how did hitler and the nazi party secure absolute control over germany 1920 - 1938

intro

• 1920 - 1938 hitler and the nazi party transformed germany from a fragile and failing democracy into a totalitarian dictatorship.

• 1938, every aspect of german life, including education, media and the economy was controlled by the nazis under hitler’s leadership

what topics are you gonna write about

• intro

• munich putch, what he learnt, mein kamf

• reorganze, stresemann years

• wall street crash - nazi growth - who was drawn to him

• how he established dictatorship

• police state and joseph goebell

• youth and education

• economic control

  • conl

explain the munich putsch

pre coup

• 1923, germany economy collapsed under burden of reperations

• french marched into ruhr region as germany failed to pay

• germans reacted by going on strike 

• this all convinced hitler to stage a coup to overthrow the wiemar republic

coup 

• november 1923, hitler attempted to seize power by proclaiming himself president of germany

• plans fell apart when militaru commander lost nerve and snitched

• rising surpressed, hitler arrested and imprisonment

post coup

• sent to prison for ten years (only servced one)

• learnt that he needed to achieve power by democratic process

• wrote mien kamf (laid out political beliefs, racial ideology)

• after release, goeblles and himself restructured and reorganized party - although the party had an elaborate network of brances, most power was hitlers

explain what happened in the stresemann period 

• 1923 - 29

• stresemann helped economy make a recovery 

• support for nazis dropped

• stresemann did this by restructuring the reperations and borrowing money from the americans 

explain what happened in the wall street crash and after it what happened to the nazi part

1929

• tinsel prosperity comes to halt in october 1929

• collapse of american stock market

• loans to germany recalled, and unemployment skyrocketed to 6 million in 1933

after

• weak coalition govts couldnt cope

• german voters went either extreme left or extreme right

• nazi support skyrocketed from 2 percent to 37 percent

  • german middle class liked dismantling the T.O.V as their life savings had been wiped out twice in the space of 6 years

  • ex soldiers shared hitlers experiences

  • unemployed like hitlers plans to increase employment

  • anti semites liked his jewish hates

  • people who owned land and businesses liked him as a defense against communism

how did hitler rise quickly to power 

• political instability allowed him to exploit system

• govts like papens govts failed to stabalise the country

• hindenburg was ruling increasingly by decree, in 1033, papen persuaded president hindenburg to appoint hitler as the chancellor, as he thought he could control him

how did hitler consolidate power

• removed opposition, passed the enabling law in march 1933, allowing him to rule by decree and banned all other parties by july 1933

• night of long knives

• subordinated the army

• merged chancellor and president in 1934

What happened in the night of long knives

• june 1934

• hitler eliminated rohm and his SA, as he saw them as a threat to his authority

• killed 600 incl rohm

• army liked this as they were worried rohm would take over the army

• so they agred to swear an oath of loyalty to hitler from 1934 on

how did hitler control the german society (force and propaganda)

• Police state

  • himmlers ss and gestapo terroised anyone deemed to be an enemy of state. They also ran concentration camps like dachau and sachsenhausen

• propaganda

  • goebells used newspapers, films, radio and rallies to glorify hitler

  • censorship silenced any opposition

  • black propaganda gave the impression spread misinformation that convinced the public of germany and hitlers superiority

  • nuremburg rallies

nuremburg rallies 

• demonstrated the nazis unity and power

  • nuremburg chosen to glorify old germany

  • most important were 1934, 1935 and 1938

    • 1934 - first year of nazi power, euthanasia

    • 1935 - racial laws introduced and strong attack jews

    • 1938 - celebrate union between austria and germany

  • main purpose was the celebrate achievements and to announce new policies 

  • amazing intricate propaganda that paraded germanys greatness to germany, and many foreign diplomats who were invited to watch

how did the nazi party control the youth

• hitler youth, league of german maidens 

• education rewritten to emphasise racial purity, and loyalty to hitler 

• coed abolished 

• one third of teachers nazi party members by 1936

• boys trained for war, girls trained for motherhood

how did nazis secure control through economy

• dr schacht public work schemes (eg motorways and rearment) reduced unemployment from 6 million to 2 million, but this wasnt sustainable as it was built on arms and war. agriculture was neglected as resources were poured into rearment

• four year plan aimed for autarky, and substitutes for resoucres like petrol were made but were ineffective

conclusion

• achieved absolute control through a blend of manipulation, popaganda, terror and economic revival.

• hitler achieved his dictatorship by exploiting the weaknesses of the democratic weimar republic.