With the Nazi Party now firmly rooted in the political scene, Hitler sought to combine his power through the implementation of the Enabling Act; this law would effectively abolish any trace of power held by the Reichstag and the president. The introduction of the Gleichschaltung from 1933 to 1934 allowed a widespread reconfiguration of all areas of German life and thus saw the Nazification of the nation, enforcing the extent to which Nazi ideology had permeated the scope of German society and the limitless parameters of Hitler’s authority. This was assisted by the intimidation inspired by Hitler’s SA and SS, who successfully eliminated any opposition of the Nazi state. Finally, however, it was the support of the Reichswehr that would pave the rule of Nazism in Germany, which was only obtained as a result of the Night of the Long Knives, where the threat of usurpation by the SA was abolished and Hitler’s ruler ship in the event of Hindenburg’s death was guaranteed. The conservative parties and elites made up of the army, right-wing parties, politicians, businessmen and Junkers had a major role in the
This essay will examine the main factors that enabled Hitler to create his empire and argue that all these factors accounted to the legality of his control over every aspect of Germany’s society, enabling Hitler to establish a dictatorship. The means that enabled him to do this were the manipulation of the legal system and the control of three branches of society: the media, the unions and the army. The manipulation of the legal system formed a foundation for Hitler to establish a dictatorship. After the previous Chancellor resigned within a month, it was obvious that the Weimar system of government was not working. Hindenburg needed a Chancellor who had realistic support in the Reichstag and Hitler was given the position.
This led to the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 Hitler aided by General Lundendorff and a few hundred supporters marched on the Munich town hall as a pretext to a national revolution, unfortunately for Hitler this attempt failed and he was sent to prison. Similarly during the late 19th century and early 20th century Russia's political situation was as problematic as Germans. It is important to mention
He found himself supporting the extremely Anti-Semitic beliefs of Anton Drexler. It was only a few weeks later that Hitler became a member of the party and was in charge of spreading the message to everyone about the German Workers Party. By the early 1920’s, Hitler was involved with drafting the party programme. This included looking at its list of beliefs, aims and objectives. Hitler then went onto changing the name of the party from the German Workers Party to the National Socialist German Workers Party but it was commonly known as the Nazi Party.
The Night of the Long Knives Describe and explain how and why Hitler consolidated his power by eliminating opposition and accommodating support in this event. Between 1929 and 1933, a series of events brought Adolf Hitler to power in the crumbling Weimar Republic; now facing economic crisis and political disunity. Although encountering great opposition from the general public and, particularly, the left wing, within a year of his appointment Hitler had already removed most, if not all, of the surrounding disapproval. However, even though opposition from the outside had been terminated, there still remained dangers from within the government and the Nazi Party itself. On one side, Hitler needed to gain the approval of the Reichswehr and, on the other; he had to reassert his power by eliminating any threat of opposition from the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm.
Nazism was a revolution, and revolutions tend to devour their own.” The words of Robert Smith Thompson (2003, 141) have just described the crisis that was facing the Weimar Republic in the years 1933-1939. Adolf Hitler had risen to power and the 14 year old democratic republic was about to be eradicated in favour of something more sinister. Totalitarianism can be described as relating to a form of government that permits no rival loyalties or parties, demanding entire subservience of the individual to the state (the Concise Oxford dictionary). A totalitarian state’s ideologies reject existing societies as corrupt, immoral and beyond reform. They demand total conformity of all the people and their ideas and information is displayed through effective use of propaganda (TV, radio, press and education.)
To what extent can Nazism in power be seen as totalitarianism in the period 1933-1939? Totalitarianism is often defined as a system of government where the state controls all aspects of life, individuals are subordinated to the state and any parties of differing opinion are suppressed, a description that fits the rule of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1939 perfectly. During Hitler’s rule, he embedded all these totalitarian characteristics as evident with the many features and atrocities of his reign like Terror and Repression through events like the Night of Long Knives, Policies that gave him complete control of all aspects of German lifestyle and Propaganda used to ensure people were subordinated to his totalitarian regime. Hitler ensured he would be an unchallenged dictator with no effective opposition in order to maintain power by eliminating enemies through acts of atrocity or through force through Terror and Repression, most notably the Night Of Long Knives. The aim of Night of Long Knives was to eliminate all who Hitler perceived as a threat to Germany and his cause like leaders of the SA and other ‘enemies’ like communists and Jews.
Account for consolidation of Nazi Power between 1933-34 The Nazi Party’s consolidation for power between 1933 and 1934 was immensely based on legality. In the aftermath of the Munich Putsch in 1923, where the Nazis attempted to seize power from the government of Bavaria, in north of Germany, Hitler altered his methods of gaining political power. Through the legal system, the democracy, propaganda as well as the use of the SA and the SS, Hitler and the Nazis was able to attain political prominence. However, Hitler’s rise to power into the office of Chancellorship was mainly due to the political deals made between Hitler’s enemies. Thus, this essay will account for the consolidation of Nazi power between 1933 and 1934.
After Germany’s defeat in World War One Germany were made to sign the demoralizing and humiliating Treaty of Versailles where they would have to; accept responsibility for the war, pay reparations of $33 Billion, reduce their armed forces and they also lost much of their once great German Empire. And so one of his aims was to abolish the Treaty and in doing so he remilitarized the Rhineland, Unite German-speaking countries and other territories that were lost and also increase the size and power of the army. Hitler was successful at achieving these aims because in March 1936 he remilitarized the Rhineland then in 1938 he declared that Austria and Germany would unify together in the Anschluss before turning his attention to the German influenced Sudetenland and the rest of Czechoslovakia and then also during the 1930s Germany would continue to re arm under Hitler and would use the Spanish civil war as a testing ground for their new army and also any future tactics for example the Blitzkrieg. Under
The rise of totalitarianism governments started before WWII, but after the Great Depression when fascism became an ideology of society. Socialist leaders told the people what they wanted to hear. These leaders not only took advantage of their powers, but became totalitarian dictators of communism and Nazism states. In 1933 Hitler became the dictator and ruler of Germany. Hitler was known for his totalitarian government, which referenced his act based on Darwism.