Hitler’s Rise and the Weakness of the Weimar Republic

Background: The Four German Reichs & Post–WWI Discontent

• Reich = German realm/state. Successive “Reiche”:
– First Reich (Holy Roman Empire) 962\text{--}1806
– Second Reich (German Empire) 1871\text{--}1919
– Weimar Republic 1919\text{--}1933
– Third Reich (Nazi Germany) 1933\text{--}1945
• Weimar Government blamed for:
– Military defeat & November 1918 surrender (“stab-in-the-back” myth)
– Acceptance of Treaty of Versailles (TOV)
– Failure to solve post-war economic & social crises
• Resulting political vacuum gave Adolf Hitler a platform to promise reversal of TOV and restoration of national pride.

Structural Weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution

• Proportional representation (PR)
– Party’s vote % ⇒ identical % of Reichstag seats ➔ fragmented legislature (≈ 20 coalition cabinets 1919\text{--}1933)
• Article 48 (Emergency Clause)
– President may dissolve parliament & rule by decree for 6 months ➔ tool for authoritarian turn.
• Short life expectancy of cabinets ➔ policy paralysis, eroded public faith.

Political Challenges: Opposition From Right & Left

• Right-Wing (monarchists, army, Freikorps, future Nazis)
– Viewed Weimar leaders as “November Criminals.”
– Kapp Putsch (March 1920): 5{,}000 Freikorps occupy Berlin; defeated only by general strike of 12 million workers.
• Left-Wing (Communists/Spartacists)
– Spartacist Uprising (Jan 1919) + repeated revolts 1919\text{--}1920 ; suppressed by Freikorps ≈ 2{,}000 deaths.
• Consequence: continual street violence, 376 political murders 1919\text{--}1922; judiciary sympathetic to right-wing killers.

Inability to Maintain Order

• Government dependent on militarised Freikorps, who themselves attempted coups (e.g.
– Kapp Putsch 1920
– Hitler’s Munich Beer Hall Putsch Nov\;1923)
• Public shock at lawlessness eroded respect for democratic rule.

Economic Crises Before the Great Depression

• Reparations liability \approx 6.6\text{ billion} £ under TOV.
• Occupation of Ruhr (Jan 1923) by France & Belgium after default.
– Government’s passive resistance strikes ➔ industrial standstill.
• Hyper-inflation (1923)
– Over-printing currency; value of 6{,}600 Marks (small fortune 1919) → < price of a postage stamp 1923.
– Middle class savings wiped out; lost faith in republic.

Gustav Stresemann & the "Golden Years" 1924\text{--}1929

• As Chancellor & Foreign Minister:
– Introduced Rentenmark (new currency) ⇒ stabilised prices.
– Negotiated Dawes Plan 1924 & Young Plan 1929 (reparations cut from £6.6\text{ m} to £2\text{ m}).
– Persuaded French to exit Ruhr, signed Locarno Pact, secured League of Nations entry 1926/27.
• His death Oct\;1929 removed crucial stabiliser.

Great Depression Impact (1929\text{--}1932)

• Wall Street Crash: US loans withdrawn ⇒ German banking collapse.
• By 1932:
– 6 million unemployed (≈ 40\% workforce; 1/3 population)
– Average income ↓ 40\% vs 1929.
• Coalition paralysis: Hindenburg repeatedly invoked Article 48; Chancellor Brüning’s austerity earned epithet “Hunger Chancellor.”
• Surge in extremist votes: Communists gained ≈ 1 million new worker members; Nazis became largest single party.

Electoral Trajectory of the Nazi Party

• Vote share:
– 1928 → \approx 2.6\%
– Sept 1930 → 18.3\% (second biggest)
– July 1932 → 37.3\% (largest – 230 seats)
– Nov 1932 → 33.1\% but still plural majority.
• Membership surpassed 800{,}000 by 1933.

Hitler’s Personal Abilities & Party Reorganisation

• Oratorical & Charismatic Strength
– Dramatic hand gestures, staged rallies, mastery of radio/film/print.
– Framed himself as "man of the people"; promised to restore pre-war glory.
• Ideological Pillars (codified in 25-Point Programme 1920 & Mein Kampf 1924):
– Führerprinzip (supreme leader)
– Lebensraum (eastward expansion)
– Anti-Communism & Anti-Semitism
– Aryan master-race myth
• Learning From Failure: Munich Putsch (Nov\;1923)
– Light sentence: 5-yr term → served 9 months; wrote Mein Kampf.
– Concluded legal path to power more viable than coups.
• Organisational Overhaul (1925\text{--}1929)
– Relaunched NSDAP; established:
▪ SA (Sturmabteilung – brown-shirt paramilitary) ≈ 4\text{ m} men by 1933
▪ SS (Schutzstaffel – black-shirt elite bodyguard under Himmler)
▪ Propaganda Ministry (Goebbels from 1929)
– Built nationwide cell structure; targeted rural voters & small businesses neglected by Weimar elites.

Exploiting Fear of Communism & Securing Elite Support

• Nazi-SA street battles with Communists portrayed party as bulwark against Bolshevism.
• Industrialists & landowners funded Nazis to safeguard property & crush unions.
• Farmers courted as “racial backbone”; promised price supports & land security.

Political Deal-Making & Final Appointment

• Sequence 1932\text{--}1933:
– April 1932: Hindenburg (WWI hero) re-elected President; distrusts Hitler.
– June 1932: Hindenburg sacks Brüning, installs von Papen; July election fails to yield majority.
– Nov 1932: new election; von Schleicher becomes Chancellor Dec, lasts \approx 57 days.
– Conservative elites (Papen, industrialists) persuade Hindenburg Hitler can be “controlled” in cabinet.
• 30 Jan 1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor; Papen Vice-Chancellor ➔ Within months dismantles Weimar democracy, inaugurating Third Reich.

Summary: Why Did Hitler Rise?

• Interplay of:
– Structural flaws (PR, Article 48) that disabled decisive governance.
– Persistent right/left violence undermining faith in order.
– Recurrent economic shocks (hyper-inflation 1923, Depression 1929) alienating middle class.
– Loss of capable statesman Stresemann.
– Hitler’s personal magnetism, propaganda mastery, organisational skill.
– Exploitation of anti-Communist, nationalist, and anti-Semitic sentiments.
– Tactical endorsements by conservative elites seeking to harness Nazi mass support.

Immediate Impact of Nazi Rule (Third Reich)

Political:
• Democracy abolished; one-party dictatorship created via Enabling Act Mar\;1933.
• SS & Gestapo enforce terror; concentration camps for opponents.
Social & Cultural:
• Propaganda monopoly; mass rallies; book burnings.
• Nazi education & youth leagues indoctrinate children; women confined to “Kinder, Küche, Kirche.”
• Churches coerced (Reich Church) ; Jews stripped of rights (Nuremberg Laws 1935).
Economic:
• Public works (Autobahnen), rearmament & conscription reduce unemployment.
• Big business gains from armament contracts; labour unions abolished (German Labour Front).

Reflective Questions

• Was Nazism “inevitable,” or contingent on the synergy of Weimar weaknesses and Hitler’s agency?
• Could constitutional reform, sustained economic stability, or stronger democratic culture have prevented extremist takeover?
• Ethical lesson: economic despair + weak institutions + charismatic demagoguery = fertile ground for totalitarianism.