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Hitler’s complex and disoriented psychological makeup, the result of an uneasy childhood, failure in his initial passion of art, and the effects of the first world war established him as a worthy political opportunist, capable of success.
Hitler himself was not a fascinating or brilliant man to say the least, yet he had the means and ambition to become a dictator. Furthermore, his rise to power was steady and well timed while the actual Nazification of Germany once he rose to power was rapid.
The sealant of his rise to power was Germany’s economic and political state. Left in economic frenzy after WWI, exacerbated by the settlements in the Versailles Treaty, Germany’s attempt to consolidate its state with a democratic government did not work in its long-term plan.
World War I left Europe shattered. Germany entered the war to avoid invasions from France and Russia, expecting victory. Having lost, they replaced their previous government to appease the Allied forces. In January 1919, the Weimar Republic was created.
Friedrich Ebert was the first President. Under Article 48 of the newly erected constitution, the president was given ‘emergency powers:’ the right to make decrees for restoration in the face of adverse emergency.
This Article would ultimately lead the Weimar Republic to its downfall simultaneously aiding Hitler’s rise to power. The Weimar Republic was inherently a flawed government. Germany had always been a militaristic society with a strong Kaiser run central government.
Thus, even politicians themselves were initially opposed to the republic that they were a part of.
In June of 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was constructed without the German presence, thus it appeared that the Allies had literally dictated the treaty to Germany. The main points of the treaty asked Germany to give up territory taken from other countries.
The ultimate blow that would create a strong German distaste and resentment for the treaty was Article 231, which blamed Germany and her allies for the outbreak of World War I. The treaty also demanded that Germany pay reparations.
The latter would see Germany through the economic crises that would pave the way for Hitler’s rise to power.
Many Germans, including politicians, were humiliated by the treaty and would eventually use it to blame Weimar, exposing an apparent weakness in the republic. The treaty would continue to ruin Germany.
For instance, in January 1923, Germany was unable to pay the latest installment of reparations. As a result, the French and Belgians occupied the Ruhr to recover the reparations in the form of natural resources. Weimar responded by ordering the workers in the Ruhr to strike.
To keep these workers funded, the government printed more money, which ultimately led to hyperinflation. Germans’ savings, salaries, wages, and pensions were worthless. This financial crisis would be branded to Weimar as their first major failure.
The second financial crisis under Weimar was the effect of the Wall Street Crash in 1929. During the six years between crises, Gustav Stresemann was Chancellor and was able to stabilize Germany into a fair recovery.
However, part of the recovery was based on short-term loans from America. Thus, when the American stock market crashed in October 1929, Germany was not independently stable enough to be unaffected. October also brought Stresemann's death.
Unemployment in Germany rose to 6.1 million, a key factor in Hitler’s rise as the Nazi party would provide multitudes of jobs. The next four years would see the disintegration of Weimar.
Hindenburg would excessively resort to the use of Article 48, illustrating Germany’s instability, the Nazis would gain votes in the Reichstag, and civil war would appear so possible that Hindenburg would eventually name Hitler Chancellor.
Hitler was born a charismatic, skilled orator with a complex personality & a cynical philosophy towards ethnic cleansing in 1889 Austria. His ultimate dream was to be an artist, but he failed entry into the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts whereupon he wandered Vienna from 1909-1913.
It can be argued that being rejected from his creative passion was a driving psychological force in his future actions in the Nazificaiton of Germany and his extermination of the Jews and Slavs.
His time spent in Vienna allowed Hitler to be greatly influenced by Karl Luger, who was anti-Semitic. In 1913, he moved to Bavaria and joined the Germany army the next year to fight in World War I.
When the war ended, like many other Germans, he was shocked by German defeat and later appalled by the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1918, Hitler became a V-man, investigating new political parties. On one investigation, he came across a small German worker’s party. He joined it, renamed it the NSDAP, and in 1920, the party drafted its 25 points.
The main goals of the NSDAP were to have Aryan Germans as the master race, acquire more eastward living space for Germans, destroy the Versailles Treaty, and to install a vigorous foreign policy for self-determination for all Germans.
From this, Hitler played on the anti-Semitism that was already inherent in Germany society by blaming the Jews for the defeat in World War I and the spread of communism. Hitler presented the German people with scapegoat, a humanistic need.
In 1921, Hitler made the SA his official private army. This army would be a driving force in the Nazi’s rise to power as military equaled strength and power. By 1922, Hitler was the leader of a built up NSDAP.
In November 1923 Hitler attempted to cease governmental control in the Munich Putsch. Although Germany was economically disturbed, Hitler’s attempt failed because it was over ambitious as the Nazi party was not yet important enough to the German population.
Even though Hitler would be tried and jailed for his stunt during which time the Nazi party would unravel, the trial marked an essential campaigning moment for Hitler.
The trial gave him the opportunity to preach his party’s goals and ambitions, establishing NSDAP recognition throughout Germany. Hitler’s trial also presented a weakness in Weimar as he was sentenced to five years in prison but only served nine months.
While in prison, Hitler had the proper time to author Mien Kampf, sorting out the ideals that would become the Nazi bible.
Upon his prison release in 1925, Hitler realized that power would only be achieved by legitimate means rather than by force. He re-founded the NSDAP and the SS, who would act as his personal bodyguards.
Now, Hitler needed civilian support in order for the Nazis to have seats in the Reichstag. He was supported by people effected financially by the weaknesses of Weimar and therefore needed either a strong central government to boast the economy or employment,
which the Nazi party would provide. Other supporters simply hated what he hated. His supporters included Nationalists who opposed the Versailles settlement, anti-communists, militia, industrialists, farming communities affected by the agricultural slump in Germany, racists, and
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