Hitler's rise to power

Hitler's rise to power cannot be attributed to one event, but a mixture of factors including events happening outside Germany, the strengths of the Nazi party, and the weaknesses of other parties within Germany.
Hitler used these factors to his advantage and in 1933 he legitimately gained power to become chancellor

Summary

Wall Street crash- In 1929, the American stock Exchange collapsed, and caused an economic depression. America called in all its foreign loans, which destroyed Weimar Germany. Unemployment in Germany rose to 6 million.

The government did not know what to do. In July 1930 Chancellor Brüning cut government expenditure, wages and unemployment pay - the worst thing to do during a depression. He could not get the Reichstag to agree to his actions, so President Hindenburg used Article 48 to pass the measures by decree.

Anger and bitterness helped the Nazis to gain more support.

Many workers turned to communism, but this frightened wealthy businessmen, so they financed Hitler's campaigns.Many middle-class people, alarmed by the obvious failure of democracy, decided that the country needed a strong government. Nationalists and racists blamed the treaty of Versailles and reparations.

In 1928, the Nazis had only 12 seats in the Reichstag; by July 1932 they had 230 seats and were the largest party.

The government was in chaos. President Hindenburg dismissed Brüning in 1932. His replacement - Vincent von Papen - lasted six months, and the next chancellor - Schleicher - only lasted two months. Hindenburg had to use Article 48 to pass almost every law.
Reasons why Hitler rose to power
1. Hitler was a great speaker, with the power to make people support him.
2. The moderate political parties would not work, although together they had more support than the Nazis.
3. The depression of 1929 created poverty and unemployment, which made people angry with the Weimar government. People lost confidence in the democratic system and turned towards the extremist political parties such as the Communists and Nazis during the depression.
4. The Nazi storm troopers attacked Hitler's opponents.
5. Goebbels' propaganda campaign was very effective and it won support for the Nazis. The Nazis targeted specific groups of society with different slogans and policies to win their support.
6. Hitler was given power in a seedy political deal by Hindenburg and Papen who foolishly thought they could control him.
7. German people were still angry about the Treaty of Versailles and supported Hitler because he promised to overturn it.
8. Industrialists gave Hitler money and support.

	Created by Kerryann Collar about 9 years ago

GCSE History (Nazi Germany) Note on Hitler's rise to power, created by Kerryann Collar on 18/10/2015.