“The failure of political extremism in Britain, in the 1930’s was due to the strength of the National Government” Assess the validity of this statement. During the 1930’s political extremist parties failed to gain power in Britain, despite having success in Europe. It can be argued that this was because the National Government had many strengths and was able to effectively run the country to a stable state, thus the political extremist could not break into main stream politics within Britain. Between 1931 and 1940 the National Government held office, consisting of the main political parties at the time, and having popular leading figures such as MacDonald (1931-1935), Baldwin (1935-1937) and Chamberlain (1937-1940), helped the Government to have wide spread popularity and support throughout the country. This patronage was important because of the threat from political extremists; the government needed a strong army of support that could withstand the persuasions of the extreme left and right winged groups, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the British Union of Fascists (BUF).
‘To what extent do you agree that the nationalist movement was the greatest threat facing the liberal government by 1914?’ By 1914, there were a number of threats to the liberal government. Examples of these are from the PSI (the socialist party), nationalists and the Catholic Church. The reasons why these groups were a threat to the liberal government was in part because of the weaknesses of the liberal government itself, and the poor state of the economy under the liberals. The economy especially led to a lack of Italian identity, with very high levels of emigration (mainly to the USA). These factors led to a fragile liberal government, with the main threat in my opinion being posed not by the nationalists but the socialists.
On the other hand Hermann Goering, head of the Four Year Plan, aimed to focus the economy onto preparing the country for war. Hitler became less involved as he took the Darwinist view of survival of the fittest, believing that the strongest would come out on top. This view is supported by source W which refers to a “Mosaic of Party and state agencies” with “over-lapping jurisdictions” who all try to gain power within there specific area by showing their loyalty towards the Fuhrer. This supports the view that the Nazi State lacked coherence because it suggests that the power of each institution depended entirely on their relationship with Hitler. The over-lapping institutions in the Nazi government led to administrative chaos because their responsibilities and functions were not
Italy, like many other countries in the early 1930s, had economic problems. Mussolini's economic policies did not fix the situation. A war might unite the Italian people behind their leader and make them forget their domestic problems. Plus Abyssinia’s resources could be used to benefit the Italian economy. Rome had once led an empire that dominated the world.
However, despite clear use of his ability as an ideologue, Hitler’s rise to power and popularity is inversely proportional to the economic collapse, unemployment, instability and skepticism over the capacity of democracy to save Germany that did not bear his fingerprints. This clear instability of democratic Germany paved the way for an image of propaganda to be created, promoting the leftist, anti democratic and nationalistic views of the Nazi party that would perhaps solve the burdens placed upon Germany by democracy and ultimately, capture the imagination of millions. , The most important factor that allowed for Hitler’s rise to power was the evident instability of the Weimar republic. The political and economical fracturing of the Weimar republic was not influenced by the appeal of Hitler, instead it reassured understanding in Germany that there was a need to change. A clear economic issue was the inflation the Weimar economy witnessed.
Eventually, after von Schleicher resigns, Hitler is made Chancellor after von Papen persuades Hindenburg. Von Papen thought that as long as there were a limited number of Nazis in the cabinet then Hitler could be controlled. Von Papen was wrong. Once you let Hitler in, it’s nigh-on impossible to get him out again. Also there was the weakness of the Weimar government, which played its part in
To what extent did the failings of Nazi economic policy contribute to the defeat of Germany in the Second World War? There were several different factors that all had an impact on the defeat of Germany during the Second World War and the extent of which the failings of the Nazi economic policy contributed can be argued. The meagre state of the economy, through insufficient planning, did put strains on the government and this limited the full potential of the army, the production of weapons and high demand for labour. No doubt, the economy did hinder the progression of the war however I believe that there were more significant factors that contributed to the defeat of Germany. Hitler’s strategy incompetence, the Allied bombings and losing the Battle of The Atlantic were all also important factors in the defeat of Germany.
A major cause of WWII was the fact that both Germany and Japan felt that they did not have the amount of power that they deserved. Germany wanted to regain the power it was stripped of through The Treaty of Versailles after its loss in WWI. Japan wanted to have a large empire and to be treated as a major power. The allies resisted this because they were happy with the status quo. The major similarity of WWI and WWII to me is that both were caused by countries trying to with the status quo in the international system.
There were no jobs, poverty was spreading. Moreover, German and Italian nations are considered to be very proud, and the damaged reputation after the war has only increased the instability in those countries. Fascism in Italy has developed earlier than Nazism in Germany, therefore it is often believed that Nazism was to a great extent based on the Italian Fascism. The aim of this essay is to examine the way in which fascism has influenced Nazism by analysing the similarities
Explain why Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor in January 1933: Hitler became chancellor on the 30th of January 1933, when Hindenburg, the president of Germany appoints him. But a common question is why he was appointed in the first place? Well firstly because of the political schemes that occurred in 1929 till 1932 (which meant that it was the end of parliamentary democracy) Hitler at first wasn't very popular with his ideas of how Germany should be ran, however he was determined to strengthen his power. He targeted a variation of people such as the "Mittlesland" or the middle-class promising them protection from Communism which a lot of people were scared of because of the revolution that occurred in Russia 1917 (this was when autocracy had banished in the empire and Russia became a communist country)- many feared that it would spread in Germany, and restoration of law and order; the upper class were promised Reprisal for the Treaty of Versailles, and the creation of a strong government; important business people that he would suspend trade unions from protesting for more demands; the working class were promised jobs and protection from their work, ordinary civilians who lived in the countryside were promised an increase in the price of agricultural products and finally, most importantly women, who were promised equality and proper family morals which most women of the 1930's thought were important. Hindenburg couldn't oppose against the public's choice otherwise he would be going against the democratic ‘Weimar republic’ regulation of including the people’s views.