Hitler's Gain of Power

Hitler's Gain of Power

When Hitler came to become chancellor in January 1933 his powers were

relatively weak. Hitler had been appointed chancellor by the

president, Hindenberg. Hindenberg had the power to appoint any

chancellor he wishes, and can get rid of Hitler at any time. This

means that Hindenberg controlled all of Hitler's power. The Nazi

politicians were in the minority in the cabinet and in the Reichstag -

only 3 in the first cabinet. Hitler only won 33% of the vote in 1932.

Without this support it was hard to gain much support for Hitler.

Also, the Generals had no loyalty to him. The German army, the

Wehrmacht, were very powerful and had the power to overthrow Hitler is

they wished. They were afraid that Hitler would replace the army with

his own SA - which had increased in size dramatically since it was

first created.

Hitler managed to achieve complete control by 1934 by establishing a

one-party state where he would have full control. He did this in

several ways. The Reichstag building was burned down on 27 February

1933. This helped Hitler to gain a majority in the upcoming March

election. The Nazis blamed the fire on the communists, specifically

Van der Lubbe - and they claimed that he intended to spark a communist

uprising in Germany. It is debatable as to who really caused the fire.

Although Van der Lubbe confessed to it, some historians claim that the

Nazis started the fire themselves deliberately to increase their

chances of success. It is undeniable that Hitler did use the fire to

help win the election. He launched a propaganda campaign to whip up

fears of a communist uprising. This was hoped to frighten the

middle-classed landowners into voting for them.

The day following the fire, the "Reichstag fire decree" was

introduced. This gave the Nazis the power to arrest a number of

communists and socialists and hold them for unlimited periods of time

without having to appear in court.

The Nazis still failed to gain a majority in the Reichstag, receiving