It has been almost 70 years since Adolf Hitler's suicide. However, his colorful political figure is still of interest to historians who want to understand how a modest young artist without an academic education could lead the German nation into a state of mass psychosis and become an ideologist and initiator of the bloodiest crimes in world history. So what were the reasons for Hitler's rise to power, how did this process take place and what preceded this event?
The beginning of a political biography
The future Fuhrer of the German nation was born in 1889. The beginning of his political career can be considered 1919, when Hitler retired from the army and joined the German Workers' Party. Already six months later, during a party meeting, he proposed renaming this organization to the NSDAP and proclaimed his political program, consisting of 25 points. His ideas resonated with the people of Munich. Soit is not surprising that at the end of the first party congress, held in 1923, a march of storm troopers passed through the city, in which more than 5,000 people took part. Thus began the story of Hitler's rise to power.
NSDAP activities from 1923 to 1933
The next significant event in the history of the National Socialists was the so-called Beer Putsch, during which a three thousandth column of attack aircraft led by Hitler tried to capture the building of the Ministry of Defense. They were driven back by a police detachment, and the leaders of the riots were tried. In particular, Hitler was sentenced to 5 years in prison. However, he spent only a few months in prison and paid a fine of 200 marks in gold. Once at large, Hitler developed a violent political activity. Thanks to his efforts in the elections of 1930, and then 1932, his party won more seats in parliament, becoming a significant political force. Thus, the political conditions were created that made it possible for Hitler to come to power. Germany during this period was in the grip of the crisis that broke out in Europe in 1929.
Economic reasons for Hitler's rise to power
According to historians, the Great Depression, which lasted about 10 years, played a big role in the political success of the NSDAP. It hit German industry very painfully and gave rise to an army of 7.5 million unemployed. Suffice it to say that in the strike of the Ruhr miners in 1931,nearly 350,000 workers took part. Under such conditions, the role of the Communist Party of Germany increased, which caused concern among the financial elite and large industrialists, who relied on the NSDAP as the only force capable of resisting the communists.
Appointment as Prime Minister
In early 1933, President Hindenburg received a large bribe from German magnates who demanded the appointment of the head of the NSDAP to the post of Reich Chancellor. The old soldier, who lived his life saving every pfennig, could not resist, and on January 30, Hitler occupied one of the most important posts in Germany. In addition, there were rumors that there was blackmail associated with the financial fraud of Hindenburg's son. But the appointment to the post of head of the cabinet of ministers did not mean Hitler's coming to power, since only the Reichstag could pass laws, and at that time the National Socialists did not have the required number of mandates.
Communist Crackdown and Night of the Long Knives
Just a few weeks after Hitler's appointment, the Reichstag building was set on fire. As a result, the Communist Party was accused of preparing to seize power in the country, and President Hindenburg signed a decree granting emergency powers to the Cabinet of Ministers.
Having received carte blanche, Hitler ordered the arrest of about 4,000 Communist Party activists and achieved the announcement of new elections to the Reichstag, in which almost 44% of the votes went to his party. The next force that can make it difficult to comeHitler to power, there were assault squads, the leader of which was Ernst Röhm. To neutralize this organization, the Nazis staged a pogrom, later called the "Night of the Long Knives". Nearly a thousand people were killed in the massacres, including most of the leaders of the SA.
Referendum
On August 2, 1934, President Hindenburg died. This event hastened Hitler's rise to power, as he succeeded in replacing the early elections with a referendum. During its conduct on August 19, 1934, voters were asked to answer just one question, which sounded as follows: "Do you agree that the posts of president and chancellor be combined?" After the votes were counted, it turned out that the majority of voters were in favor of the proposed government reform. As a result, the post of president was abolished.
The Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor
According to most researchers, the year Hitler came to power is 1934. After all, after the referendum on August 19, he became not only the head of the cabinet of ministers, but also the Supreme Commander, to whom the army was supposed to swear personally. Moreover, for the first time in the history of the country, he was given the title of Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor. At the same time, some historians believe that when Hitler's rise to power is considered, the date of January 30, 1933 is more important, since it was from then on that he and the party he led were able to exert a significant influence on the domestic and foreign policy of Germany. Be that as it may, a dictator appeared in Europe, inwhich killed millions of people on three continents.
Germany. Hitler's rise to power: implications for domestic politics and the economy (1934-1939)
The first years after the establishment of the dictatorship in the country, a new ideology based on three pillars began to be introduced into the minds of its citizens: revanchism, anti-Semitism and faith in the exclusivity of the German nation. Very soon, Germany, in which Hitler's rise to power was predetermined, among other things, by foreign policy reasons, began to experience an economic boom. The number of unemployed was sharply reduced, large-scale reforms were launched in the industry, and various actions were taken to improve the social situation of poor Germans. At the same time, any dissent was nipped in the bud, including through mass repressions, which were often sincerely supported by law-abiding burghers, pleased that the government isolates or even destroys Jews or communists who, as they believed, interfere with the formation of Greater Germany. By the way, the outstanding oratory skills of Goebbels and the Fuhrer himself played a significant role in this. In general, when you watch “Double-Headed Eagle. Hitler's Rise to Power - a film by Lutz Becker, based almost entirely on newsreels filmed from the beginning of the November Revolution in Germany to the book auto-da-fé - you understand how easy it is to manipulate public consciousness. At the same time, it is bewildering that we are not talking about several hundred or even thousands of religious fanatics, but about a multimillion-dollara nation that has always been considered one of the most enlightened in Europe.
The rise to power of Hitler, briefly described above, is one of the textbook examples of how a dictator democratically came to power, plunging the planet into the chaos of a world war.
