The Christian and Nazi approaches shared some common outlooks. Both organizations showed respect for traditional cultural values, such as the importance of family life and in their hostility to communism. Also, in Lutheran Protestantism a tradition of respect for the state and nationalism was very important. However, Hitler brought up as Catholic, associated his beliefs clearly hostile to that faith. He wanted to replace Christianity with a new Aryan faith.
Bismarck began to fight back, he banned the most active order of Catholic priests and introduced a law that the government had a right to inspect all schools, including Catholic ones. The government would also control the training of priests and appoint them to churches and no one could be married without a civil ceremony in a government office. The Catholics saw this all as an attack on their beliefs, the country was left in struggle resulting in the ‘Kulterkampf’ movement. The loyalty of the Catholics had been weakened and the Prussian conservatives did not want the government to control local problems. This made Bismarck largely unpopular and cause disunity in Germany.
Hitler could not achieve the solid control over the masses which he had, if he did not have the help of the so called powerful propaganda machine. Propaganda had been vital in winning the Nazis support that helped them come into power. As Goebbels stated in 1934 “Propaganda was [their] sharpest weapon in conquering the state, and remains [their] sharpest weapon in maintaining and building up the state”. The reason why Nazis relied on propaganda was first to keep the population contented and second win support for particular policies. Another rather ambitious aim of theirs was to indoctrinate the people with their Weltanschauung or in other words they were aiming to turn the population into committed members of their Volksgemeinschaft (a community whose members would be Aryan, genetically healthy, socially useful and politically committed to the regime).
‘The government of the Nazi state was chaotic and lacked coherence in the years 1933 to 1939.’ How far do you agree with this opinion? Explain your answer, using the evidence of Sources V, W and X and your own knowledge of the issues related to this contreversy. The Nazi state has been seen to have adopted a system in which the upper echelons of the party would collide as an attempt to gain the Fuhrers attention. This view meant that the government was seen to be chaotic and lack coherence in the years 1933 to 1939. This view is supported by the orthodox historical opinion which is explained in source V by Michael Burleigh.
History Revision Cards Theme: Life in Nazi Germany Important Points: 1. Who opposed the Nazis in Nazis Germany and what impact did this have on the Nazis? Why was opposition to the Nazis so weak? You need to think about how each opposition group opposed Hitler and which one posed the biggest threat to Nazi power. The Nazis did not want any opposition in their ideal Germany all Germans would work together to achieve the same goals -- not seagulls. Within days of taking power Hitler banned all other political parties.
In a political sense, it ‘got his foot in the door’, so to speak. It came about largely due to problems with Weimar democracy and weak decisions; there were serious miscalculations in the appointment of Hitler. Many of the elite, particularly Papen, became intrigued and willing to co-operate with Hitler (even settle for a Hitler government), as they wanted his huge support base to further their own power ambitions and counter the rise of communism. He had the support required to solve Germany’s parliamentary crisis, and crucially he had the reluctant backing of Hindenburg, a nationalistic president who also feared a Bolshevik revolution and believed the Nazis could protect Germany from this. Despite the efforts of many to encourage Hitler’s appointment, there was no intention of forming a permanent leadership with him; the elite groups around Hindenburg planned to use Hitler to gain his support base, then abandon him when he was no longer needed.
They had used several immoral practices such as simony, the buying and selling of church offices. And as author Dan Petty put it, “pluralism (holding multiple offices simultaneously) and absenteeism (failure to reside in the parish where they were supposed to minister),”(Petty). Several situations in which the church displayed its power included taxations and practicing celibacy (Petty). Due to the church’s immense power, many expressed fear and became discouraged to contest its actions. One of the main leaders in the act to resist the Roman Catholic Church’s authority and change the ideas of Christianity in the Protestant Reformation was Martin Luther.
[17+ marks] for fully analytical and relevant answers with detail, insight, perceptive comments and perhaps different interpretations, which address all aspects of the question. 18. Analyse the main factors which contributed to Hitler’s rise to power in January 1933. Nov 2005 This should be well known: for the German situation candidates could analyse; German defeat in the First World War; Treaty of Versailles; weaknesses of the Weimar Republic; German nationalism; anti-semitism; Wall Street Crash. They then need to address the attraction of Hitler and the Nazis for the German people: promises made; Nazi organization; Nazi policies; Hitler’s personality, oratory etc.
The peace settlements left a layer of bitterness specially in Germany. Germans felt that Treaty of Versailles was unjust in holding Germany alone responsible for the war because even if Germany played a vital role in causing the war, the other nations also participated in it and therefore, made a minor war into a total war. In addition, the military terms of the Treaty (army of 100,000, only 6 battleships, no submarines or aeroplanes) is another part that disappointed Germans a lot. For Germans, not to be able to send troops even to places inside Germany was a national insult.The Germans were not invited to negotiate the treaty even. The Versailles Treaty required Germany to pay stiff reparations.
As it was nearly impossible for James to neglect the conflicts, he attempted to marry his son Henry to a Spanish princess (dynastic marriage), the scope being to bring Protestants and Catholics at peace. All was followed by the death of Henry, which led James to try and marry his other son, Charles. The English economy was later helped by the Treaty of London, involving Spain, but also helped repair the view on Catholics. In conclusion, England was most certainly destabilised by the religious conflicts, though somehow tamed by James's strategic diplomatic moves, proving that he was not such a reckless king after all. Obviously, the conflicts were still there and did shake England's grounds more than a little, as the Thirty Year War commenced, but the King's delicacy in handling the entire unstable situation was one worthy of