The Rise, Rule and Fall of Adolf Hitler

The Rise, Rule and fall of Adolf Hitler

As you have a great deal of prior knowledge of this man, I hope this is not too repetitive. In the event you are weary and have questions about your independent knowledge, ASK PLEASE, you will be doing yourself and classmates a very huge service.

·  The First Crises of the Weimar Republic

o  The Weimar Republic was born in crisis and defeat, by October 1918, the situation was desperate

§  It was clear the Germany could not win a war of attrition after the USA entered the war

§  Government was deeply in debt

§  Allied blockade and poor management of the economy had led to a desperate food shortage

§  Strikes and criticism of the government had been suppressed with ferocity but this could not go on indefinitely

o  October 1918, Hindenburg and Ludendorff the military leaders of Germany, tried to smooth the path to an armistice by advising the Kaiser to appoint a civilian government under Prince Max of Baden. Moderate members of the Social democratic Party (SPD) were brought into the government

o  Naval chiefs, wanted to undermine the new government so they ordered the fleet at the Kiel to sea to face the British battle fleet. Instead the sailors mutinied and seized the ports.

o  Unleashed a wave of protest across the country

§  Army mutinies seemed imminent in various places

§  Kurt Eisner declared Bavaria an independent republic

§  Prince Max resigned and was replaced by the leader of the Social Democrats

·  On the same day the Kaiser abdicated in favor of a republic in order to disassociate the Germany the Allies would deal with during the peace negotiations from the Germany of the war

·  Republic was proclaimed

§  Provisional government was set up under president Ebert, containing Social Democrats and Independent Socialists afraid of the extreme left, Ebert

·  Retained the officer corps of the Imperial Army and the Imperial Civil Service

·  Postponed nationalization of heavy industry, which annoyed the left

o  This annoyed the left causing the Independent Socialists to resign from the coalition and the Spartacists demanded the sovietization of Germany

·  Right wing soldiers formed and army to prevent a Bolshevik revolution, five such groups in Berlin alone (comparable to Blackshirts of Italy) By January the head Spartacists occupied almost every major city

·  After the elections of January, a constituent assembly met in the Weimar to draw up a constitution for a republican government, became known as the Weimar republic. It was a liberal constitution that used the electoral system based upon proportional representation, but emergency powers were given to the president and Fredrich Ebert became the first president

·  By April, troops were sent to Munich to put down the Communist Republic established there and by June the government lost credibility by agreeing to the Treaty of Versailles, with article 231 being of particular resentment

·  The legend of the “November Criminals” (Jews, Communists and Liberals) who had ‘stabbed Germany in the back’ began to grow

·  In March of 1920 the right wingers tried to seize power and Dr. Wolfgang Kapp was declared Chancellor by the rebels, Berlin workers staged a general strike. Everyone escaped, except Kapp who was imprisoned

·  Political assassinations were carried out, left-wing leaders dealt with harshly, right wing leaders were treated sympathetically by the police and prison officials

·  The Monetary Crisis

o  By 1919 the government was close to bankruptcy because the cost of the war

o  War reparations of 132 billion gold marks was laid upon Germany and was to be paid off at the rate of 2 billion per year plus 26% of Germany’s exports, which was an additional burden

o  The French became exasperated when

§  The US stayed out of the League of Nations and signed its own treaty with Germany

§  US and Britain seemed more intent on recovering wartime debts from France that in getting reparations from Germany

§  The German marks were losing value

o  In August 1921, after paying 50 millions that was due, the government requested breathing space to allow the economy to recover, France refused and in 1922, Germany could not make her payment

o  1923 – French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr to seize goods from mines and factories in lieu of payment

§  Government ordered passive resistance and there was a general strike

§  To pay workers during the strike, the government printed money

§  The value of the mark collapsed causing hyperinflation where the mark was 4,200,000,000,000 to the dollar. Over 2K printing pressed worked around the clock to produce bills; some notes were overprinted before leaving the printing house. Some people were being paid twice daily so they could spend their morning pay before the foreign exchange rates were announced and prices rose again. Wages were collected in baskets and wheelbarrows, and when the price of coal went up, people burned their pay rather then buy coal

·  Many lost their entire life savings

·  Some profited off the misery

o  Farmers who had food to sell

o  Large industrialists who dealt abroad and were paid in foreign currency were able to buy smaller bankrupt businesses and came to dominate the economy

·  Hitler’s Personal Background

o  Much can be found on any website, therefore I am filling in the gaps

o  It is thought that the years Hitler lived in Vienna from 1908 to 1914, his ideas may have been formed, those of racism, authoritarianism and nationalism, and he tried to portray life as those who were fit to survive and those who were not.

§  At this time, showed traits that would later come out through his domination, hating the bourgeois world and non-German people, and loathing the Jews in particular

o  Moved to Munich in 1913 but was called back to Austria in 1914 for military service and was rejected as unfit. He enlisted in the German army and was taken. He was a corporal throughout, and served with distinction while being a courier (average life was about 6 weeks for this position). He was wounded in 1916 and gassed in 1918, and received the Iron Cross Second Class for bravery

·  The Munich Nazi Party

o  After the war, Hitler became a spy for the army and was sent to Munich to watch a group called the German Workers Party

§  Quit the army and joined the party and devoted his life to building up the party, with the name changing in 1920 to Nation Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi party

§  At this time, Germany was in a terrible condition

·  People resented the defeat of the Treaty of Versailles

·  Disorder, and attempted coups

·  Economic dislocation affected mostly the middle classes with unemployment, lack of economic growth due to failure to pay reparations

o  Bavaria became a hot-spot for discontented ex-soldiers

o  Hitler discovered he could speak in a powerful manner and would build membership through beer halls

§  By 1920 the group acquired a newspaper and 1921 Hitler took over presidency of the party

·  Nazism

o  The philosophy was expounded in Mein Kampf

§  Volkisch nationalism was an extreme form of nationalism that justified an extreme form of racism which exhibited the features of almost universal racist beliefs

·  In Germany racism had assumed a quasi-scientific status even before the 1st world war, with the white race being superior to all others. Since people intermarried, it has been diluted, and the purist form was blonde haired, blue eyed Aryan who inhabited the forests of Germany during the Dark Ages and formed a master race destined to rule the world. (Ironically, no leading Nazi was both blonde haired and blue-eyed)

·  Jews were an able people who were morally inferior, which only the Aryan race could resist

o  All the above racism was justified by Social Darwinism

§  State was thought to be all important, a familiar theme in German philosophy

·  National unity must be maintained, particularly the class struggle

·  Strong government is necessary for this, including the “leader principal”

·  Democracy must be rejected as degenerate

§  Strength of the state was based upon the character of the race, therefore the health of the race must be protected

·  Eugenics – only the healthy must beget children

·  Elimination of the physically deformed, mentally ill and morally corrupt

§  Existing elites were degenerate and a revolution was necessary to replace them all with the biological elite. The degenerate must be swept by the genuine talent, who would rise to the top by the process of natural selection

§  State must aim at economic self-sufficiency

§  These central ideas were spread by a well-organized propaganda department, headed by Josef Gobbles, but Hitler was the ultimate propagandist

§  Hitler avoided producing detailed policy proposals, he did not like to be pinned down as a conventional politician so as to

·  Personally remain above the conflict

·  Avoid rifts in the party

·  Avoid alienating potential supporters

·  The Years of Peace

o  When Hitler emerged from prison it seemed that his chance had passed, Germany had passed into a period of comparative peace and prosperity

§  Monetary crisis had passed because Stretsemann had closed banks for a week and issued a new currency which had value based on land. This was possible by a loan from Britain, France and USA, and the new currency stabilized

§  Dawes Plan allowed the rescheduling of reparations and the French withdrew from the Ruhr

§  The economy picked up, there was a boom in coal, iron, steel, electrical goods and the chemical industry

o  However

§  Unemployment remained relatively high

§  Textile industry was in difficulties

§  Small farmers were in difficulties

§  Prosperity depended on short-term loans from the USA

o  Even though there were signs of peace, this did not mean that the Germans accepted their defeat and consequence

§  Leaders were on record for saying there was a need for the revision of the treaty of Versailles and preparing for a war with France

§  Terms of the treaty were sometimes evaded

·  Abolished general staff continued in being

·  Military research was conducted by private industry

·  Military factories were being secretly in the USSR

·  “police” units carried out basic training

·  Nearly ½ the soldiers were NCOs were in preparation of a much larger army

§  Hitler decided that after failing to come to power in Munich, he needed to come to power legally, knowing the army would not let him take power by force; therefore he would have to build a mass party that would bring him to power through elections. He refounded his party in 1925 but controversy within the party continued

·  Leaders in the north disagreed with being a constitutional party

·  A more socialist party was wanted to compete with the left for the support of the workers, some even favoring an alliance with the USSR against the “Jewish capitalist west”

§  Party was organized on a regional basis, Germany being divided into districts where propaganda was organized locally.

·  The party acted as a welfare society that gave food and money to those in need during hard times

·  By 1928, Hitler aligned his party with the National Party, giving Hitler the resources of Hugenberg’s chain of newspapers and big business contacts

o  Despite the propaganda, in 1928, the Nazis received only 2.6% of the total vote, but the party was ready for when a crisis would create a new interest in the party

·  The 2nd Crisis of the Republic

o  1928 – agricultural crisis developed

o  1929 – reparations were reduced to 200 million marks and they would end in 1986, too late to help though

o  Wall Street Crash of 1929 would cause the US to stop loan payments and call in loans already made

§  Undermined currency causing a run of the banks, making many collapse

o  Unemployment rose to 6 million in 1932, polarizing the voters and causing them to go to the parties on the extremes

o  By 1930, the National Socialist Deputies had 18.3% of the votes

o  Chancellor Bruning took emergency powers and ruled by decree

§  Reduced social services, unemployment benefits and the salaries and pensions of government workers

§  High tariffs to protect German farmers

§  Bought shares in the factory hit by the slump

§  Stopped making reparation payments

o  1st election of 1932, the Nazis had 37.4% of the vote, though Hitler lost against Hindenburg in the presidential elections, there was a clear alternative for a leader

o  By 1932, November, the Nazi vote fell by 2 million votes, perhaps because there was an improvement in the economy

·  The Nazis come to power

o  The drop in Nazi power made people believe that Hitler could be controlled and Hindenburg still would not appoint Hitler Chancellor. Instead Schleicher was appointed but he could not get the support he needed, and there was a conspiracy to get Hitler into government that included Von Papen and Von Schleicher