HItler Rise To Power Essay
Street Crash in 1929, it is no surprise that many of the ordinary Mentalities turned to his party to return Germany to its former days of glory. Despite his charismatic speaking abilities and his hypnotic effect on the German folk, many historians would argue that Hitter’s rise to power cannot be attributed to his strengths alone, instead it was a combination of factors such as the weaknesses of Whimper and factors which were out of Germany’s control. Hitler was the main reason that the NSAP came to power rather than anyone else because, firstly he was a great speaker and had a hypnotic effect on ordinary Germans.
These skills were exhibited after the failed Munich Putsch of 1 923 where Hitler somehow managed to turn his own trial into a great propaganda success as well as making the Judge feel sympathetic towards his patriotism and anti-democracy views. It was this ideology that helped him to secure votes and turn the folk against democracy after the great depression hit Germany with full force. The ingenious propaganda campaign of Joseph Gobbles another factor that was significant in Hitter’s rise to power in 1933.
It could be argued that Hitler was only the face of the party and any other right-wing extremist could have awaken his place, whereas Gobbles was indeed the brains of the outfit. Nevertheless, the propaganda campaign was successful, particularly after the great depression was in full-swing. The ‘rarebit undo broth’ posters were very’ effective in gaining the support of the working-classes; where Whimper had failed to deal with the unemployment issue, the NSAP were offering the solution. This is important as it highlights that the weaknesses of Whimper were also influential in Hitter’s rise to power in 1933.
The Reichstag fire in February 1933 was arguably the most significant event in eliminating the communists from the election campaign. The Dutch communist Marcus van deer Lube was charged with arson and the KIP were prosecuted. Hitler ensured that the party was banned and that all newspapers were controlled. What makes this a significant event is that it reduced the opposition from the KIP to the NSAP party and hampered their chances of securing a substantial amount of the electorates votes.
It is undoubted that Hitler possessed an array of great speaking talents and was portrayed as a strong leader through the means of NSAP propaganda however, these strengths of Hitler and his National Socialists does not go far enough to explain how the party received so much support in the years leading up to 1933. The weaknesses of Whimper democracy go a long way in explaining the rise of Hitler to power in 1933 as opposed to the strengths of Hitler himself.
Firstly, the problems inherent in the Whimper constitution did not help their cause and some would argue that a return to a totalitarian state was always likely. There is substantial evidence to suggest that the Whimper Republic was fragile and that its collapse was inevitable from the start. The humiliating outcome of the war did little to help the republic in its infancy, the ‘harsh’ Treaty of Versailles left the population extremely unhappy and bitter towards those that had agreed to sign it and they were unfairly labeled as the ‘November Criminals’.
But still, Hitler was very smart in using this label at every opportunity to remind the folk about the humiliating treaty Of Versailles that had been signed by this weak democratic republic. This is an important factor as some people would say the Republic was always likely to collapse and was a significant factor in Hitter’s rise to power as opposed to his strengths alone. The effects of the great depression on the ordinary Mentalities and workers ere devastating; in 1929 the number of registered unemployed was 1. Million and 3 years later it rose significantly to 5. 6 million. The mass number of unemployed had lost all faith in the Whimper Republic, all they wanted was ‘Rarebit undo Broth (bread and work) and the Whimper government were simply unable to meet their demands. There were huge amounts of unrest and along with the currency ‘all standards had lost their value’. Many Germans resorted to shameful acts of prostitution to provide for their families, others resorted to looting the well-off. Whimper Germany was a devastating place to live in for ordinary Germans.
