The ailing President Hindenburg, Germany's highly-revered military hero, sent a telegram expressing his "profoundly felt gratitude" and he congratulated Hitler for 'nipping treason in the bud'. General von Reichenau went so far as to publicly give credence to the lie that Schleicher had been plotting to overthrow the government. The army's support for the purge, however, would have far-reaching consequences for the institution. The humbling of the SA ended the threat it had posed to the army but, by standing by Hitler during the purge, the army bound itself more tightly to the Nazi regime. One retired captain, Erwin Planck, seemed to realise this: "if you look on without lifting a finger," he
It is undoubtable that the consolidation of power in 1933 could not have taken place were it not for the underlying threat, and use of, terror and violence. However, the use of legislative means of achieving power within the Nazi state must not be understated, nor can the perceived threat of Communism be ignored as a means of bolstering Nazi power after 1933. Moreover, the manipulative power of the well oiled propaganda machine spearheaded by Josef Goebbels allowed for the Nazi to ideologically win over much of the German people. Hitler’s use of legislative means to achieve Nazi power gave the regime a degree of legitimacy that was hard for the German people to call into question. Indeed, Hitler did not act unconstitutionally by declaring himself Fuhrer as the enabling act gave him dictatorial power via democratic means.
By convincing Hindenburg that there was a large communist threat the country was put into a state of emergency and, with Hindenburg’s backing, Hitler was allowed to pass decrees to govern Germany anyway he liked, with the financial backing of krupp and bosch etc, which in this case is fortunate for the question at hand. Consequently this is why I believe it was the most important event to dictatorship because it was the “spark” that allowed any other event to happen and without it democracy may have just struggled on. One of these events was the election in 1933. Now Hitler had the power to convince Hindenburg to allow him
It could be argued that the Hitler attributes was the most important reason for why Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933. This is because with out it then people would not know who the Nazi party was or what they stood for and as a result they would gain no support or poularity. Without the Nazi Campaining then they would not get the extra support due to the communist threat because it would not be in the public eye that the Nazi's promised to deal with them. A lot of Nazi campaigning was rallys and this impressed a lot of people because of the high numbers and order and discipline shown by the Gestapo
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.
However the Reichstag fire plus emergency decrees was also another important factor in Hitler’s rise to power because they were able to take advantage of the situation when the Reichstag build burned down as he was able to then blame the communists for this a declared that it was the start of a communist uprising and that he needed to act and got Hindenburg to grant him the emergency decrees to help deal with this uprising. This now meant the Nazis were legally allowed to arrest suspects and hold them without trial so basically anyone that opposed them or they didn’t like they could arrest on legal terms without trial. Also Hitler was able to take over regional governments. The night of the long knives was a key factor to Hitler’s rise to power because the S.A were now becoming an embarrassment to Hitler by attacking innocent people and also wanting to merge the army with the S.A with the S.A in charge of it. Hitler had to choose between the S.A and the army.
Thus, this essay will account for the consolidation of Nazi power between 1933 and 1934. The failure of 1923 Munich Beer Hall Putsch triggered for Hitler and the Nazis to alter their means of gaining power. Hitler instead of physical force, to attain political power, he turned to the democratic legal system, and had intended to gain votes into the Reichstag. After the Munich Putsch, Hitler was sent on trial and this gave Hitler and his movement national attention, causing for the increase of his following among right wing nationalists. While the Munich Putsch was not a success, as Hitler failed to seize power through force, his movement was however publicised, and made known to the German people.
This highlights that the population was not terrorised into supporting the regime, but persuaded through manipulation by the Nazi government. Therefore, the Nazi state cannot be classified as a totalitarian state. The Nazi party’s removal of all other political parties during 1933 reflects aspects of a totalitarian regime; however, the Nazi state did not have complete political control in Germany. Theoretically, the Führerprinzip outlined a leadership hierarchy which culminated with Hitler as the dominant leader of the State and required supreme obedience to the Führer. However, this was not manifested in reality, in which Hitler maintained power through his Kommandogewalt and appeal to the German public.
One of the ways Hitler got the backing of the German people was by telling them what they wanted to hear. His use of language and persuasion allowed people to believe him and they felt involved and excited about him and his party and so were drawn into a false sense of what was going on. His clever use of scapegoats such as the Jews or the Communists helped him gain more and more support. One of the main attacks on the Communists was the Reichstag fire on February 27th 1933 for which he blamed the communists and turned people against them. Then on the 7th of April he created a new form of regional government run by Nazi officials.
These events created the perfect conditions for a new radical party to rise to power: The Nazis. Founded in 1919, this group appealed to ex-soldiers, lower middle-class workers and students who wanted political change. Hitler opened new party organizations for women, students, and teachers that gave more awareness to the party as well as their ideals. Hitler’s contribution to this party was quite substantial, however it would have been hard at the time to predict he would become chancellor. Historian Ian Kershaw puts Hitler’s success down to luck and chance, stating that there was nothing inevitable about Hitler’s rise to power.