How did Hitler become Chancellor in 1933?

After the Reichstag elections of July 1932 the Nazis were the largest single party (with 230 seats) but not a majority party. Hitler demanded the post of Chancellor from the President, the old war hero Hindenburg. However, Hindenburg was suspicious of Hitler and refused. He allowed the current Chancellor Franz Von Papen (an old friend of Hindenburg) to carry on as Chancellor.

However, von Papen was soon in trouble. He had virtually no support at all in the Reichstag, and so called yet another election in 1932. In the November 1932 electin, the Nazis remained the most popular party...but again Hindenburg refused to make Hitler Germany's Chancelor. Hindenburg again refused to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. In December 1932 he chose Kurt von Schleicher, one of his own advisers and a bitter rival of von Papen. Von Papen, remained as an adviser to Hindenburg.

Within a month, however, von Schleicher too was forced to resign. By this time it was clear that the Weimar system of government was not working. In one sense, Hindenburg had already overthrown the principles of democracy by trying to rule Germany with emergency powers. He didn't consult the Reichstag on any of the decisions he was making to do with the running of the country. If he was to rescue the fragile democratic system of the Weimar government, he would need a chancellor who actually had support in the Reichstag.

Through January 1933 Hindenburg and von Papen met secretly with industrailists, army leaders and politicians. And on 30 January, to everyone's great surprise, they offered Hitler the post of Chancellor.

Why did they do this? With only a few Nazis in the Cabinet (the real important people of authority) and von Papen as vice Chancellor, they were confident that they could limit Hitler's influence and resist his extreme demands on how to run the country. Hitler would just be there to get support in the Reichstag and to control the communists. So Hitler ended up as Chancellor not because of the will of German people that voted him in, but through a behind-the-scenes deal by German authorities. Both Hindenburg and von Papen were sure that they could control Hitler. Both were wrong.

	Created by lucyplatten621999 over 9 years ago

GCSE History (Hitler's rise) Note on How did Hitler become Chancellor in 1933?, created by lucyplatten621999 on 02/03/2015.