History Revision Questions (Mock)

'The development and success of the Nazis in the years 1920 to 1941 was due to Hitler's leadership.' Assess the validity of this view. (25)

Introduction - It is greatly debated what kind of leadership the Nazi party had during there time in power - many historians = an intentionality and autocratic state that was run solely and intentionally by Hitler himself - some historians = an structralist and polycratic state that was manipulated by many other members of the Nazi party and government that will allow them to get the policies they wanted into place and with Hitler being used as a puppet - either way clear that the Nazi party had great success between the years of 1920 and 1941Agree- It is almost undisputable that Adolf Hitler had exceptional oratory skills - this and many other things such as his strong personality and overwhelming charisma - allowed him to become the undisputed leader of the Nazi party in 1921 taking over from Drexler - this was after he had contributed to the 25 point programme in the previous year - all of this and his ability to draw in large crowds allowed for the Nazi party to grow in popularity and membership - his oratory skills came in particularly useful in the years between 1930 and 1932 where he was able to convince many Germans to vote for the Nazi party set the party in good stead to reach great success between the years of 1920 and 1941 due to Hitler's leadership of the party Agree - On the 8th November 1923 Hitler led the Munich putsch - an unsuccessful attempt to take over power and he received nine month imprisonment in which he wrote Mein Kampf - during this time the Nazi party faced difficulties and nearly fell apart due to his unique charisma and leadership skills - however once he had been realised from prison Hitler set about re-launching the party and through imposing his leadership was able to transform it into a mass organisation - highlights his leadership skills he possessed and how the development and success of his party was due to these factorsDisagree - Josef Goebbels was a significantly important member of the Nazi party especially in the years of 1920 - 1933 in a bid to get the Nazi party into power and Hitler into the chancellorship - Goebbels used propaganda in order to do this - Goebbels exploited much of the discontent of the people surrounding the economic conditions in Germany at the time and as a result was able to strengthen the power of the Nazi party - this instance it was not the leadership skills of Hitler that allowed for the success or development of the Nazi party but rather the intelligence in intuition of Goebbels within his party that allowed for the strengthening of the Nazi party - this being said whilst the propaganda was conducted by Goebbels Hitler was still the face of the party and allowed for the political party to develop and grow in strength through ideas such as the cult of the Fuher - made clear to the people trough propaganda that that a vote for the Nazi party was in fact a vote for Hitler - would not have had the success they did leading up to Hitler become chancellor in January 1933 if it weren't for him being in the position of Nazi party leader Agree - Hitler had the ability to make decisions that allowed for the strengthening and development of the Nazi party - example in the night of long knives in June 1934 - where he destroyed the power of the violent SA in a bid to remain in control and allow for the continued success of the Nazi party - felt that Rohm who wanted to place himself as head of a merged SA and army was gaining too much control and Hitler disliked how he disagreed with him such as Hitler's compliance with the traditional elites in1933 and as a result called for a 'second revolution'- this showed how he feared the power other figures of the Nazi party may posses and used ruthless tactics in order to ensure he had undisputed power and control - kept the loyalty of the army in the end Disagree- A lot of the Nazi's success could be argued to be down to nothing more than timing and luck - the economic depression that followed the Wall Street crash - between 24th and 29th October 1929 - US stock market collapsed - impact was felt worldwide but even more so in Germany - trade fell back, investment dried up and short term loans we recalled - this had an impact of the Germany economy and the people were hit hard and with a budget deficit of 1700 million Marks by the end of 1929 it is to no surprise that many of the German people turned to more extreme parties such as the Nazi party headed by Hitler - before the economic depression the Nazi party were only polling votes of around 3% - shows how it was the German's people desire for a change that caused the success and continued development of the Nazi party - However it could be argued that the way in which Hitler manipulated the economic crisis to his advantage was what allowed the Nazi party to grow blaming the existing government and causing a fear that may necessarily have been there if it were not for his strong leadership skills Disagree - possible to argue that Hitler used his leadership skills to manipulate certain situations - supports the internationalist viewpoint - some could argue that he was actually rather 'lazy' in his approach to politics and allowed the other key figures in the Nazi party to do the work and allow the party to develop and succeed - key figures include Goebbels who worked on Hitler's propaganda campaign including the introduction of the people's radio and films that promoted Nazi ideology - and Himmler of whom helped to create a terror state under the Nazi party which allowed for the growing of the Nationalist Socialist party - Therefore it was not due to the leadership skills of Hitler but the skills of others that led to the continued development and success of the Nazi party between the years of 1920 and 1941Conclusion -Whilst it is clear that Hitler did in fact have strong leadership skills - displayed through his oratory skills and charisma that drew in large crows and persuaded many to vote for the party causing them to be a threat to the standing government politically - Hitler's leadership skills appears to be one of the many factors that caused the Nazi party to not only develop but to also achieve continued success between the years of 1920 and 1941 - Both circumstance - with the Wall Street Crash and the depression that followed as a result aided this occurrence of development of the political party - it was the key figures in the Nazi party such as Goebbels and his propaganda and cult of the Fuhrer that allowed the party to grow and not the leadership skills of Hitler from 1920-1941

Source - Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the arguments in these three extracts are in relation to the economic and political strength of the Weimar Republic before 1929