The Reichstag Fire led to the Enabling Act because Hitler had managed to convince Hindenburg that it was a ‘communists uprising’. This manages Hitler to prove to Germany that communists were bad people and he would have get more votes, in the next elections. However, I also disagree with the statement ‘the Reichstag Fire more important than the Enabling Act in allowing Hitler to consolidate power’ because of other several reasons. Firstly, the Enabling Act made a Hitler a virtual dictator. Nobody could stop him, even Hindenburg.
This could have acted as a powerbase for the Kapp Putsch and the eventual rise of the Nazis. The humiliation was also a main factor in weakening prospects for democracy for two reasons it led to stab in the back myth and a national inferiority complex. The stab in the back myth was perpetuated by the far right and the leading army generals. The stab in the back myth was that Germany was not losing ww1 and that the democratic politicians “stabbed Germany in the back” by surrendering to the entente. This allowed the far right to exploit the Germans hate of the treaty of Versailles and connect the treaty to democracy, so the people wouldn’t blame the loss of ww1 on the army but the democratic politician’s.
The result of the 1945 election was a shock to not only the people of Britain but also the parliamentary parties, one of the main reasons thought to have led to Labour’s victory, was Churchill’s radio broadcast, in which he stated socialism could not be established without a ‘Gestapo’. Source one, an extract from Margaret Thatcher’s book, explains her thoughts when listening to Churchill’s 1945 radio broadcast. Thatcher believes Churchill said was correct in what he said, but his use of the word ‘Gestapo’ was inappropriate, and wasn’t particularly helpful for post-war Britain. However it could be argued Thatcher knew that what Churchill said was a mistake, but as she was part of the same conservative party as he was, she couldn’t admit it. Although, she does admit even she was shocked when listening to the speech, as she explains “the line was not believable”.
Assess the view that the most important element in maintaining Hitler's regime in power between 1933 and 1945 was the consent of the German people There was an original view that the German people feared the regime but there has been a view put forward that the German people actually helped the regime by participating with the Gestapo but still many people believe that the German populace lived in fear of the regime. This was because of many different reasons like the use of Propaganda to control the minds of the Germans. The use of fear to make sure that they acted in the way that the regime demanded. Another key element in the regime was the use of fear to scare the Germans into supporting them. The removal of the opposition was also a useful fact into the Nazis staying in power.
Also, the weakness and exploitation of the Weimar Constitution played a similarly important role as proportional representation and article 48 both created a path for the Nazi Party to gain influence in the Reichstag. Overall, however, the rise of the Nazi Party must be considered as the main reason for the failure of the Weimar Republic, as the Nazi’s electoral success eventually led to the political intrigues which oversaw Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933 which ultimately led to their success in the March 1933 election and the passing of the enabling act in 1933, which ultimately confirmed that the Weimar Republic had failed. During the period of 1924 – 27 the Nazi party was banned as result of the Beer Hall Putsch. The dramatic increase in votes from 0.8 million in 1928, to 17.3 million in 1933, highlights just how rapid the rise of the Nazi Party was after their emergence from the ‘quiet years’ in 1927. It can be argued that this was down to the popularity of Adolf Hitler and thus led to the failure of the Weimar Republic, as his popularity paved the way for his invitation into the chancellorship, from which he was able to manipulate his way to the presidency.
As well as the Depression, the collapse of the Republic can be linked to a large number of factors, including the influence of the army, political instability and constitutional weaknesses. One of the most consequential outcomes of the Depression was the opportunity that it provided Hitler. A majority of the citizens lost faith and belief in the current Social Democratic government, turning instead to the confident and dynamic leader of Hitler. As Evans asserts, ‘citizens began to see in the youthful dynamism of the Nazi Party as a way out of the situation’. What Evans means by this is that the desperation of the people led them to polarising their votes and seeing radical leaders like Hitler as a solution to the mess that Germany had become.
This rise to power is important since the SS played a big role in the events in Germany for the duration of Nazi rule. The Night of the Long Knives, supposedly repressed a planned revolution by the SA, led by Ernst Rohm. Hitler, who had recently found status as a respected politician, was wary of these rumours undermining that status, and felt threatened by the rumours that the SA, were planning a “second
n 1919, Anton Drexler, Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart formed the German Worker's Party (GPW) in Munich. The German Army was worried that it was a left-wing revolutionary group and sent Adolf Hitler, one of its education officers, to spy on the organization. Hitler discovered that the party's political ideas were similar to his own. He approved of Drexler's German nationalism and anti-Semitism but was unimpressed with the way the party was organized. Although there as a spy, Hitler could not restrain himself when a member made a point he disagreed with, and he stood up and made a passionate speech on the subject.
Another example of the United States failing to civil liberties was that they would mistreat the German Americans. Attorney Generals would carry out raids on German Americans with little real evidence of wrong doing. They would do this To the German Americans just because they were at war with the Germans. This Impacted the United States because it mistreated people who had the right to be in the United States just because they were German Americans they would take their rights
Another reason to why America is to blame is after the success of the atomic bomb the members of the Grand Alliance began to see changes in Truman’s behaviour as he started to control the meetings they had and Stalin refused to be bossed around so arguments between Stalin and Truman started, they started. The USSR is to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance for many reasons. One reason is that the USSR wanted to impose big respirations on Germany but America and Great Britain refused as they knew how it would affect Germany and could cause another war. A second reason is that Stalin wanted most of Europe to become communist, Roosevelt and Churchill didn’t agree. After Truman became Americas new President there was a lot of tension at the Potsdam Conference.