Analysis of the Factors Leading to Hitler's Rise to Power

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Analysis of the factors leading to Hitler’s rise to power Used by later historians and members of the NSDAP, the term Machtergreifung, in translation the seizure of power, referring to the inauguration of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933 is a misconception. In fact that day when President Hindenburg appointed Hitler, the legal foundations for a multi-party system still stood, the actual transition to a totalitarian, single party state only came later that year. But most importantly, the term began to collocate with the historical view that the Weimar Republic was doomed or fated to be controlled by Hitler and the Nazis, and it was the due process of history that came about. It is true, however, that the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution, and the political inexperience of the German people served as a catalyst in evoking the collapse of democracy. But Hitler’s person and political success was the result of desperate industrialists, his excellent handling of the relationship with the army and sheer misfortune. By holding the economic crisis of 1929 and the hyperinflation of the early 1920s responsible for undermining the German people’s confidence in moderate political parties, historian Erich Eyck points out a very important correlation. His argument is supported by the fact that the first big electoral win of the Nazi party –gaining 6.5% of the votes in May 1924– was just right after the hyperinflation of the German Paper Mark reaching a peak. Accordingly, in the next 4 –financially peaceful– years their popularity dropped to 3 and even to 2.6%. Such was the case after the 1929 economic crisis, receiving the support of shocking 37.3%, just in the month when the unemployment rate reaches its highest point with 24.6%. Eyck is right in the sense that there was an irrefutable influence of the badly performing economy on particular groups of people,
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