Hitler's Rise to Power

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Hitler’s rise to power was not inevitable. It depended heavily on a range of factors, events and circumstances that were occurring at the time. The most important of these being, the collapse of the German economy, the failed beer hall putsch and the weakness and infighting of the Weimar Republic. It was only through a combination of these unlikely circumstances that Hitler was able to come to power.

One of the key events that allowed Hitler to come to power was the collapse of the German economy. Primarily due to the harsh conditions of The Treaty of Versailles the German economy was always precariously close to falling apart. It managed to survive an extreme amount of hyperinflation in the early 1920’s, wherein “money became worthless, not even worth stealing” (Geary, 2001 pg 18), before having a brief period of recovery between 1924 and 1928. It was during this time that the economy was set up to fail spectacularly because Germany began relying increasingly on international support and depending on “foreign loans… American capital in particular”. (Geary, 2000 pg 20) Thus when the Wall Street Crash occurred in 1929 it sent the country into turmoil with unemployment rates rising from 2 258 000 in 1930 to 6 031 000 in 1932. (Geary, 2000 pg 22) This paved the way for Hitler’s rise to power because the voting population began to lose faith in the Weimar Republic and consequently casting their vote for the extreme left and right parties, including the NDSAP which gained a rapid amount of votes, increasing its representation from 12 – 107 members (Kitson, 2001 pg 135), and becoming the second largest party in the Reichstag. The total collapse of the German economy allowed Hitler to come to power because voters desperate to en...

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...ible through several unlikely events, factors and circumstances that occurred at the time, which he used to his great advantage. It was only after the failed Beer Hall putsch wherein Hitler completely changed the tactics of the party and the collapse of the German economy, which Hitler used to gather rapid amount of support from those who had lost faith in the Weimar Republic that Hitler was able to manufacture a position from which he was able to come into power. But even then it was not majority electoral support but weakness in the Weimar Republic which Hitler used to his own advantage to create a situation that ultimately allowed him to rise to power.

Works Cited

Geary, Dick (2000) Hitler and Nazism: second edition, Routledge, London pg 18 – 39

Kitson, A (2001) Germany: 1858 – 1990 Hope, terror, and revival Oxford University Press: Oxford pg 120 - 142

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