Why did Hitler become Chancellor?
In 1918, Germany left the First World War (WW1) having lost to the Allies and signing an armistice. The years that followed were dire; having signed the Treaty of Versailles the country was in great debt and in the midst of an economic disaster. There were high unemployment levels and hyperinflation occurred, making Germany an almost impossible place to live in comfortably. The Weimar Republic, a new German government, was formed on 6 February 1919 and was a coalition government, leading to disagreements within the Reichstag and making major changes near impossible. This left the people of Germany deeply unsatisfied and wanting a new government promising new ideas.
In the midst of this unhappiness within Germany, the
National Socialist German Workers’ Party was growing in popularity under new leadership from a man named
Adolf Hitler. The party, nicknamed the
Nazi Party, grew from membership of 50 in January 1919 to over 50000 in 1923. They made it clear that they did not agree with the Treaty of Versailles and wanted only people of the German race to be citizens of Germany. The party continued to grow in popularity and on 30 January 1932 Hitler was made
Chancellor of Germany. There were many factors involved in this rise to power which Hitler used to his advantage, though he had less control over some than others.
It can be argued that a main reason for Hitler becoming the Chancellor of Germany was his character and personality. After being jailed for nearly a year in 1924 for high treason, Hitler decided to continue his fight to become leader of Germany. Instead of continuing with his illegal tactics in order to gain control, he decided to change the Nazi Party’s tactics to overthrow the government. He described this by saying “...we shall have to hold our noses and enter the Reichstag.” This was Hitler’s way of saying that the Nazis must gain control through the Reichstag, the German Parliament, rather than using illegal tactics.
Hitler’s speeches were also a great help to the Nazi propaganda campaign. It can be argued that his ability to manipulate situations within Germany was his greatest strength. He used the situation within the country - the aftermath of the Great Depression, the Weimar Republic and the unsatisfaction of the German people - to gain support from the German public. He showed the public that he identified with their unhappiness and would therefore want to change Germany into a better, happier place to live.
Following hyperinflation, the faith that the German people put into their economy was gone and no one would trust the value of money. This was worsened by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Hyperinflation made all money worthless and bartering became common. Hyperinflation was worse for people who lived on a fixed wage such as a pension. Workers could ask for a pay rise but pensioners had no way of doing this. Monetary value could change within a day. This was part of the reasons why Germans were so unsatisfied with their government, and Hitler manipulated this unsatisfaction to his own advantage. Hitler’s Nazi Party were a new start for Germany and they used this propaganda technique to gain support from the German people. Playing on the unhappiness of others to gain power for Hitler and the Nazis was an intelligent method for Hitler to become Chancellor.
WW1 was also a factor in the unhappiness of German natives and one that the Nazi Party used to gain power. Hitler openly called the signers of the armistice “the November criminals” - as a strong patriot, he believed that Germany could have won the war and should not have surrendered. This appealed to other patriots of Germany.
As well as all of these manipulative tactics, the Nazis also used illegal methods of gaining power. Stormtroopers went into Communist and Socialist Democrat meetings to break them up and attacked people there. This could have scared people into supporting the Nazi Party and was therefore a factor in Hitler becoming Chancellor.
Hindenburg, the German President, had two Chancellors in eight months. Neither had the support of the German public or the Reichstag - Papen, the first of the two, had only 68 supporters in the Reichstag - and therefore did not survive in the Reichstag. The Reichstag would not agree to Schleicher, the second Chancellor’s decisions, and so he asked Hindenburg to rule by decree. However, only weeks previous to this Schleicher had warned of civil war if Papen had ruled by decree, and Hindenburg was therefore suspicious. He refused the request to rule by decree and asked Schleicher to resign. Hitler was the leader of the largest party in the Reichstag, and was asked to be Chancellor.
All of these factors contributed to Hitler becoming Chancellor. However, Hitler’s ability to manipulate situations both in and out of his control can be argued as his largest asset in the struggle to become Chancellor. This ability meant that he could gain power from circumstances even out of his control, such as the Wall Street Crash, the Great Depression and the hyperinflation. If Hitler could only use situations within his control for his own purposes then there would have been a limit to the support he would gain. However, being able to manipulate situations out of his reach meant that there was no limit to the support he could gain and therefore becoming Chancellor became a much easier task.