I know from my background knowledge that once Hitler was named Chancellor big bankers and industrialists, including Krupp and I. G. Farben, had lobbied Hindenburg and schemed behind the scenes on behalf of Hitler because they were convinced he would be good for business. Hitler promised to be for free enterprise and keep down Communism and the trade union movements. Being appointed as Chancellor also was a starting point to his dictatorship as without it he would have been able to continue his consolidation and wouldn’t have been able to pass such laws as the Enabling Act. Another way Hitler established a dictatorship was through the passing of the Enabling Act 1933. This established a dictatorship because it allowed Hitler to arguably do whatever he pleased.
Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin were both powerful, ambitious leaders that worked their way into positions of power. Stalin took over after Lenin died to lead the USSR after the Russian Revolution. Hitler became leader of the Nazi Party and gained the people’s support with promises of a strong leader that resisted western powers. On their rise to power, both Stalin and Hitler became leaders of political parties, eliminated opposing parties, and promised a better future for the people and country, but Stalin used the people’s support as leverage in his power struggle with Trotsky while Hitler used his passion and the economic situation in Germany to become leader of the Nazi party and gain support over the socialists. Both Hitler and Stalin started their journey towards power by joining political parties.
This gave Hitler tremendous power within the organization as they knew they could not afford to lose him. The Party Gets a New Name In April, 1920, Hitler advocated that the party should change its name to the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). Hitler had always been hostile to socialist ideas, especially those that involved racial or sexual equality. However, socialism was a popular political philosophy in Germany after the First World War. This was reflected in the growth in the German Social Democrat Party (SDP), the largest political party in
• Gave Nazi’s the opportunity to say that Germany was in danger from the communists during election campaign. Overall this helped them in winning more seats in election. March 1933 Elections are held and Nazi party wins 44% of votes This win did not give hi majority in the Reichstag, but it did allow him to get the Enabling Act passed. March 1933 Enabling act is passed in the Reichstag which gives the right to Hitler to make his own laws. A very critical event, Hitler attained absolute power after this act was passed.
Even though Hindenburg was in Hitler’s way of gaining the Chancellorship, there were many other factors that lead to Hitler becoming Chancellor in January 1933 and not just because he was leader of the most popular Party in Germany. For example, the Weimar Republic was suffering from the political polarisation between nationalist and communist’s parties and the economic crisis caused by the Great Depression. These two issues put pressure on the governing coalition and it was beginning to break up. Furthermore political intrigue and the self interest of political parties, along with the inherent flaws of the Weimar constitution and the weakness of government by coalition, all played into Hitler’s hands. These factors caused the loss of public support for the grand coalition of the Weimar Republic and the German people subsequently looked for a new style of leadership.
Finally, the SA’s activity is also to put fear on the street to get votes for the next elections. Hitler attempted the Munich Putsch because he thought it would benefit them. Firstly, Hitler was very confident about his huge SA army and thought he was powerful. Not only that, but he thought that the army would join him because of the influence of Ludendorff and the SA which are technically ex-Freikoprs. Hitler also thought that since the government was just developing it would have been a good time to seize power and take over the government.
Furthermore, it can be argued that propaganda was crucial to the maintenance of power by the Nazis as they portrayed Hitler as powerful and showed him to be good for the country, making sure people continued to show support for the Nazis and it portrayed Hitler as above all party politicking and as a figure for national focus and loyalty. This would have made sure people continued to support Hitler even after he was voted in as they would feel a kind of loyalty towards him. However, Propaganda cannot be described as the only crucial factor in the maintenance of power by the Nazis as propaganda alone cannot change an entire countries views. The introduction of new social controls further aided in the Nazi’s maintenance of power. Anti-Nazi judges were removed and replaced by those
Germany, it looked, was on the rise while Stresemann was Chancellor but the Nazis and their appealing polices were al too good for the people of Germany to refuse and so while the votes for the Social Democrats only increased ever so slightly the Nazi votes were plumiting and with every election they grew and grew. The Nazis were brilliant when it came to propaganda and public rallies and meetings. No other party focussed more on propaganda than the Nazis. The Nazis felt that flyers, leaflets, radio, rallies and meetings were the key to success. If a subject proved popular then they would repeat it.
And how did such an advanced society allow itself to be seduced and then destroyed by its own capacity for senseless barbarity? The Germans in the thirties were seduced by the glittering success of Hitler in creating jobs, generating a vibrant economy and restoring Germany's military might. William Shirer, who was on the scene in Germany during these critical years, candidly sums up the mood of the country at this juncture: "Not many Germans lost sleep over the arrests of a few thousand pastors and priests or over the quarreling of the various Protestant sects .." It was this apathy and moral indifference in Germany that empowered Hitler and fueled his military juggernaut that was poised to roll inexorably over Europe. Why did Hitler hate the Jews? Holocaust happened because Hitler and the Nazis were racist.
They let Hitler rebuild and conquer again. One way that Hitler was able to rebuild Germany was by a society called S.A. The leader was Ernst Roehm and he was a very powerful leader during this time. The S.A was gaining too much power and was becoming a threat to Hitler’s power. Therefore Hitler had no other choice but to purge the Sturmabteilung or S.A. After World War 1 the Treaty of Versailles stated that Germany could have a standing army.