Consolidation of power (1933–1934)

List Hitler’s consolidation of power

• appointment as chancellor

• Reichstag Fire and Decree

• March elections

• Enabling Act

• Gleichschaltung

• Centralisation of power

• Night of the Long Knives

• Death of Hindenburg

Describe Hitler’s appointment as chancellor

Appointment as Chancellor (30 Jan 1933):

• Hitler gained office through elite intrigue.

• Papen’s remark “we’ve hired him” epitomised conservative underestimation of Nazi radicalism, seeing Hitler as a puppet.

Describe the Reichstag Fire and Decree

Reichstag Fire & Decree (27 Feb 1933):

• The fire was exploited to pass the Decree for the Protection of People and State

• suspending habeas corpus and permitting detention without trial.

• Within two weeks, 10,000 Communists and leftists were imprisoned, crippling opposition.

Describe the March elections

March elections (5 Mar 1933):

• Despite mass propaganda and repression, the Nazis secured only 43.9% of the vote, remaining reliant on Nationalist allies.

• This undermines the myth of immediate Nazi majority support.

Describe the Enabling Act

Enabling Act (23 Mar 1933):

• Passed under SA intimidation

• gave Hitler full legislative powers for four years.

• Only the Social Democrats (94 deputies) opposed it, while Communists had already been barred.

Describe Gleichschaltung

Gleichschaltung (“coordination”):

• Independent institutions were dismantled.

• Trade unions were smashed on 2 May 1933, replaced by the Nazi-controlled DAF.

• By July 1933, all political parties were banned, creating a one-party state. (Law Against the Formation of New Parties)

Describe Hitler’s centralisation of power

Centralisation of power (1934):

• The Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich (Jan 1934) abolished Länder parliaments => everything under Berlin

• completed centralisation of authority.

Describe the Night of the Long Knives

Night of the Long Knives (30 Jun 1934):

• ≈85 SA leaders and conservative opponents (including Schleicher) were executed.

• eliminated rivals

• secured the army’s loyalty

• cemented the SS as Hitler’s key power base

Describe the death of Hindenburg

Death of Hindenburg (2 Aug 1934):

• Hitler merged the presidency and chancellorship

• proclaimed himself Führer.

• The army’s oath of personal loyalty completed the transition to dictatorship.

Evaluate the consolidation of power

Hitler’s consolidation of power was not inevitable but a staged process of legal measures, coercion, and violence.

The Enabling Act provided the legal framework, while terror (Reichstag Fire, Night of the Long Knives) and elite collaboration secured compliance.

By August 1934, Hitler had transformed a chancellorship gained through backroom deals into a dictatorial regime based on personal authority and military allegiance.