To what extent was Hitler's success in coming to power due to the depression?
Uploaded by simon_simo13 on Apr 06, 2002
Hitler became chancellor in January 1933. By March he had full dictatorial power. There is no doubt that the impact of the depression on the German people gave way to the rise of Hitler. It was the single most important factor of Hitler's coming to power, however it wasn’t the only factor. Hitler had remarkable speaking abilities, which helped him woo the public. His use of force with the SA and the inability of the Left wing political groups to combine, also contributed in his rise. Hitler also used the weakness of the constitution the signing of the Versailles treaty to bring down the Weimar Republic. With all these advantages on his side, and with the depression hitting Germany hard in 1929, it was just a matter of time before Hitler would "claim his throne".
The Depression was the single most important factor in Hitler's rise to power. In 1929 a shockwave began in New York the affected the entire world. Germany was affected the most. Many historians, including Mckibbin and Taylor, believed that the depression was the turning point for Hitler and the nazi party. Germany's economy after World War I had been built on foreign loans, especially loans from the United States, and on world trade, which was also based on a system of loans. Thus when the depression hit, the German economy collapsed. By 1932, 6 million Germans were unemployed. The German people and lost all hope in the Weimar republic, and started looking for a radical change, brought forth party radical parties…the communists and the nazis. As a result of 1929, Hitler became remarkably popular. He made promises to the military and to industrialists saying that he would return Germany back to greatness once again. Hitler exploited the trust of the German public to its fullest during these times of hardship so he could gain the support he needed to gain full control of the German state.
The weakness of the Constitution of the Weimar Republic significantly helped Hitler establish and develop the Nazi party. Whilst the Weimar constitution was said to be one of the most democratic constitutions of all time, there were still major flaws in it. In the eyes of Howland and Barr, the section on proportional representation and article 48 considerably helped Hitler on his quest for absolute power. As a consequence of proportional representation, it made it easy for anyone to form...