Firstly, they were successful at controlling the society, as Hitler managed to get the Reichstag to agree to the Enabling Act. This meant that the Reichstag was literally voting themself out of power. It allowed Hitler and the Nazi Party to pass any laws they wanted to without permission from the Reichstag or the German people. This allowed Germany to be totally under control of one dictator, Hitler, and gave him all the power he wanted. Through the Enabling Act, he could then step out and truly begin transforming Germany into one big Nazi-controlled country that would obey his every word.
The Treaty of Versailles was to blame for the outbreak of war in 1939, firstly, because its one of Hitler's main aims to destroy the treaty in his foreign policy. Many Germans, including the Nazis, felt the treaty was incredibly unfair on Germany. The treaty placed restrictions on the German military, for example, only 100,000 men in the army, 6 battleships, no airforce, submarines or tanks, and only 15,000 men in the army. This would have decreased the national pride in Germany and many extremist dictators would want to rearm to restore the German pride. This meant that tensions would increase because the Germans would have wanted revenge, thus meaning a war would be very possible.
It became an offence to belong to another Party than the Nazis party. ALL other parties were banned, and their leaders were put in prison. Therefore, from the very beginning of Hitler’s rise to power, he was able to control what people thought. ONLY the Nazis ideology was the right one to get Germany back on its feet, and if only you were German and publicly showed your opposition, you were seen as a factor that would retain German industrial growth. We can see through this how Hitler, from the very beginning of his arrival to power, managed to put his hand over the people’s minds.
It is futile nonsense for the rest of the world to pretend today that I did not reveal this program until 1933 or 1935 or 1937. Instead of listening to foolish chatter, these gentlemen would have been wiser to read what I have written thousands of times.” - Hitler, talking on 15 March 1939 One of Hitler’s main aims was to abolish the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany after her defeat in World War I. Hitler felt the Treaty was unfair, and most Germans supported this view. This was already expected as Hitler wrote “Mein Kampf” explaining his aims, “Hitler's foreign policy should not have been a surprise to students of Mein Kampf” -Despatch 3165 from the American Embassy in Berlin, 24 December 1936. There were various reasons why he wanted to abolish the treaty as they all stopped him from achieving his primary aim. Some of the things about the treaty that Hitler hated were tiny armed forces, the Saar was under League of Nations control, the Rhineland was demilitarised, Anschluss with Austria was forbidden, Germans were obliged to leave in Czechoslovakia and Poland and finally Danzig was under League of Nations control.
Towards the end of 1934, Adolf Hitler had managed to gain complete control over Germany. Through a very important law named the enabling act, Hitler was able to pass multiple laws declaring other parties illegal and moulding Germany into a one party state. In one single night he also managed to diminish any threats and with the death of President Hindenburg along side the oath made by the army, Hitler began to nazify Germany. From his appointment as chancellor in January 1933 and through each point leading towards 1934, it could be said that Hitler managed to claim total control over Germany, In March 1933 with the new Reichstag elections Hitler hoped his party would win a two thirds majority in the hope that he could get parliament to agree that he could rule without it. The Nazi party now forced to think tactically and with the burning of the Reichstag building through a communist Hitler was able to blame the extremist party for the beginning of a revolution and with President Hindenburg's approval he arrested the ‘enemies of the state’.
Nazi use of Violence to Gain Power in the Third Reich Hitler was a cunning man who used many techniques to achieve the success of the Nazi party and establish a dictatorship in Germany. Amongst these techniques, was the use of violence. In this essay I will determine whether the NSDAP's use of violence was the main reason why Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January of 1933. In the early days of the Nazi party, Hitler believed that power could be achieved through a revolution, triggered by a single violent taking of an area in order to set off a series of violent take overs across Germany, the idea was taken from Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party's march on Rome which resulted in bringing Mussolini to power. This idea of a “March on Rome” style takeover lead to the Munich Putsch in November 1923.
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
Just as the Treaty was a constant reminder to Germany’s defeat in World War I, Hitler believed communism was the reason for the loss, leaving him gripped to the possibility of potential ‘communist takeover’ of Germany. He despised this, leaving him determined to defeat communism, in which he stated “It will be the duty of German foreign policy to get large spaces to feed and house the growing population of Germany”. Hitler’s foreign policy was the backbone to the actions and changes he wished to make. In this essay, I will describe and analyze how successful Hitler’s foreign policy was, by examining the events and actions that took place, up until 1938. I believe Hitler’s foreign policy was a success up until 1938 as he was fearless to continue with his aims – one of which was abolishing the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler got away with this because Britain had sympathy for Germany and in 1935 signed a naval agreement with them. France was angry that Germany was re-army but there was little they could do as most countries were doing the same, especially after the disappointment of the Disarmament conference.. The failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s also contributed towards the outbreak of war. It was powerless throughout the 1920s as it was more interested in trying to keep good relations with the other countries so it would have allies against Hitler if he ever attacked. The League also didn’t work because America didn’t join and it was the American President Woodrow Wilson who created it and it would never have worked unless all the nations were allowed to join.
Why did Adolf Hitler pursue a path to War? Germany’s loss in the Great War had a monumental effect on Adolf Hitler and was the reason he pursued a life of politics. Following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919, involving its many clauses undermining the stability of Germany, and causing irreparable damage to the German public’s psyche, the population needed something to boost morale. With unemployment at 6 million in 1933 Hitler’s specific ideals of Lebensraum, racial purity and the uniting of the German people because of these, gave Germany a clear vision that the public could support. Following the defeat of Imperial Germany in World War I, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in order to impose restrictions on Germany and help prevent the country from causing another outbreak of war.