The Rise of Germany to a Fascist State
Uploaded by nel_88 on Oct 23, 1999
During the 1920's and early 1930's Germany was unstable socially economically and politically. The governments were more often in a state of disarray than not, the populace was disillusioned and scared, and the Great Wall Street stock market crash of 1923 saw the economy crumble before the population's eyes. These unfavourable factors combined to create a nation of precarious stature, a country which was looking for a savior. This came in the form of fascism, an ideology in which the individual is dominated by an all-powerful state under the control of one supreme leader. The hand to lead the people of Germany out of all the problems and deceptions of these terrible times was Adolf Hitler, fascist dominator. These difficulties gave Hitler and the Nazi party the opportunity to employ their propaganda skills to capture this disenchanted nation and win their hearts, but more importantly, to manipulate their minds.
By the mid 1920's Adolf Hitler was the undisputed leader of the Nazi Party. Much of Hitler's success as a politician during his pilgrimage to higher power in Germany was due to his powerful and dominating personality. A master orator, not only was Hitler a charismatic speaker, but his public speaking was so passionate and dynamic that the crowds would be driven wild with enthusiasm of the ideas he preached. Hitler's devoted oratory often made vague promises while avoiding the details, by using simple catch phrases, repeated over and over. Hitler's dominance and authoritarian nature was a much-needed change for the people of Germany, following the indecisive and so often unsuccessful muddlings of the Weimar government and its predecessors.
The Spartacist rising of 1919 was an early political factor that encouraged the initial success of Hitler during the rise of fascism in Germany during the 1920's. January 5th 1919 saw an unprepared and badly staged Spartacist putsch, where the communist's led by 'Red Rosa' Luxemburg, captured the headquarters of the governments newspapers and the telegraph bureau. The Spartacist rising was easily crushed by the Freikorps. By January 15th the Spartacists were defeated completely, with one hundred (100) Spartacists having been killed, compared to only thirteen (13 ) Freikorps. Most importantly, Rosa Luxemburg and fellow Spartacist Communist leader Karl Liebknecht were murdered, stripping the communists of their leaders. Not only did the failed and fruitless rising influence people further from the communists, due to such unreliable politics, but the loss of both leaders...