Background
After WW1, the Versailles Settlement was imposed on Germany as a diktat - a settlement,
which Germany could not negotiate. Its main terms were:
● Territorial losses to France and Poland, depriving Germany of 10% of territory, 75% of
iron resources and 4 million people (13% of population)
● Loss of colonies
● German army limited to 100,000; no air force or heavy battleships
● Heavy reparations
● War guilt clause - Germany accepted she was responsible for the outbreak of the war
1921 - Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the NSDAP
8 XI 1923 Munich Putsch (Beer Hall Putsch/Hitlerputsch) - Hitler, Ludendorff and several Nazi
party members stormed the Munich Beer Hall. While Goering was holding a speech in the main
hall, Hitler blackmailed the officials into supporting his national socialist revolution and march on
Berlin.
● Later, Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but released after several months, a
period far shorter than what was common for his charge of treason
○ The authorities, sympathetic towards Hitler’s nationalism, decided not to treat
him too severely
● During his imprisonment, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, in which he stated that from now on
the NSDAP would employ new tactics to play the system
○ Hitler (1932): “The illegal path to the conquest is even more dangerous and more
fatal”
● Hitler did not see the putsch as a failure but as an opportunity to spread the Nazi
ideology
○ The putsch was celebrated annually as ‘Martyrs’ Day’ to honour the 16 that were
shot dead by the police
Emergence
NSDAP
1920 - formation of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German
Workers’ Party)
Supporters
➔ Business leaders (as NSDAP attacked trade unions and communists)
➔ Lower-middle class, who feared they would become unemployed (as the Nazis proposed to
tackle unemployment by creating jobs)
➔ Young voters were drawn to Hitler’s image as someone who understood them
➔ Small farmers and peasants (as NSDAP promised them subsidies)
◆ In the early 1930s, they were suffering from falling food prices and growing
competition from larger farms. The Nazis promised to protect domestic production
by introducing tariffs
➔ Conservative nationalists (as the Nazis promised to defend Germany from communism and
revive Germany’s international position)
, ● The support for the Nazi Party was dependent on economic conditions, as seen in 1932 - in
VII, when economic conditions were worse, the Nazis got 4% more votes, and after
economic conditions improved (with unemployment falling from 30% to 26%), their vote
share decreased in XI
○ It could be argued this was a result of the inconsistency of Nazi rhetoric (which after
VII 1932 criticised the right-wing Centre Party government, and before had been
strongly anti-communist)
Election 1928 1930 VII 1932 XI 1932 III 1933
Support for 2.6% 18.3% 37.3% 33.1% 43.9%
NSDAP
Support for 11% 13% 14% 17% 12%
KPD
Unemployme 13% 25% 30% 26%
nt
XII 1929 referendum about the ‘Freedom Law’ (‘Law against the Enslavement of the German
People’), which would formally renounce the Treaty of Versailles and make it a criminal offence for
German officials to co-operate in the collecting of reparations
● Proposed in opposition to the Young Plan by German nationalists (including NSDAP)
● The centre-left, centre and centre-right parties all supported the Young Plan as a step in
restoring Germany’s position in international affairs. As such, the 'Freedom Law' had little
support in the Reichstag and failed there
● After the bill was defeated in the Reichstag, the right collected enough votes to have it voted
upon in a referendum
○ Mommsen: this surprised observers
● Although 94.5% voted in favour, the turnout was only 15% (well below the required 50%)
and thus the law did not pass
● Improved the situation of the Nazis: Exposure in widely read newspapers of popular
right-wing parties gave the Nazis free publicity
Campaigning with the mainstream right-wing parties
gave Hitler credibility he had lacked before
Conditions
Economic factors
● Before Hitler came to power, Germany’s population increased by 900,000 annually, and with
that came an increase in demand for resources
● Hyperinflation as a result of ‘passive resistance’ adopted during the invasion of the Ruhr
(with the price of bread rising from 163 marks in 1920 to 2.5 billion marks in 1923)
○ Fulbrook: The hyperinflation ‘had long-lasting effects, confirming a deep seated dislike
of democracy’
● Economic crisis
, ○ Impact of the Great Depression: 50,000 businesses went bankrupt in 1929-1933
International trade fell by 62%, making the budget
shrink
International investment and American loans
withdrawn
● Stresemann (1929): “Germany is in fact
dancing on a volcano. If the short-term
credits are called in, a large section of our
economy would collapse”
High unemployment (6 million) meant the state
needed money for benefits, but there were no
sources of that money
Industrial production decreased by 40% in
1928-1930
GDP fell by 15% by 1932
○ Austerity measures of Bruning (in which he reduced government spending by 15%
and increased taxes by an average of 10%) only worsened the conditions of the
people
■ The negative impact of the austerity measures caused Bruning to be
dismissed
■ Meissner: it was the government’s response to the crisis and not the crisis
itself that led to the growth of popularity of NSDAP
● Supported by the fact that the US, France, and Britain were also hit
by the depression, yet it was only in Germany that extremists rose
to power (because the others actually increased their spending)
● Regions that saw bigger increases in their average tax rates also saw
larger vote shares for the Nazi Party between the VII 1932-III 1933
elections
○ Hewitt: The Depression was the main reason for increased support for the Nazis.
The government, taken by surprise, dealt with it poorly, which made people turn to
parties which promised them something, like the Nazis did
○ Lee: the economic crisis caused a political one: the moderate parties could not agree
so Article 48 was used - democracy was replaced by dictatorship
○ Bullock (1954): In times of economic crisis, societies radicalise. That phenomenon
greatly facilitated Hitler’s rise to power.
○ Carr: Hitler would have not come to power if it were not for the economic crisis
● Growing unemployment gave the Nazis more votes, as the desperate unemployed saw the
Nazi economic measures as their last hope
○ The Nazis proposed to tackle unemployment by job creation
○ Elections of 1930: 3.5 million unemployed, 107 Nazi seats in Reichstag; Elections of
VII 1932: 6 million unemployed, 203 Nazi seats in Reichstag
● The worst conditions were seen in the countryside, where farms were suffering from falling
prices
Social division
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