1918 saw the end of the First World War and the defeat of Germany. The Kaiser had fled and in his place Ebert stood and after elections took place, so came about the start of the Weimar government.
The treaty of Versailles was drawn up and signed, placing huge strains on Germany from the word go. In 1921 the war debt reparation of 600 million was announced. France placed enormous pressure on Germany, she wanted payment for the damage the war and in particular Germany had caused. German became a country in turmoil.
Its economy collapsed which threw Germany into a state of desperation and widespread poverty. It was the ideal climate for someone with a strong disposition to become the new leader and to lead Germany out of its declining state. I intend to investigate how these factors influenced the rise of Hitler. The failure of the Weimar government and the poor decisions they made while in power could be blamed for part of the crisis Germany was to got through in the late 1920’s early 1930’s.
It was a weak government unable to make any big decisions because of the inadequate voting system.People lost respect for democracy because the frequent elections never seemed to produce a sensible government. Many saw the appeal of the return to a strong ruler. They failed to deal with the pressure from France when they began demanding payments and entered the Ruhr taking what they felt was owed to them in goods.
In 1923 their answer to this was to simply print off bank notes. This just led to huge hyperinflation throughout Germany, which meant the German mark soon became worthless. Money lost its value and disaster struck.Banks went bankrupt, big businesses fell, meaning thousands of people were to lose jobs.
It led to hard times for the German people. Streseman came to power and in answer to the mess Germany was in brought in a new currency. The young plan was introduced- America was lending loans to Germany to pay back their war debts to keep France happy. However in 1929 disaster struck yet again.
The wall street crash happened, the collapse of the American economy, which meant all loans from America stopped. There was no longer enough money in the economy and this saw the fall Germany again.By 1932 6,000000 were unemployed and many fell into poverty. Many unemployed were attracted to Hitler’s promise to solve unemployment.
Many middle class people supported Hitler because they were scared that the unemployed would vote for the communists. Many people were frightened of the communists and therefore supported the Nazis as the party who promised to stand up against them. It was clear the Weimar government were failing to deal with crisis after the Wall Street crash. The people of Germany began to get angry and look for answers and help to pull them out of this despair.
While all this had been going on Hitler had joined the German workers party, later renamed the nazi party. In 1923 Hitler attempts to seize power in what is known as the Munich Putsch. However he fails, is captured and put on trial for treason, he gets away lightly with only 5 years, and serves only 9 months. He gained great public interest and used his time in prison to write his book Mein Kampf illustrating his aims for the next Germany.
His ideas and plans for the future soon became very popular with the German people. He wanted to make Germany great again.He believed strongly Germany would have won the war and held the November criminals responsible for Germanys plight. His anti-semantic views were popular and his aim for the pure German race reached out to the nationalists.
He thrived on the people’s fear of communism and this in turn was to help him succeed his climb to the top. Many big businesses supported his ideas and gave him money to assist the cause. The Nazis used sophisticated propaganda to get their message across including radio, rallies, marches, posters etc.Hitler was an excellent public speaker.
He had qualities of determination and persistence. He used these speaking skills and charismatic ways to charm the German public and entice them into his way of thinking. He promised different groups of people different thing, e. g.
Nazi’s promised to protect farmers against foreign competition and to reduce taxes. His aim was to please and gain support. It is a fact that when there is money in an economy and the country is in a strong financial state, the people will be happy.However when problems arise and people are faced with money difficulties they try to look for new extremist ideas and schemes.
This is a pattern obvious in the years leading up to Hitler’s dictatorship. I feel that the wall street crash is the most fundamental factor, this crash is what lead to the devastation of the German people and the want for quick answers to their questions. This and the insufficiency of the Weimar government led the German people to look for someone strong and powerful who would bring them through and return Germany to the prosperous country it once was.
