Discuss The Causes Of Hitler's Rise To Power

The Treaty of Versailles was the Treaty signed by Germany, France, Britain, and the USA in 1919 on June 28th. The “Big Three” all had their personal aggressions towards Germany and as a result the Treaty was rather harsh. The Treaty of Versailles was significant to some extent to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 because it left the people of Germany vulnerable and confused which made Hitler’s extreme ideas easier to appeal to. Economically, it left Germany’s economy in tatters due to the reparations. Socially, there was the war guilt clause which caused an outrage amongst the German people. However it was not the main thing that triggered or resulted in Hitler’s rise to power as there were several other contributing factors that lead to Hitler’s

Politically, there was in ineffective constitution under the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic was Germany’s first ever democracy, this lead to creating a system out of balance. Power was either too thinly spread or too concentrated. President Paul Von Hindenburg had access to Article 48 which stated that he could rule by decree and pass any laws in any given emergency situation. There were also many anti-democratic elements which included the Spartacist revolt and the Kapp Putsch. One of the left-winged groups was a Communist group called the Spartacists. They were lead by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht (Walsh, 140). They argued strongly against Eberts democratic government and believed that Germany should be ruled by worker’s councils or soviets. In early 1919 they launched a bid for power, joined with rebel soldiers and sailors, they set up Soviets in several towns. Ebert then made an agreement with the commanders of the army and the Freikorps to shut the rebellion down. The Kapp Putsch was a threat from the right-wing and took place on the 20th of March in 1920 and was lead by Wolfgang Kapp. Kapp lead 5000 Freikorps (anti communist ex-soldiers) into Berlin which was a direct threat to the Weimar government. The army then refused to fire on the Freikorps and it seemed like Ebert’s government was going to fail however the people then went on strike and everything came to a halt. After

Joseph Goebbels was hired by Hitler to help him win support for the Nazis through propaganda (Propaganda in Nazi Germany).Joseph Goebbels was excellent at propaganda and had the official title of Mister Propaganda and National Enlightenment. Hitler gave him two main tasks which was to make sure that the German people did not view anything that would be harmful to the Nazi party and that the views of the Nazi party were put forward to the most greatest extent. As a result of these two aims, the Nazi propaganda was extremely significant to Hitler’s rise to power as it gave him the means to convey his ideologies in the best way possible. Nazi Germany introduced the idea of censorship due to Goebbels setting up the Reich Chamber of Commerce. This organisation settled the art, literature, newspapers e.t.c. to ensure that everyone thought in a decent way that wasn’t a threat to the Nazi party. This meant that the Nazi party only let you hear and see what they wanted you to hear and see. Goebbels also organised mass rallies where Hitler presented amazing speeches with his flair as a brilliant speaker. This is a quote from Goebbels talking about propaganda: “The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it and utterly can never escape from it.” (Propaganda in Nazi Germany). This quote highlights