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THE RISE OF HITLER
There was so much unrest in Germany from 1919 to 1923.
There was opposition to the terms of the treaty almost
immediately. The Weimar Republic, as the government of Germany became
known, were very unpopular.
From 1919 to 1923, there was a series of attempted revolutions
in Germany, some by Communists - who hoped to take advantage of the
situation and follow the example of Russia - others by right wing nationalists
who blamed the government for accepting the treaty and tried to overthrow
it.
Adolf Hitler left the German army in January 1919. He
had spent the last weeks of the war in hospital recovering from gas-blindness.
He believed that the army had not been defeated, but had been "stabbed
in the back" by the politicians who had signed the Armistice (the
November Criminals). When the war ended Hitler got a job working as
a spy for the German army. He was sent to a meeting of the German Workers
Party in September 1919,which was led by Anton Drexler, who was very
anti-Semitic. Hitler joined the party and became its leader in 1921.
Hitler wanted to attract as many people as possible to
the party, so he changed the name to the National Socialist German Workers
Party. He hoped that the word "National" would attract nationalists
who wanted to rebuild Germany after the First World War and the word
"Socialist" would attract socialists who wanted to improve
the lives of working people in Germany.
The National Socialists, or Nazis, as they began to be
called, were often violent; they would attack their opponents at meetings
and this put many people off. Hitler's private army, the Sturm Abteilung
(Storm Troopers) or S.A., were led by a particularly unpleasant and
violent ex-soldier called Ernst Roehm.
In 1922 the Government stopped paying Reparations and
the French and Belgian Armies invaded the Ruhr, the main industrial
area of Germany. When the German workers went on strike they brought
in their own workers and cut the area off from the rest of Germany.
In 1922 and 1923 Germany was hit by Hyperinflation. This
is the name given to the massive rise in prices that took place and
affected everyone in Germany.
Many Germans found that their life-savings were lost.
People who lived on pensions were ruined.
Prices rose every day and every hour and people rushed
to buy goods as soon as they were paid. They bought anything, because
otherwise their money would lose value immediately. People began to
exchange goods (barter) rather than use money and shopkeepers tried
to keep their shops closed and avoid selling anything.
The confusion caused by hyperinflation led Adolf Hitler to believe that
he could take power in Munich in November 1923, the Beer Hall Putsch.
The attempt failed. Hitler believed that the government of Germany was
so unpopular that many Germans would support him. He was even planning
a "March on Berlin" after his success in Munich. Hitler was
arrested and tried for high treason. He was found guilty and sentenced
to five years in prison. While Hitler was in prison after the Beer Hall
Putsch, he wrote "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle), which was a cross
between his autobiography and a list of his political ideas.
How Germany recovered from 1923 onwards
A new chancellor, Gustav
Stresemann, brought hyperinflation under control and most Germans saw
him as a much better leader than Hitler. Stresemann ordered all the
old banknotes to be collected in and to be burnt. He issued new notes,
called Rentenmarks, which were backed by the land of Germany and not
by gold.
Stresemann was also able to deal with most of the other
problems facing Germany in the 1920s and the country seemed to be recovering
from the effects of the First World War. He got German industry going
again. He persuaded the French and Belgians to leave the Ruhr.
In 1924 he borrowed money from the USA to help Germany
pay Reparations, the Dawes Plan.
In 1925 he persuaded the French and Belgians to sign
the Locarno Pacts and promise never to respect Germany's borders.
He got Germany admitted to the League of Nations in 1926
and Germany became a permanent Member of the Council.
It seemed that Germany had recovered from the humiliation of Versailles
and had been accepted by the other countries of Europe once again. In
the meantime Hitler had realised that he would have to change his tactics
if he were to have any chance of gaining power in Germany. He decided
that he must try to gain power by legal means.
When Hitler was released from prison, he set up a proper
political party with a national organisation. Before, the Nazis had
only been well known in Bavaria. Hitler knew that he needed to win as
many votes as possible if he was to gain a majority in the Reichstag.
He set up sections within the party for teachers, women
and children.
He appointed Josef Goebbels as head of propaganda. His
job was to put the Nazi message across as clearly as possible.
Hitler+ was able to gain complete power in Germany from
1929 to 1934.
On
3rd October Gustav Stresemann died.
On 24th October Wall Street, the American Stock Exchange
crashed. This led to the Depression of the 1930s, which affected Germany
more than any other country. By 1932 6,000,000 Germans were out of work.
This was much more than in any other country.
You can find out more about the Wall Street Crash and the Depression in the next article.
From 1929 support for the Nazis rose steadily:
1928 - 12 members of the Reichstag
1930 - 107 members
1932 July - 230 members
The Nazi Party was well organised and had the support
of Alfred Hugenberg. He was a millionaire who owned 53 newspapers. Hugenberg
had begun to support Hitler in the 1920s. All of his newspapers backed
Hitler.
Hitler hired a private plane to fly around Germany. He
was the first politician to do this. When he landed he had two Mercedes
cars to carry him from place to place. This meant that he could speak
in many towns on the same day.
Hitler told the German people that the problems of the
Depression were not their fault. He blamed the Jews for Germany's problems.
He used them as a scapegoat. Hitler said that he would be able to solve
the problems and promised different things to different groups of people.
To businessmen he promised that he would control the Trade Unions and
deal with the Communists. To workers he promised that he would provide
jobs.
Hitler said that he would do away with the Treaty of
Versailles, which had treated Germany so badly. Hitler was always backed
up by large numbers of disciplined and uniformed followers - this made
it appear that he was a man who could take decisions and sort out Germany's
problems.
As the situation in Germany became more and more desperate, people were
more and more ready to listen to the ideas of Hitler. On 30th January
Hitler was appointed chancellor by President Hindenburg. In January
1933 Hindenburg was persuaded by Franz von Papen to appoint Hitler as
Chancellor of Germany. Von Papen believed that he would be able to control
Hitler and use the 196 Nazi MPs to create a majority in the Reichstag.
He was wrong:
When he took office, Hitler was leading a coalition government.
There were only three Nazis apart from himself. He immediately called
a general election to try to win a majority.
On 27th February, just a week before the election, the
Reichstag caught fire and burnt down. A communist, Franz van der Lubbe
was arrested inside. Hitler used this as an excuse to arrest many members
of the Communist Party, his main opponents.
The general election took place on 5th March 1933. The
Nazis won 288 seats. This was not a majority, but 52 Nationalists supported
them. At the first meeting of the Reichstag on 23rd March, the 81 Communists
stayed away. Hitler could now do as he liked.
The Reichstag immediately passed the Enabling Act - this made Hitler
dictator of Germany for four years. He immediately began to use this
power to crush all opposition to him in Germany. All trade unions were
abolished and all political parties banned, except for the Nazis. In
November 1933 in another general election, in which only Nazi candidates
were allowed, 92% of the people supported the Nazis.
Finally on 30th June 1934 Hitler eliminated his opponents within the
Nazi Party in the "Night of the Long Knives". 400 members
of the Sturm Abteilung, the Brownshirts, and other people, who Hitler
did not trust were murdered.
The main aim of this was to get rid of Ernst Roehm, the
leader of the S.A. Roehm had been demanding that he should be hade the
commander in chief of the German army. Hitler did not want to do this
as he knew that it would be very unpopular with the generals.
Roehm was also one of the leaders of the Socialist wing
of the Nazi Party. He wanted a social revolution to give working people
more influence in Germany. Hitler wanted to set up a right wing dictatorship.
Hitler was frightened that Roehm would use the S.A. to get rid of him
and seize power. The S.A. had at least 500,000 members, although Roehm
claimed that there were 3,000,000.
When President Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler was finally able
to gain total power and combined the posts of chancellor and president,
giving himself the title of Fuhrer. All members of the armed forces
now had to swear an oath of loyalty to him.
Summary
On
11th November 1918 the Armistice was signed which brought an end to
the Great War and Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.
The following year the leaders of the Allies met at Versailles to decide
how Germany was to be treated. When the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
were published in June most Germans were very angry.
Answer
!
Why was
there so much unrest in Germany from 1919 to 1923?
How did
Germany recover from 1923 onwards?
Why was Hitler able to gain complete
power in Germany from 1929 to 1934?
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