How did the Nazi Party rise to power?

Following the end of World War One, many Germans were angry about how things turned out for them.

When the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to accept the blame for starting the war in the first place, many Germans felt humiliated.

Proud Germans called this the Dolchstosslegende, a ‘stab in the back’, because they felt that the German politicians had betrayed their own citizens by accepting the blame and the punishments handed out as a result.

These politicians were called the ‘November Criminals’.

In the final months of the war, the leader of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II had abdicated his throne.

Instead of staying as a monarchy, Germany became a democratic nation with elected politicians.

This new democracy was called the Weimar Republic and it governed Germany from 1919 to 1933.

However, during its time in existence, it faced incredibly difficult challenges, including the crippling hyperinflation of the early 1920s.

During this time, the politicians ran the country from the Reichstag, the government building in Berlin.

The Reichstag would serve as the seat of the German parliament until 1933. 

One of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles was the requirement that Germany paid back enormous war debts to other countries.

Since so much money was taken out of Germany by the victorious countries, regular German citizens struggled to earn enough money themselves.

As a result, in the early 1920s, Germany suffered ‘hyperinflation’. This is a period of extremely rapid and out-of-control inflation in which the value of currency drops significantly.

This hyperinflation was caused by a combination of factors, including Germany's obligation to pay war reparations and the government's decision to print even more money to pay its debts.

As a result, prices of goods and services rose rapidly. This meant that the German currency lost value at an alarming rate.

A significant number of German families suffered through poverty and even lost their jobs at this time.

However, from 1924 to 1929, the Weimar government worked hard to find solutions to these problems.

Hyperinflation was at its worst in 1923. The leaders were then able to finally stabilize it due to the introduction of the Rentenmark in November 1923 and the Dawes Plan in 1924.

Then, just as common people were beginning to feel like they were comfortable in Germany again, in 1929, the Great Depression hit.

Once again, millions of Germans lost their jobs and the anger they felt at the end of World War One returned.

So, the German people began looking for new political movements to save them from this economic hardship.

One of the many political parties seeking to gain control of Germany was the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler. 

In World War One, Hitler had served in the German army and was similarly angry about Germany’s defeat.

Seeking a political group that offered solutions, Hitler joined a small political party in 1919 called the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which we know as the Nazi Party.

In 1921, Hitler became its leader, but it remained a small group with few followers.

As leader, Hitler presented himself as a heroic war hero who promised real solutions to Germany’s problems.

Hitler initially tried to seize power in Germany through an armed insurrection in 1923.

Known as the Beer Hall Putsch, this was where he led the Nazi Party to try and overthrow the Bavarian government in Munich.

This failed though, and Hitler was jailed for his involvement.

However, once he left prison in 1924, he returned to raising support for the Nazi Party.

In 1926, they established a Nazi Youth Group, called the Hitler Youth and propaganda newspapers were created to share their political ideology.

It was hoped that these measures would be able to make the Nazi message better known among the Germans.

In addition, Hitler held a range of public meetings where he delivered passionate speeches that sought to connect with the anger felt by the audience.

However, these efforts made little impact. In fact, in the 1928 elections, only 2.6% of Germans voted for the Nazis.

So, in 1929, a man called Joseph Goebbels was given the job of improving the Nazi’s election campaigns.

To do this, he focused on getting middle-class Germans to vote for them.

That year was when the Wall Street Crash occurred, and the Great Depression hit Germany.

As millions of Germans lost their jobs, they began to believe that someone like Hitler could make a difference to their suffering. 

By 1932 the Nazis were the biggest political party in Germany. It looked as if they could gain power in Germany, but a powerful politician stood in their way: President Hindenburg.

Hindenburg did all that he could to ensure that Hitler did not take power in Germany. He was worried about what the Nazis could be capable of. 

In the November 1932 elections, the Nazis actually saw a 4% decline in their votes, down to 33%.

Many people breathed a sigh of relief that the popularity of Hitler was fading.

However, German leaders were now growing worried about the Communist party, which had increased in popularity.

It was proposed to Hindenburg that a government formed with some members of the Nazi party could help balance the popularity of the Communists.

President Hindenburg considered making Hitler the head of the German government, in a position known as the ‘chancellor’.

However, he would only do this if the experienced German politician, von Papen, promised to be Hitler’s vice chancellor, as a way of controlling him. Von Papen agreed.

With power in his sights, Hitler experienced increased success in the next round of elections in January 1933, which saw a large number of Nazi politicians elected to the government.

So, on Sunday, the 29th of January 1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor, and von Papen as vice chancellor.

What is so surprising to many modern people is that Hitler became chancellor by following the correct democratic process in Germany.

Once in power, Hitler quickly used the Nazi politicians to dominate the government and overpower von Papen entirely.

Within just a few years, the Nazi Party would ban all other parties and declare Hitler 'the Führer', a German word meaning "leader".

He was, therefore, the supreme dictator of Germany.