Emergence of Hitler

What are the themes in emergence?

Conditions: impacts of war, economic problems, social division, political weaknesses

Methods: force and intimidation, leadership, ideology, propaganda

Impacts of war: examples & stats

• Treaty of Versailles (1919) & ‘November Criminals’

• Diktat of Tov & War Guilt Clause

• Loss of key territory (Polish Corridor, Rhineland, Alsace-Lorraine)

Stats

• 750,000 people died of starvation in winter 1918

• 132 billion gold marks in reparations (100 billion in war bonds)

• Agricultural production half of pre-war levels

Political and constitutional weaknesses

Weimar Constitution

• Proportional representation —> too many parties, opportunity for extremists

• Article 48 (presidential decree) —> potential for dictatorship (Hindenburg used it 60 times in 1932)

• Fundamental freedoms (speech assembly, association) —> could be used against Weimar

General weaknesses

• Stuck in the middle of left and right (Ebert picks the moderate path)

• Lander system: variations between local laws, decentralised system with checks and balances

• Frequent Reichstag elections (every 4 years): political instability, quick change in Reichstag composition

Social division

Left

• Spartacist Putsch (1919)

  • Communist uprising

  • Easily defeated by the Freikorps, Luxembourg and Liebknecht executed

  • Demonstrated the left’s lack of pragmatism

• Bavarian Socialist Republic (1919)

  • Communist republic set up in Bavaria by Leviné

  • Crushed by German army and Freikorps

  • White Terror: 1000 deaths in one month

  • Bavaria became a hotspot for extremists

• German October (1923)

  • KPD and SPD formed coalition in Saxony

  • KPD planned communist uprising but was later stunted

  • Red Threat becoming more apparent

Right

• Political assassinations

  • Nearly 400 political murders (mostly by the right)

  • Consul Organisation assassinated Erzberger (1921) and Rathenau (1922)

• Kapp Putsch (1920)

  • 12,000 troops marched on Berlin and seized the capital virtually unopposed

  • German army refused to get involved

  • Collapsed due to SPD general strikes

  • Highlighted that the army was unreliable (“state within a state”)

• Munich Putsch (1923)

  • Hitler and the Nazis organised a “national revolution” in Bavaria

  • Hitler arrested for treason and went on the 24-Day Trial (1924), gaining publicity

  • Judiciary system favoured the right

  • Hitler realised that he could only come to power by playing fair

Economic problems

• ToV reparations: 132 billion gold marks

• 160 billion marks debt to banks

• Hyperinflation (bread prices)

  • 1918: 0.54 German marks

  • 1923: more than 200 billion German marks

• French invasion of the Ruhr (1923)

  • 60,000 French troops seized German industry and raw materials

  • Weimar gov. called for passive resistance

  • Wages still paid to workers on strike —> hyperinflation

• Stresemann’s policies

  • Called off passive resistance

  • Introduced the Rentenmark attached to German land

  • Dawes Plan (1924) negotiated

‘Golden Years’ (1924-1929) key events

Under Stresemann’s fulfilment policy:

• Dawes Plan (1924) —> renegotiation of reparations, American loans

• Locarno Pact (1925) —> reaffirmed Germany’s western borders, ‘spirit of Locarno’ emphasising peace and reconciliation

• Entry into LoN (1926) —> ending diplomatic isolation

• Kellog-Briand Pact (1928) —> international disarmament

• Young Plan (1929) —> reduced total amount of reparations

• Ending Allied occupation by 1930

Strengths of Golden Years

Political: stable political coalitions, culminating in the Grand Coalition in 1928, high support for centrist parties (success in 1924 elections)

Foreign policy: conciliatory approach, fulfilment policy

Economic: hyperinflation controlled

Hindenburg as president (1925): unified Reichstag

Progressive culture: cabarets, literature, films, architecture

Weaknesses of Golden Years

Weimar’s problems were always there

Political: rise in right-wing support, strong social division, anti-Weimar parties in the Reichstag

Foreign policy: trying to please the Allies (seen as a betrayal)

Economic: inflation still present, over-reliance on American economy, still had to pay reparations

Culture: decadent for traditionalists

Decline (1929-1933)

• Wall Street Crash (1929)

  • Weimar and SPD criticised for not solving the depression

  • Unemployment peaked at 6 million in 1932

  • Banking crisis: major banks collapsed

• 1928-1930: Muller’s Grand Coalition

  • Powerless to solve depression, causing an erosion of support

• 1930-1932: Bruning

  • Passed Finance Bill with Article 48

  • 1930 election caused great rise in extremism

  • Lausanne Conference (1932) cancelled reparations

  • Unemployment peaked

  • Banned SA

• 1932: von Papen

  • Government of “national concentration”

  • Removed SA ban

  • 1932 election: rise in extremism, especially for Nazis (37%)

  • Stinnes and Schacht supported Hitler

• 1932-1933: von Schleicher

  • “Diagonal front” isolated both left and right

  • “Von Papen Plot” proposed Hitler as Chancellors, von Papen as Vice, thinking that Hitler could be controlled

Best impacts of war examples

• Triple barrel the Treaty of Versailles: war guilt, land loss, reparations

• Stigma of ‘November Criminals’

Best social division examples

Left: Spartacist Putsch

Right: Assassinations

Rise of extremism in 1930 and 1932 elections —> pair with stats

Best political weaknesses examples

Weimar Constitution (triple barrel): proportional rep, Article 48, fundamental freedoms

Failure of Muller, Bruning, von Papen, and von Schleicher to solve depression

Best economic problems examples

ToV reparations (132 billion gold marks) —> Dawes & Young

French invasion of the Ruhr & hyperinflation —> bread prices

Wall Street Crash and depression —> unemployment figures

Key examples of ideology

• 25-Point Programme (1920)

  • Rebranded national socialism

  • Ultranationalism, anti-ToV, lebensraum, “German blood”

• Mein Kampf and the Antis

  • Aryans as the master race —> Herrenvolk

  • Anti-Semitism

  • Authoritarianism

  • Social Darwinism: survival of the fittest

  • Anti-ToV, anti-communist, anti-feminist, anti-Weimar, anti-Semitic

• Three ‘Ks’: “children, kitchen, church”

• Führerprinzip: supreme, authoritarian leader

Key examples of propaganda

• 24-Day Trial (1924)

  • Gained publicity for Hitler and Nazis

  • Hitler called himself a ‘revolutionary’

• Hoffmann photographs —> “cult of Hitler'“

• Goebbels’ propaganda —> Hitler as the figurehead of the Nazi party

• 1932 Presidential Elections —> gained immense publicity

• “Hitler Over Germany” campaign (1932) —> national tour, huge crowds

Key examples of leadership

• Führerprinzip: many Germans desired a strong, decisive, and efficient authoritarian leader

Key examples of force and intimidation

• Munich Putsch (1923): 2000 Nazis marched on state gov, banks robbed, socialists held hostage

• SA

  • SA grew to 2 million by 1933 (4 times the size of the official army)

  • Anarchic paramilitary fighting

    • Altona Bloody Sunday (1932): 100 killed across Germany

    • Potempa Affair (1932): Nazis murdered unionist