Explain why and how, Hitler and the NSDAP began to attract some support from people in Germany betwe
Uploaded by lathikab on Jan 16, 2004
Explain why and how, Hitler and the NSDAP began to attract some support from people in Germany between 1919 and 1923.
There were many reasons why Hitler got into power: the defeat in world war one, Treaty of Versailles, “stab in the back theory”, weak leadership, fear of communist/revolutions, economic impact of world war one, reparations, hyperinflations of 1923, French invasion of the Ruhr.
In 1914 at the beginning of the war, the Germens were very confident that they were going to win the war. However, by 1917 it was very clear to the army’s High Command that they were not going to win the war. The army still had a little hope, when Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd in November 1917. Then in 1917, Germany was talking about peace with Russia, which led to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918). Under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Germany gained a lot of land from the east. Now they could concentrate on the west side of Germany. The extra men helped at first but the Allies did not give up, and then soon started to gain land. In September 1917, Germany’s army chiefs- Paul von Hindenburg, head of the high Commands, and Erich Ludendorff, his senior quartermaster general, realised that it was certain they would not win the war. Hindenburg and Ludendorff cared the most about the army’s reputation. They knew that if they lost the war, it would look bad on them, because they were the one who were responsible of the country while Germany was at war. Therefore, they asked the Kaiser if their power of the country could be give to civilian politicians. Prince Max of Baden, head of the German Red Cross and a political moderate, was appointed the Imperial Chancellor, in 1st October 1918.
However, the army were still sending out propaganda to the people, convincing them that they will win the war even when the army knows they will not. After four long years of blood, war and propaganda, people started to believe the posted and advertisements. Therefore, when the Weimar Government signed the Armistice in 1918, the German people did not understand why they had given up. They felt that that the new Government have signed them away to the Allies. They felt as if the Weimar Government has stabbed them in the back. Some people did not believe that they have been defeated because they German’s...