Hitler's rise to power, 1919-33

What happened to Hitler in 1913?

Hitler fled to Munich to avoid military service in the austrian army, and then volunteered to join the German army.

What happened in 1919?

The communists seized power in munch, and then were defeated.

The DAP was founded by Drexler, and was a small group.

Hitler remained in the army and was an informant.

What happened in 1920?

Hitler and Anton Drexler wrote the 25 point programme - a political manifesto.

The DAP grew rapidly.

What happened in 1921?

Hitler's influence on the NSDAP became so great he became the leader.

Hitler developed the fuhrer title, allowing him total power.

What were the main ideas of the DAP in 1919?

Right wing

Quite socialist in some of their ideas - wanted to restrict the profit of companies and have a classless society.

Stress the volkisch idea - notion of pure German people.

Very noationalistic.

Why did Hitler speak about dolchstoss, his hatred of the TofV, Weimar, and the November Criminals?

A lot of his audience were very nationalistic and right-wing and this would appeal to them.

Why did Hitler speak about what he saw as the communist-Jewish conspiracy that was trying to destroy Germany?

He needed a scapegoat to target for the trouble Germany was facing.

His beliefs and upbringing lead to him believing that communism was a part of a wider Jewish conspiracy to bring down Germany.

What is meant by the term Fuhrerprinzip?

Hitler had the word ‘fuhrer’ developed so it meant he had complete authority in the party and would answer to no one.

When Hitler became the leader of the Nazi party in 1921, what changes did he make?

He introduced the swastika.

He introduced the SA (sturmabteilung) - a private army lead by Ernst Rohm commonly known as brown shirts. The SA pledged allegiance and loyalty to the Nazi party and were used to disrupt meeting of the social democratic party (SDP) and communist party.

How did the SA and Ernst Rohm help the nazi party grow in the years 1919-23?

Made Hitler appear strong when Weimar appeared weak.

Showed people Hitler had the ability to follow through on his promises.

Represented a strong German army when the real army was being made weak.

How did the nazi emblem help the nazi party grow in the years 1919-23?

Hitler recognised the need to have a memorable emblem as he gave a lot of thought to symbology.

The flag and emblem essentially turned from a political party to a household brand.

This propelled popularity and increased membership stakes.

How did Hitler’s charisma help the nazi party grow in the years 1919-23?

He was an excellent public speaker and drew huge crowds to Nazi speeches and rallies increasing membership.

What is a demagogue?

A political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and predjudices of ordinary people rather than using rational and actual judgements.

How did the nazi party’s close supporters help the party grow in the years 1919-23?

As soon as he took charge he surrounded himself by loyal supporters.

He rewarded these men with positons of power in the party and many went on tobecome top Nazis in the later years.

By surrounding himself with key supporters he ensured his own position was safe whilst being able to delegate the dirty work to his supporters.

This also created competition in the party.

Who were some of Hitler’s key supporters around 1919-23?

Ernst Rohm - commander of SA

Herman Goring - WW1 Veteran / pilot

Julius Streicher - owns antiemetic newspaper that was used to spread Nazi propaganda.

Rudolf Hess - helped Hitler write his book ‘mein kampf’

Name some of the reasons that lead to the Munich Putsch.

Weimar was disgraced, Hitler believed he would have a lot of support across germany.

The SA would be used as armed support.

Hitler had won the support of general Ludendorff, the former army commander in chief who was an extremely popular and influential figure in Germany.

How did Ludendorff contribute to the failure of the Munich Putsch?

He allowed the politicians (Kahr, Lossow and Seisser) to ‘call their wives,’ basically allowing them to leave.

This meant the following day Seisser and Lossow retracted their support to the party and organised for troops and police to resist Hitler's planned armed march through munich.

How did the nazi party’s lack of amumnition contribute to the failure of the Munich Putsch?

The Nazis continued with the march through munich - the Nazis only had around 2000 rifles and when challenged were no match for the well-armed police force.

Who are the politicians Hitler was trying to gain the support of at the Munich Putsch? How did Hitler try to accomplish this - did it work?

Kahr, Lossow and Seisser.

He held them at gunpoint and tried to force them into declaring their support of the party.

They refused.

The Munich Putsch: What does Hitler do when the crowd begins to get rowdy? Who arrives around this time?

Uses his charisma to deliver a speech, gaining the support of the audience in the beer hall.

General Ludendorff arrives.

The Munich Putsch: What do the politicians do when they see general Ludendorff arrive?

They give their support to the party.

The Munich Putsch: What happens when Hitler leaves Ludendorff in charge whilst tending to some business?

Ludendorff allows the politicians to leave when they say they must call their wives so they don’t worry them. They then retract their support.

The Munich Putsch: What happens after the politicians leave?

The Nazis continue their march up to Munich with the support of the SA to take control.

The Munich Putsch: What happened at the march up to Munich? Was it a success?

Overall it fails badly, ending up in the deaths of 14 Nazis. Hitler goes on the run but is arrested 2 days later.

The Munich Putsch: What happens at Hitler's trial?

The judge is sympathetic to the cause and allows Hitler to speak and defend himself, gains a lot of support and ends up in the papers - becomes nationally known.

Hitler gets the minimum sentence of 4 years but only serves 9 months.

The Munich Putsch: What happens to the party when Hitler is in prison?

The Nazi party is banned and goes into decline.

How did Hitler realise he would have to take control after the Munich Putsch failed?

Democratically, not forcefully.

How did Hitler do with the party when he left prison?

He persuaded the president of Bavaria to lift the ban of the Nazi party.

He then relaunched the party and took control again, implementing methods to strengthen it.

What was the general state of the party like in 1926?

Hitler continued to strengthen his position as leader, possible rivals were won over. He was the undisputed leader.

How was point 17 of the 25 point programme altered? Why?

It was altered so privately owned land would only be confiscated if it was owned by a Jew, and came at a time when farmers began to experience economic problems and find Nazism atrractive.

This would appeal to farmers as it provided them more security during a time of political unrest.

This also allowed them to push anti-semetic attitudes by associating HT problems of the country with Jews.

How did the party membership increase between 1920 and 1923?

From 1,100 in June 1920 to about 55,000 in November 1923.

How many seats did they win in the 1928 elections compared to the 1924 elections?

12 in 1928 and 32 in 1924.

How did the structure of the party change after it was relaunched?

He created party branches called gaue (single gau) that were each headed by a gauleiter.

Hitler made sure his closest associates helped run the party from Munich and that these people and the gauleiter pushed the ideas of the Fuhrerprinzip.

What happened at the Bamberg party conference? When was it?

1926 - Hitler strengthened his position

Possible rivals were won over, eg. Strasser, who was appointed a leader for the party.

Opponents were also removed eg. Rohm, whom Hitler forced to resign as he was concerned the SA would continue to be a violent group.

What was the Hitlerjugend? Why was it set up?

Hitler youth group that was set up to rival other youth groups.

What did Hitler replace Rohm with? What is the SS?

He developed his own bodyguard - the Schutzstaffel (SS)

The new leader of the SA was Franz Pfeffer Von Salomon.