History Chapter 3.1 : Rise Of Hitler Flashcards
What are the weaknesses of the Weimar government ?
Constitution and Proportional representation
Weak Support
Opposition from the right and the left
what are the constitution and proportional representation?
Proportional Representation
- People voted for a party rather than specific candidates, Parties gained seats based on the number of votes won. It is democratic and fair system but it resulted in a high degree of fragmentation in parliament.
- Therefore, there were many small and competing parties without any party gaining a majority.
Coalition Government
- All the parties come together to form a coalition government, a number of parties had extreme ideas and were not willing to compromise.
- The coalition government kept breaking up, leading to frequent changes of government , so there were 20 different coalition governments from 1919-1933. This made it difficult to pass laws, thus, seen as weak by the German people.
Article 48 of the Weimar constitution
- allowed the president to dissolve both houses of parliament and rule by decree for 6 months in ‘time of emergency’
- civil liberties could be suspended and what was defined as emergency was not clearly defined
- This was exploited by Hitler to seize power legally and to remain in power.
What was the weak support ？
The Weimar Government also lacked strong support from the people, politicians and soldiers. This was evident in the Kapp Putch in 1920 in right wing extremists attempted to overthrow the government. The civil service, judiciary, military and even big businesses were mostly under the influence of advisers who had worked for the kaiser( the previous emperor of Germany, and wished for his return . Therefore, it was difficult for weimar government to gain support and loyalty. Without these support, the Weimar Government remained weak and struggled to hold on to any power or authority.
What was the opposition from the left and right wing ？
Between 1919-1923, Left and right wing extremists tried to size power by violent means.
Left Wing :
A group that supports social change to create a more equal society. They also favour equal advantages and opportunity and greater good rather than individualism.
- January 1919, ROSA LUXEMBURG and KARL LIEBKNWCHT led the communist spartacist( group of radical socialists) rebellion in Berlin.
- President Ebert ( new president for Germany ) made an agreement with the army and the Freikorps to put down the rebellion
- Communist workers’ councils took control in many parts of Germany; communist people’s government took over Bavaria.
- The communist red army was ruthlessly crushed by the police and army in Ruhr in 1920
Right wing
- felt that Germany should not be responsible for world war 1, they disagree with the term of treaty of Versailles, for e.g the reparation cost, land size reduction
- wanted Germany’s army and industry to be strong again, as wanted territorial expansion
- wanted to be ruled dictator style
- Many were extreme nationalist and called those who agreed with the treaty the “November criminals”
- They did not accept Germany’s defeat in the war and blamed politicians for not having the courage to continue on the war.
( go and read page 69 for the incidents )
What helped Hitler rise to power ?
Weakness of the Weimar government
Hyperinflation due to post war
Impact of Great depression on Germany
Hitler’s Leadership abilities
What was hyperinflation in Germany ?
- post war Germany suffered with poverty, high unemployment and a fragile economy.
- Therefore the reparation cost was an unwelcome burden, and was unpopular among Germans.
- The government printed more money to keep up with the reparation payments.
- In December 1922, Germany failed to make the payment. France and Belgium took Ruhr as payment in retaliation in January 1923. They took mines, factories and railways, planning to take back what was owned in kind.
- The Germans adopted a policy of non cooperation . Workers went on strikes so that they will be nothing for France to take.
- The government responded to the crisis by deciding to print yet more money to pay the strike workers and some of its debt.
- The more money was printed, the value of the money itself decreased. The prices of things spiralled out of control and hyperinflation occurred
- in 1919, 600 marks was a small fortune but in 1923, the same amount of money was not even enough to buy a postage stamp.
- Although it had hit the poor hard, it hit the middle and higher class people the hardest. Their savings and pension were almost all wiped out overnight.
- Hyperinflation had caused the Weimar Government to lose support of the middle and lower middle class members.
Gustav Stresemann replaced the current currency with the new Rentenmark to solve the problem.
What were the impacts of the Great Depression in Germany?
- The Great Depression was a severe word wide economic depression sparkled by the stork market crash in 1929 in the New York stork exchange.
It hit lots of countries, but it hit Germany the hardest as Germany had borrowed loans and made investments from the USA. When the USA recalled loans and deposits from German Banks. Germany suffered an economic crisis, which in turn become an social crisis. Factories closed down which led millions to lose their jobs. - The government had to make cuts to social services, Poverty, homelessness, and starvation were common. By 1923, 6 million people, one-third of the working population, were unemployed.
- The coalition government could not decide what the best course of action to take.
- From 1930, no government had enough support to make any decision. The only way was to get the president ti use his emergency powers , but the president was a right-wing and could not care about democracy. People were unhappy and wanted more decisive action, the support for the parties decline as the support for extremist parties such as Communist and Nazi party rise up.
( read others on pg 72)
What were hitler’s leadership abilities ?
Nazi ideology Charisma and Oratorical skills Exploitation of the fears of communism Skilfulness at making deals with politicians Reorganisation of the Nazi Party
What was the Nazi Ideology ?
Hitler gained popular support partly because of the promises and ideology he presented to the Germans. The NSDAP published their fist programme, the twenty five point programme, some of the important points were
- an abolition of the Treaty of Versailles
- The union of Germans and Austria
-allowing only “true” Germans to live in Germany, excluding the Jews
- Nationalisation of large businesses
- Increase in old age pensions
- Establishment of a strong central government
Soon this was the only right wing party that could compete with left wing parties such as the communist party. Hitler set his main belief in Mein Kampf, it had a central role of “Jew hating” played in Nazism. Hitler and the National socialist believed in the superiority of the White Aryan or Germanic Races. Mein Kampf became extremely popular in Germany.
What was his Charisma and Oratorical skills
Hitler’s charisma was also a reason why he obtained strong support from Germans. He was a powerful speaker and communicator with a strong belief in himself. He made it his mission to not only rule Germany, but also the world.
- He prepared and practised his speech, he was a master at gauging the audience’s mood. Hitler had an incredible energy, and was able to do 3 to 4 speeches a day. He appeared sincere to the people.
- Hitler made many speeches in beer halls where people were at ease and easy to be swayed. He would start his speeches calmly and logically, and start to rant and rave when the audience got drunk.
- Hitler knew the concern of the people and used the “November criminals’, communist and the Jews and scapegoat for Germany’s ills.
What was the exploitation of the fears of communism ?
With the Government becoming more unstable, people had to turn to Communism or the Nazi ideology .
In 1928, Communist party won 4 times the vote of the Nazi party. However, the party did not form the majority of the Reichstag as many groups of people feared that communism would take over the country.
- farmers feared that the communist would take all their land and assets, as that was their belief and they had heard that happen in the Soviet Union, when USSR had taken farmer’s land and killed many people in the process.
- Owners of Big industries were also scared because in the Soviet Union businessmen suffered as big businesses were taken over by the state. they also feared the increasing strength of the trade union.
Hitler exploited these fears by giving them vague promises such as he will help them if he was in power. some big industrialist help the Nazi party financially, the money was used in their campaign election. Filmmaker allowed Hitler to use his studio to make propaganda films
During the Great Depression in 1930s, there was much unrest, the communist fought the police in the streets of Germany. Hitler used his personal army to fight the communist and break up their meetings . People felt that Germany needed Nazi to bring back order. The Nazi made promise to help unemployed and other groups which has suffered economic losses.
What was his skillfulness at making deals with politicians ?
Hitler was a good political strategist, who was willing to wait for the right opportunity to take power. In July 1932,when the Nazi party won more votes than any other parties in the Reichstag. Hitler wanted to be Chancellor, but the president distrusted him and Von Papen was put in place. however Von Papen had no support so another election was held in November 1932. However this time, the Nazi party lost 2 million votes and lost 34 seats in the Reichstag. Hitler knew he had to get the conservative’s support, it seemed unlikely that he could gain power through elections. In December 1932, the president chose Schleicher to be Chancellor, but for the same reason, this guy had no support in the Reichstag. In January 1933, Von Papen and the President reluctantly invited Hitler to be Chancellor. They thought Hitler was able to give them support they needed in the Reichstag, For the first year, Hitler ruled in a coalition government as the result of a deal made by politician who had underestimated him. When the time was right, Hitler acted decisively to take complete control over the government.
What was the reorganisation of the nazi party ?
At first the Nazi Party had no support. In November 1923, Hitler tried to overthrow the Weimar government by staging a coup in Munich. However, it failed, and Hitler went to jail. after his release, the Nazi begin to participate in elections. Before the Great Depression, His party only had 3% of the votes. Within 10 years, he was appointed Chancellor of Germany. He reorganised the party to able to make it.
1) Increasing party membership
Established local Nazi parties, which increased the party membership. He set up a youth organisations. In 1920 he created Hitler youth and by 1933 he had 100,000 members in the Nazi
2) Establishing SA and SS
Hitler set up SA in the 1921 as the Nazi party’s paramilitary organisation. He used it to break up Communist party meeting, which gained supportt of anti-communist. He breaks up strikes, which gained industralists support. He set up the SS as Hitler’s elite personal bodyguard, and portrayed SA and SS as militaristic.
3) Nazi Propaganda
Jospeh Goebbels appointed to take charge if Nazi’s Propaganda Joseph deliberately appealed to people’s emotions rather than intellect. he manged to portray The Nazi party and a strong and united party behind a one leader.
