitler in the 1930’s
“You may gain temporary appeasement by a policy of concession to violence, but you do not gain lasting peace that way,”[1]
said Robert Anthony Eden, who was British Foreign Secretary from 1935
to 1955. But he resigned in the 30s because of his anger over
appeasement! He was Foreign Secretary 1935–8, 1940–5, and then 1951–5. Please don’t use your essays to tell lies like that anymore. A
typical example of appeasement could be that of Hitler in the 1930s.
Since Germany left the League of Nations in 1933, Hitler started
breaking the Treaty of Versailles, for instance, by rearming German army
two years later which became his outset of territorial acquirements
such as invasion of Rhineland and Austria in the following years.
Britain and France therefore pursued a diplomatic policy of appeasement
to prevent another outbreak of world war in the future. I don’t see
where you get your “therefore”. France and Britain did not simply let
Hitler have his own way in taking military actions but -since Neville
Chamberlain became Britain’s prime minister- developed appeasement into a
more eminent degree, for instance, ratifying Germany’s takeover of
Sudetenland by Munich Agreement. As Sir Anthony Eden said, the outbreak
of the Second World War was inevitable despite the efforts put into
appeasement which aimed international peace, but the appeasement was not
always proved to be bad.
The
appeasement of Hitler acted as a catalyst of Hitler’s strength and
ambitions for further territorial acquirement. After Hitler broke
disarmament and left the League of Nations in 1933, he declared
Germany’s rearmament in 1935. In the same year, Britain signed
Anglo-German Naval Agreement with Germany which allowed Germany to have
35% of the Royal Navy’s fleet, giving Hitler an encouraging opportunity
to strengthen German power. Furthermore, Britain and France were
enabling Hitler to break two international treaties, Treaty of
Versailles and Locarno Treaties, by not intervening Hitler for his
invasion of Rhineland. France was not going to take action unless it had
Britain’s assistance but as Britain viewed German action to be
justified[2], (George Bernard Shaw described it as a "triumphant rescue of his country from the yoke the Allies imposed)"[3]
Britain, who wanted to settle complaint of Germany and create balance
of power, did not make any attempt to prevent Hitler’s violation and so
neither did France. In fact Germany had a much weaker military force
than France (evidence?) as AJP Taylor states that it would have taken 10
years for Germany to “become a formidable military power.”[4] German generals were disapproving of Hitler’s plan for its uncertainty[5] and even Hitler warned his soldiers to withdraw if the French were to fight back.[6]
However, the nonintervention of France and Britain reassured Hitler
that these countries would not prevent him from such aggressive actions
like in Rhineland since their only focus was placed on the maintenance
of peace without provoking any war. As a result this “triumphant
rescue” was not simply limited to a rescue but was rather seemed to be a
triumphant ignition point of Hitler’s territorial invasion. Jeffery
Record, a professor at U.S. Air Force’s Air War College notes in his
book that “With each act of appeasement, Hitler's appetite grew.”[7]
Austria was easily taken over, Hitler once more breaking the Treaty of
Versailles by the German-Austrian Anschluss. There were no more
guarantees remaining in international treaties. Winston Churchill said,
“What is the effect of this upon what is called the balance of power?”[8]
He was correct, for Britain and France were offering Hitler too many
chances than their action to be considered as merely ways to keep
balance of power. In 1938, Neville Chamberlain, who became Prime
Minister of Britain in 1937, made a conspicuous mark on appeasement with
Munich Agreement. He was ratifying Germany’s takeover of Sudetenland
of Czechoslovakia, which was an astonishing fact that Britain was not
simply remaining nonchalant as usual but proposing to legalize the
invasion. What made this agreement look worse was the noteworthy calibre
of the land given. Sudetenland, although was not the entire
Czechoslovakia, was containing important resources such as coal and -as
the country’s defensive zone- had majority of border fortifications.[9]
Czechoslovakia now lost the most important core region of its country
and was geographically fragile. Moreover, Czechoslovakia’s
high-developed arms industry was under German control. Simply by taking
what the agreement has offered him, Hitler was not only expanding
German territory but also its militaristic strength. With such
acquirement, according to R.J. Overy, “German demands became more
uncompromising,”[10]
and it easily invaded the entire Czechoslovakia, having his first
conquering success with non-German population, and Poland, giving
Neville Chamberlain’s realization of the limitation to appeasement.
Britain was the country which mostly contributed to the appeasement
policy with its consolidated aim to prevent war but it consequentially
made itself to declare war, not Germany. Appeasement, which aimed to
keep peace by settlement of grievances of Germany, was thought to be
meaningless for it failed to continue the peace but lead to another
catastrophic war—The Second World War.
Besides, the Anglo-French appeasement, though somehow
managing to satisfy Hitler, stirred up grievances and apprehension in
other nations. Since Britain and France were in the collective security
of the League of Nations was this really an organ of “collective
security” at the time? , many nations turned out to be relying on these
countries to be protected from Germany. For example, the Soviet Union,
which feared Poland since its invasion of Soviet Union in 1920 (more
lies) , was more scared for it was signing a pact with Germany, so it
joined the League of Nations. However, as mentioned above, Germany was
growing in its strength and the appeasement was beginning to be
mistrusted. Britain had promised not to breach any treaty unilaterally
in Stresa Front (1935), signed with France and Italy, but it did sign
the Anglo-German Naval Agreement with Germany in the next year,
allowing Germany to have stronger navy. Britain’s action against the
Stresa Front made France and Italy to have suspicion of its position as
appeaser because they thought Britain was helping Germany to grow
stronger and more aggressive. Italy, who was invading Abyssinia,
thought Britain was weak and it will not try to stop its action just
like it did not for Hitler, and continued its invasion, seizing the
capital of Abyssinia. France had once again disappointed at Britain
when it rejected to help France fight against Hitler invading
Rhineland, for it thought Hitler’s action was justified. In 1938,
Germany invaded Sudetenland and in the next year, invaded the entire
Czechoslovakia and Poland; Hitler was making his territorial expansion
eastwards. Stalin could not rely on Britain or France at all; he had to
find ways to protect his country. Soviet Union signed Nazi-Soviet Pact
with Hitler, solving Hitler’s fear of having two-front war again like
Germany did in the First World War. Jeffrey Record writes this pact was
the product of “Anglo-French appeasement of Hitler.”[11] Gabriel Gorodetsky also states in his book Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German invasion of Russia
that the pact was ‘rather the result of profound Soviet mistrust of
Britain and France,’ not ‘a “stab in the back” action or revolutionary
“blueprint” or the “alliance.” ’ [12]
Germany, because of Stalin, was now free to attack the West as it did
not have to worry about the East anymore. Munich Agreement bought a
great deal of hatred from Czechoslovakia as it did not simply let
Germany have Sudetenland and offer an opportunity to invade the country
but more for the fact that it did so without engaging Czechoslovakia,
the victim itself. Even right before his flight to Munich, Chamberlain
telegraphed to Prague, saying “I shall have the interests of
Czechoslovakia fully in my mind.”[13]
However, this was completely proved to be a lie. To Edvard Benes, the
President of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France were not “friends” but
only “cowards” who “must be punished.”[14]
The appeasement policy was providing Hitler chances to satisfy his
desire of territorial expansion and simultaneously, turned many other
nations’ viewpoint to be pessimistic. Britain was seen to be
irresponsible and unsuitable to its position as appeaser and so was
France. Furthermore, the Anglo-French appeasement was creating mistrust
between France and Britain. Appeasement was not limited to two leading
nations of it, Britain and France, but required support form a wide
range of area since it was a diplomatic policy that aimed to achieve
global peace, not satisfying Hitler individually. However, it was only
focusing on Germany, and by causing suspicion and rage in other nations,
it could not earn much support and was therefore doomed to fail. You
could have offered Czech chances of beating Hitler without the British
or French
Nonetheless, the Anglo-French appeasement was making
contribution to a maximum extent to prevent war and in doing so helped
Britain to prepare war against Germany in the future. In Britain’s
perspective, the Treaty of Versailles was being too harsh on Germany
and it thought such aggressive German actions were only possible due to
its grievances produced from the injustice of the treaty. For
instance, the Disarmament Conference was only making Germany to disarm
more and more while highly militarized nations such as France were not
even disarming until fifth year and then did so only in terms of number
of soldiers.[15]
So for Hitler to break disarmament was not an unfair pursuit of his
own interest but settlement of the injustice of Western powers. When
Germany started rearmament, Britain seemed not to stop Hitler, but in
fact Britain did by negotiating with him by giving him a limited growth
of arms with Anglo-German Naval Agreement. The agreement might have
been regarded as an opportunity for Hitler to grow German military
strength but Britain was offering a limit to it, without its presence,
Germany would have been able to rearm with no such limitation. There
were also plausible reasons for Britain to allow Germany invading
Rhineland, Austria and Sudetenland. Britain thought these lands were,
if no coercive restriction was set by the Treaty of Versailles,
supposed to belong to Germany. There were 6 million Germans in Austria,
who were forbidden to reunify with Germany due to Treaty of
Versailles; 3 million in Czechoslovakia, who were ignored.[16]
The demilitarization of Rhineland was also set by the treaty in 1919
and Britain considered German reoccupation of it merely as returning
Germany’s “own backyard.”[17]
In fact Britain did not always let Germany use violation. When Spanish
civil War broke out, Britain and France organized Non-Intervention
Committee and Germany joined it, though was a lie, to stay as neutral
country. [18]
Germany later broke its promise and fought in the war by joining
forces with Italy. Considering this perspective, it was Italy that made
Hitler more ambitious, not Britain or France, who simply put efforts
and tried to stop Hitler being too violent. When Hitler tried to
dismember Czechoslovakia and rejected to listen to Britain to stop its
action, Chamberlain flew to Germany to meet Hitler in person, which was
the first time of a British prime minister’s flight. This, in addition
to France’s decision not to fight, convinced Hitler to sign Munich
Agreement and promise that it would be his “last territorial demand.” He
could have attempted to invade the entire Czechoslovakia but Britain
succeeded in stopping him and make an end-mark of his territorial
invasion by giving only a part of the country. Neville Chamberlain was
not a person who could foresee the future in which Hitler would break
his promise and though Hitler broke the agreement, Chamberlain surely
has to be given a credit since he put great amount of efforts to stop
Hitler’s aggression as much as he could. A country which gave this
credit was the United States, an isolationist who, at the initial stage,
was unwilling to intervene in European affairs. The US, despite its
position as a neutral country, was now trying to supply arms and raw
materials to Britain and France.[19]
More importantly, this help was largely due to the high moral ground
built by Chamberlain’s efforts. More I think to its hope to get money.
Though it was beyond people’s attention, Chamberlain was the leading
figure in rearming Britain during the years of appeasement,[20] which meant he was also caring about the protection and strength
of its own country and wanted them to be secured. Some nations like
France and members of British Foreign Office regretted for allowing
Rhineland invasion and thought they had to fight against Germany with
force. According to AJP Taylor, Germany had strong government and it
could “again make Germany a great military power.” [21] However, Britain did not have sufficient economy to increase arms expenditure nor any armed force,[22] and it has been mentioned, the US was isolationist and France was a
country which (who is for PEOPLE) relied on Britain. If the war was to
break out anyway, it is very clear that it was much better to break out
in the year it actually did, because without this period of rearmament
and the support from the U.S., the situation might have looked quite
different, in a bad way. Shortly, the appeasement helped as much as it
could to prevent war and though it failed to, it had given Britain high
morality during its years of process. With such moral ground, Britain
succeeded in being supported by the US and making itself stronger enough
to fight in a war.
In consequence, the Anglo-French appeasement of Hitler in
the 1930’s, though a failure as a result, at least was a genuine
attempt to maintain peace by solving complaints of a nation. During its
years, it was seen unsuccessful due to the fact that it initially
settled grievances of Hitler but later made Hitler’s desire bold and
even provided opportunities for him to fulfil it. Many nations were
beginning to be skeptical about the appeasement and Britain. They felt
it was threatening their countries as it made Germany more aggressive
and started to seek ways to protect their own countries, some
persuading Britain to take action against Hitler, and some deserting
hope of being protected by Britain and directly going to support
Hitler. Nonetheless, the appeasement was, for quite many times, setting
limits on Germany’s aggressive action, such as those on arms growth
and the area it was going to take over. Moreover, by offering Britain
high moral ground, the appeasement made the country deserve to get
military support from the US and it gave enough time for Britain to
strengthen itself by rearmament. Therefore, no matter how the
consequence was, the appeasement should not always be seen with
criticism but to be considered with addition of compliment, for it did
settle grievances of Germany and many times did made contributions to
the prevention war.
[1] http://thinkexist.com/quotes/anthony_eden/
[2] AJP Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1961, pg. 103
[3] http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958452-5,00.html
[4] AJP Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1961, pg. 104
[5]http://www.ellonacademy.org.uk/subjects/Departments/history/Inter_Advanced_Higher_pages/Appeasement%20notes/rhrineland.htm
[6] http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remilitarization_of_the_Rhineland
[7] Jeffrey Record, Appeasement Reconsidered: Investigating the Mythology of the 1930s, DIANE Publishing, 2005, pg. 2
[8] http://www.ers.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/History/Sources.htm
[9] http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/czechoslovakia_1938.htm
[10] R.J. Overy, The origins of the Second World War, Longman, 1998, pg. 66
[11] Jeffrey Record, Appeasement Reconsidered: Investigating the Mythology of the 1930s, DIANE Publishing, 2005, pg. 39
[12] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3686/is_/ai_n8915701
[13] AJP Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1961, pg. 228
[14] Igor Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler: The Diplomacy of Edvard Benes in the 1930’s, Oxford University Press, 1996, pg. 262
[15] International Military Tribunal, Trial of German Major War Criminals, William S Hein & Co, 2001, Pg. 284
[16] AJP Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1961, pg. 172-173
[17] http://www.blacksacademy.net/content/3116.html
[18] R.J. Overy, The origins of the Second World War, Longman, 1998, pg. 26
[19] ibid., pg. 70
[20] AJP Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1961, pg. 172
[21] ibid. pg. 102
