Hitler's+Rise+to+Power

Despite people's beliefs and perceptions, Hitler did in fact, legally come to power. He was appointed Chancellor in 1933. However, his rise to absolute power was due to several events leading up to the end of the Gleichschlatung period in 1937. Adolf Hitler rose to power due to the overall failure of the Weimar Republic, as well as his own past setbacks which led to the development of his strong ideals which were supported by the German people. Early on, Hitler expressed his political feelings in his book Mein Kampf which was published in 1925. It sold roughly 240,000 copies between 1925 and 1934. All throughout Germany, people were reading about one man's view regarding the German government and this was during a time of political and economic failure for Germany. So the German citizens, in effect, believed that he would unify Germany and this is how he was elected as Chancellor. Hitler was ushered in, after the failure of a Republic that had such high goals.He dealt with class separations which caused violence, high inflation, unemployment as well as many other issues. There was a lot of rebuilding that needed to be done and Hitler tried to accomplish this through the development of the Third Reich. The Third Reich was temporarily successful because of it's strong ideals, structure, sense of unity, and leaders utilized the usage of propaganda to draw more people for support.

Hitler’s rise to power was a result of chain events stemming from the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, and the poor resolution of World War I. A worldwide economic crisis, weak government, fear of communism, and a historical dictatorship in Germany were all contributing factors in Hitler’s rise to power. With poor leadership and a constitution with authoritarian articles written into it, the fall of the Weimar Republic was inevitable. Hitler’s rise to power was not a result of any singular event but a result of a complex and harsh situation incorrectly placed on Germany.

With the crash of the stock market, harsh penalties from the War Guilt Clause, and Germany’s export based economy nobody felt the Great Depression like Germany. The collapse of the world economy following the Wall Street Crash threw the plans of the 1920s into disarray [i]. The stock market crash had detrimental effects on Germany and their export economy. Germany could not sell their goods overseas since other countries could not afford to buy them nor risk threatening their own products by supporting another country [ii]. The German populous never suffered as much under a dictator as they did under the Weimar Republic during the depression that led to the questioning of democracy. Germany was also dependent on American loans and with the depression the inability to pay off American loans only furthered the depression in Germany. The depression in Germany was fueled further by the extreme expectations in the War Guilt Clause. The War Guilt Clause stated that ‘Germany accepts the responsibilities of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their allies have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of their allies’ and reparations were to be paid [iii]. Having the War Guilt Clause to deal with on top of a global depression put added strain on the already young and weak Weimar Government and was, undoubtedly, a major factor in Hitler’s rise to power.

The popular opinion in Germany was that when the Weimar Republic was constructed the new, weak democracy replaced a powerful dictatorship, which Germany flourished under. Democracy was foreign to the German populous and the Weimar Republic, with an economic crisis on its hands and unbelievable strains brought on by the Treaty of Versailles the new democracy did not make a good first impression. With the public opinion already against democracy the Weimar Republic never had a legitimate chance to succeed. There were few prominent, inspiring democratic leaders to combat the outspoken and inspiring anti-system leaders. Nazism was also a less feared anti-system party and provided an alternative to Communism, which was feared throughout Europe at the time [iv]. Nazism appeared to be less radical than communism but still would remove the weak Weimar Republic that had struggled through its short existence. The weak democratic government allowed for a leader, such as Hitler, to seize the opportunity and rise to power.

On top of the poor leadership of democratic supporters, article 48, an authoritarian like article was written into the Weimar constitution. Article 48 states that, if a state fails to perform the duties imposed upon it by the federal constitution or by federal law, the President may enforce performance with the aid of the armed forces, if public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered within the Federation, the President, may take all necessary steps for their restoration, intervening, if need be, with the aid of the armed forces, and for the said purpose he may suspend for the time being, either wholly or in part, the fundamental rights described in Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153 [v]. Once Bruning was elected and began “governing Germany by the use of Article 48, he was almost a semi-dictator”, which set the stage for Hitler’s rise to dictator in 1933. With Germany already being run with an authoritarian style by Bruning and Nazis gaining more and more support with each election, the stage was set for Hitler to gain power long before his election.

There was no shortage of short and long term causes of Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. The stressors on Germany were worse than for any other nation at the time and the country looked to a strong, provocative, and anti-system leader. Germany sought a strong leader to pull them out of a depression felt worldwide. That leader was Adolf Hitler. The poor settlement of World War I was ultimately what sparked the fuse that led to Hitler’s rise to power. A worldwide economic crisis, a history of dictatorship, harsh and unreasonable penalties placed upon Germany, a widespread European fear of communism, and few prominent democratic leaders were too much for the young and weak Weimar Republic to sustain against a passionate and inspiring Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler.

[i] Wolfson, Robert, and John Laver. //Years of Change European History 1890-1990//. P. 291 [ii] Ibid. P. 291 [iii] Ibid. Pp. 146-147 [iv] Simon, Jessica. "Germans Elect Nazis." //The History Place//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. . [v] O'Brien, Joseph V. "The Constitution of the German Federation of August 11, 1919." //Schools History//. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. .