How and Why the Nazis Rose to Power
In this essay I will explain how and why the Nazis rose to power, elaborating on the circumstances of the great depression, the Weimar republic, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Hitler and the Nazis were not prosperous in gaining power from up to 1928, this is because people thought all Nazis were brutes and believed that Hitler was a big joke. Nobody was interested in the Nazi ideas or plans and plus, Germany wasn’t quite ready for them. But Hitler soon came into power in many different ways. He promised to undo the Versailles Treaty which Germany had to reparation to England and France.
He also promised to restore hope and to deal with the depression. Hitler also blamed the Jews for inflicting tragedy to Germany. Everyone soon agreed to the Nazi plans for getting rid of democracy and started to follow his ways. 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 German companies collapsed, the unemployment rate was extremely high, everyone resulted to violence and farming was a crisis because of the low food prices.
The government didn’t know what to do so in July 1930 the chancellor cut wages and unemployment pay which had to be the worst thing to do during the depression. The anger and bitterness helped the Nazis to gain more support; in 1928, the Nazis had only 12 seats in the Reichstag and by July 1932 they had 230 seats and were the largest party. The Weimar Republic was after WWI when Germany became a democratic republic after the Kaiser fled. German citizens were allowed to vote, hold meeting for trade unions and would only be arrested if they broke the law which was all fair.
There were many problems with the Weimar Republic which was the high unemployment, hunger, poverty; hyperinflation and the leaders were blamed for signing the hated Treaty of Versailles. The Weimar Republic lasted until 1945, when the German government was finally dissolved because of the Second World War. The main reason why he became chancellor was because of the great depression advantage he had but Hitler was also a great speaker, with the power to make people support him. 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. The SA also attacked the Nazis opponents. The Nazis were clearly all Fascists because they all had very extreme right wing views which were racist and nationalistic (e. g. getting rid of Jews/ perfect race). There are many reasons why Hitler had come to power. Germany had just been through a war and had lost. The Treaty of Versailles made a contract for Germany which made living in Germany very hard.
The people of Germany were poor and where upset with the Treaty. They wanted someone to help them out of the hole they were in. So Hitler offered them everything they wanted, the people of Germany were brain washed with posters, radio, newspapers and leaflets. Hitler’s speeches where strong and effective, the Germans liked the idea of having one strong leader. The Nazis were organised and smart, people liked that; in 1930 The Nazis pulled 6,500,000 votes. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg on 30th January 1933 which was 1/3 of the total votes an outstanding 13,500,000.
