Assess the reasons why the Nazis came to power in

There were many reasons why the Nazi Party were able to rise to power in 1933. These factors interlink with one another as, without the occurrence of one another would most probably have not taken place. Without the failure of Weimar Republic, the Depression of 1930 would have been less consequential to the Weimar democracy. Moreover, without proportional representation under the Weimar Constitution, the Nazi Party would have been less likely to gain any influence as a party. The most important reason for why the Nazis had come to power in 1933 has to be the Great Depression whereas; the least important is political intrigue.

The Great Depression is one of the main factors for why the Nazis were able to seize power. This is important because it further weakened the Weimar Republic, highlighting its underlying problems despite its period of stability within 1924-1929. The German economy depended on American investment, under the Dawes Plan of 1924 in order to stabilise itself and pay of the huge reparations sum, a term of the Treaty of Versailles. Because of this dependency, the German economy went into decline as Government income started to decrease majorly between 1928-1932- by 36% this affected the amount of wages earned by workers, additionally, by 1932, Germany’s unemployment figure increased to 6 million. The government appeared to do nothing to help the situation, which resulted in certain sectors of the society looking for other, more radical political alternatives, the Nazi Party and the KPD. This shows how the people had completely lost faith in the Weimar Republic and wanted more of a radical change. This is reflected in the elections results as the Nazi Party had primarily only gained 12 seats in 1928; however by July 1932 they had gained a significant 230 seats making them the largest political party in the Reichstag. In addition to this, the Great Depression created the environment in which Hitler could exploit his political skills. His charisma, his speeches and his advanced use of propaganda, directed by Goebbels allowed Hitler to put his political message across at a time where majority of the German people felt there was no hope for them.             However, without the underlying problems of the Weimar Republic, in particular its constitution, The Depression wouldn’t have affected Germany as much as it had done, therefore, this links in with another factor: the failure of the Weimar Republic, itself.

The failure of the Republic is another reason for allowing the Nazi’s to seize power. Under the Weimar Constitution, proportional representation allowed the formation of many new, small splinter parties such as the Nazi Party. If the Weimar Republic had adopted a ‘First past the Post’ system, the likelihood of the Nazi Party gaining any seats in the Reichstag would have been less and thus, the Nazi Party would have been less likely to come into power in 1933. In addition to this, on 28th June 1919, the German representatives had signed the Treaty of Versailles; many Germans viewed this as a ‘stab in the back’ myth. Hitler and the Nazi party played on this concept and said that he would help abolish the Treaty, which in effect, he was giving the people what they wanted. Ultimately, the failure of Weimar and the Treaty of Versailles allowed the Nazi Party to build on their ideas which would relate to what the people wanted.                    This factor directly links to the Great Depression as if Weimar was stable democracy in the first place and it wasn’t burdened by the Reparations demand, Germany would have done relatively well during The Economic Depression. However on the other hand, despite this, during the Weimar period, the SPD which was a pro-Republican party had always been the largest party, whereas the Nazi party could only gain 14 seats in 1924 and 12 in 1928.  Therefore, this factor is the least important in explaining how the Nazis had come to power in 1933.

Another substantial factor to consider is Hitler’s role in bringing the Nazis to power. He had rebuilt the party after his time in jail, following the failed Munich Putsch. In addition to this, he had used his short prison sentence, 18 months to build on his political ideas by focusing on the weaknesses of Weimar and what the people had wanted in order to gain more influence. Hitler made influential political contacts on the extreme right and had the support of Hugenburg, the media tycoon as a successful propaganda mechanism.  Together with his excellent oratory skills and influential speeches, Hitler was able to take advantage of the Great Depression and promote his Nazi ideas. On April 30, Goebbels was employed as Minister of Propaganda; this allowed the party to persuade particular social groups. Goebbels had created specific leaflets and other means of exploiting the message, for different social groups. As for example, to appeal to farmers, specific benefits to offset collapse agricultural prices, and to appeal to the unemployed, Hitler promised ‘bread’ and ‘work’ .By doing so, Nazi propaganda attracted a range of people, giving the Nazi Party a boost in morale politically. This is an important factor as it had got the public aware of a party which was willing to abolish the Treaty of Versailles and help both the farmers and unemployed, especially at a time when majority of the public had lost complete faith in Weimar and wanted a more radical change.                     However,  on the other hand, this had not directly allowed Hitler to gain power in 1933 as he still needed more influence and in particular, the support of Hindeburg, who was President in order to gain the role of chancellor that Hitler, sought. This was eventually gained through political intrigue.

Another main reason for why the Nazis had come to power was political intrigue. After the July elections there was no doubt about political strengths of the Nazi Party because they were the largest party in the Reichstag. However, Nazi support had fallen in November 1932 as they had only gained 196 seats. Despite this, the Nazi party were still the largest party in the Reichstag but Hindenburg did not support Hitler and Papen and Schliecher only wanted the Nazis in cabinet if their powers were limited. This showed the influence the Nazi party had on the electorate and therefore, the cabinet cannot ignore his powers any further as it may lead to a civil war. Following this election, the chancellor, Von Papen was forced out of power by Schliecher but von Papen wanted revenge and was determined to remove Schliecher from power. Hitler’s fortunes took a more favourable turn in the first week of 1933, Papen and Hitler agreed that Hitler could become chancellor if Papen was made vice. Papen had successfully encouraged Hindenburg to make Hitler chancellor of a coalition government, secure in knowledge that Nazis would be overwhelmed by traditional conservatives and nationalists. This was because, Hindeburg was well aware that there were only three Nazis in cabinet out of twelve: Hitler, Goering and Frick, therefore he felt he could easily control the Nazis.                             However, on the other hand, without political intrigue the Nazis would have eventually come in to power due to the large support it was gaining from the German public, and so, political intrigue cannot be considered as wholly important. It only enabled Hitler to legally become chancellor at a more substantial time as, without political intrigue, it would have taken Hitler much longer. This factor cannot be considered more important than the Great Depression as the Depression drove people away from pro-Republican parties allowing the scope of Nazism to grow significantly. Moreover, without the high support they were getting, political intrigue would have less likely occurred.

Overall, as a conclusion, there are many factors explaining why the Nazis had come to power in 1933. These factors all link together as without the failure of the Weimar Republic,  the Great Depression wouldn’t have had a significant effect, also, without the Great Depression and the large support the Nazi’s were gaining, political intrigue seemed impossible. The most important reason for the Nazi’s gaining power has to be the Great Depression along with Hitler’s influence over propaganda as, these factors allowed the Nazi Party to gain a large majority in the Reichstag. Additionally, the failure of the Weimar Republic is the least important as, by 1924-29 the Weimar was making some substantial gains, the period became known as the period of stability. Yet, without the underlying problems in Weimar because of its constitution, the Nazi Party would probably not have gained power in 1933.