Nazis rise Flashcards
Factors
*Resentment towards the Treaty of Versailles
*Weaknesses of the Weimar government
*Economic problems
*Appeal of Hitler and the Nazis post 1928
*Weaknesses and mistakes of opponents
Background
*In November 1918 Germany lost WWI and the Kaiser abdicated, ending the days of the German empire.
*A new democratic government was instated but was generally met with distrust from the German people.
*Between 1918 and 1933 the right-wing, anti-democracy Nazi party gradually gained support throughout Germany, resulting in them achieving power in 1933
Line of argument
Economic probelms
Resentment towards teh Treaty of Versailles
*(K) One of the terms stated the German army could have no more than 100,000 soldiers and they were not allowed to own tanks or have an air force.
*(A) This made German people feel like Germany was too vulnerable, and the Nazis very vocally renounced the treaty and claimed they would abandon it, which was a very popular opinion at the time.
*(A+) The Nazis had been claiming this right from 1918 and still did not get into power for over a decade until 1933, so it likely was not that important.
Resentment of the Treaty of Versailled (2)
*(K) The treaty forced Germany to surrender 13% of its land to its neighbours, such as France and Poland. This resulted in 3M Germans living in Czechoslovakia.
Resentment towards the Treaty of Versailles (E)
Economic problems were more important as the treaty called for £6.6 billion in reparations, which served to worsen Germany’s economic problems during the wall street crash, and even historians have argued that acted as the ‘wind in the Nazi’s sails’ which led them to get large amounts of votes between 1929 and 1933.
Weaknesses of the Weimar government (1)
*(K) The Weimar government was blamed for many of Germany’s problems as they signed the Treaty of Versailles and were labelled as the ‘November criminals’ by some.
*(A) this made it very difficult for the Weimar govt to gain the trust of the German people, and the Nazis promised to dismantle the Weimar govt should they get into power.
*(A+) Despite the distrust, pro-Weimar parties got 75% of votes between 1924 and 1928, so the promise of its removal was only appealing during times of economic hardship.
Weaknesses of the Weimar government (2)
*(K) The Weimar govt used proportional representation, which caused an unstable government as it prevented any single party from gaining a majority and caused there to be as many as 9 elections between 1919 and 1928.
*(A) The Nazis promised to abolish democracy, which was very appealing to the German people who found PR confusing and were sick of all the elections.
Weaknesses of the Weimar government (E)
Economic problems were more important as the Weimar government’s failure to deal with economic issues such as the hyperinflation in 1922/1923 and the wall street crash of 1929, were a major cause of frustration towards them, and the Nazis claimed they could deal with both of these crisis.
Economic problems (1)
*(K) In the early 20s there was extreme hyperinflation caused partly by tofV reparations of around £100M per year. in 1922 $1 was worth 60 German marks and by 1923 the same amount was worth 4,420M German marks.
*(A) People were desperate for a solution to fix the economy, an were willing to vote for small extremist parties like the Nazis as they promised they could solve the problem.
*(A+) This also resulted in votes for other small extremist parties like the Communists, who promised the same things through different methods.
Economic problems (2)
*(K) 1922s hyperinflation also caused huge food shortages as businesses could not afford to buy produce from farmers, and Germans couldn’t afford to buy food from businesses, resulting in a lot of theft out of desperation and crime spikes across Germany
*(A) The Nazis appeared very organised and militant, with groups like the Brownshirts which made them appear capable of dealing with the unrest, which would have appealed to many
*(A+) Many Germans saw the brown shirts as thugs who were often the ones initiating or adding to violence
economic problems (E)
There was a visible voting trend in Germany as the time which saw the Nazis gaining votes during times of economic hardship, such as the hyperinflation inflation crisis of 1922 caused the Nazis to gain Reichstag seats for the first time the next year, and the wall street crash, of 1929, which saw nazi seats to go from 12 to 107, 1928 to 1930, doubling the next election as the slump continued.
Appeal of Hitler and the Nazis post 1928 (1)
*(K) The nazis had a broad policy range for large demographics. Jobs for the unemployed, higher goods prices for farmers, remilitarisation for conservatives.
*(A) Range of promises ensured something was appealing about the party for everyone
*(A+) These policies were often in direct contradiction to each other, which was obvious to many and made the Nazis appear disorganised.
Appeal of Hitler and the Nazis post 1928 (2)
*(K) Propaganda like the ‘Hitler over Germany’ campaign (1932), where Hitler would fly between roughly five cities a day to give speeches at rallies.
*(A) Had an exciting and modern appeal, making the Nazis appear like the way forward for Germany while the other parties were stuck in the past
*(A+) Some historians argue that while the propaganda strengthened existing support,, it did not sway many new voters
Appeal of Hitler and the Nazis post 1928 (E)
Economic difficulties were more important as Nazi propaganda often relied on the appeal of jobs for the unemployed, and this use of propaganda was something that only became effective in times of economic hardship, such as the wall street crash which left over six million Germans unemployed and saw Nazi votes increase almost ten times during the next election.
