How Did Hitler Become Chancellor Of Germany

An historical event studies this year is Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany. There were many causes that led to this, including The Treaty of Versailles, The Great Depression, the building up of the Nazi party and of course, the Nazi party's success in the elections. Likewise, there were many consequences of Hitler becoming Chancellor, including...

A long term cause of Hitler rising to power and becoming Chancellor of Germany was the signing of the Treaty of Versailles subsequent anger that the Germans felt because of it. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 to determine what the victorious nations of WW1, manly the USA, the UK, Italy and France, would do with the losing nations, Germany Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. The Treaty was drawn

up and signed in Paris, with Germany having no say in the decisions. Clemenceau, the French prime minister wanted a very punishing treaty for Germany, as France was the most affected. In addition, Lloyd George, UK’s representative also wanted to ‘make Germany pay’. On the contrary, the USA, led by Wilson wanted a more tolerant treaty, including his fourteen points for peace. In the end, in June 1919, the treaty was signed with the following terms: Germany would have to pay £6.6 million, reduce their army to 100,000 men, forfeit their tanks, air force, submarines. Their Navy was reduced to six battle ships and the Rhineland was demilitarised. In addition, Germany lost 13.5% of her land with 7 million of her people. Losses include: Alsace and Lorraine which were taken by France, 17800 square miles of territory which became the new country Poland, East Prussia, Danzig which became a free country, all her colonies and land to Belgium and Denmark. Furthermore, Germany was forbidden from uniting with Austria, with whom they shared much culture. Finally, to add insult to injury, Germany had to take the blame for the war and sign that Germany alone had started the First World War. The heavy reparations were what caused Germany to be the worst hit when the Great Depression struck. Consequently, many Germans were bitter and hated the treaty, believing it was too harsh and that Germany could’ve won the world war. They believed the treaty was a ‘ditkat’, a dictated peace and felt their politicians were weak for signing it. Hitler knew this and used it to his advantage when running in the elections, promising that he would abolish the Treaty of Versailles, This is one of the causes that later led to Hitler becoming chancellor of Germany.

An event that in the medium term led to Hitler rising to power and becoming Chancellor of Germany was the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was caused by the collapse of the European economies, unable to withstand the pressure the of the First World War. As a result, living standards fell, businesses closed and unemployment rates went through the roof. In October, 1929 the American stock market collapsed in what was later name ‘the Wall Street crash’. Consequently, America was forced to withdraw her loans to other countries and many banks all around Europe collapsed. Customers tried to retrieve their savings, but they were too late. Countries all around the world took a hit, but Germany was the most affected of them all. The reparations in the Treaty of Versailles drove Germany to poverty, causing her to be the worst affected by the Depression. The German public was ready to listen to anything, and many chose to listen to Hitler. Hitler called France and England the ‘November criminals’ and vowed revenge upon them for the injustice of the Treaty of Versailles. Many Germans agreed with his views and this built up the Nazi party and Hitler's power and eventually led to Hitler becoming Chancellor of

Germany.
A long term cause of Hitler rising to power and becoming Chancellor of Germany was the building up of the Nazi party. Hitler first joined the Nazis party in 1919, and by 1921, he became chairman. He was invited into the group and later became the leader because of his profound oratory skills and the way he could leave crowds spellbound when he spoke. In November, 1923, Hitler along with Kahr and Lossow organised the ‘beer hall putsch’, a coup to overthrow the Government. However, Kahr and Lossow pulled out of the rebellion, angering Hitler. Consequently, Hitler stormed the beer hall and ordered the rebellion back on. However, Kahr and Lossow called the officials and Hitler was arrested. In the long run, being arrested was not a bad thing for Hitler. The trial meant that he could use his keen oratory skills to get across the Nazis point of view, and give the Nazi party the publicity and attention it needed to grow. Hitler was sentenced to 5 years in jail, but only served 9 months. Hitler's 9 months in jail were spent in comfort, writing his book ‘mein kampf’ and sometimes leaving the jail to go on walks to the town nearby. After being released from jail, Hitler decided to use legal means in order to build up the Nazi party. This included propaganda like ‘Hitler over Germany’ in which Hitler would fly in a plane around Germany and deliver multiple speeches all over Germany, moving faster than any other form of transport at the time would allow. The Sturmabteilung or SA were also a key asset in Hitler's rise to power. The SA’s purpose was to protect Nazis at rallies, disrupt other parties and intimidate citizens who were opposing the Nazi party. Hitler also used the public's emotions about Great Depression and the Treaty of Versailles to collect supporters and eventually enough votes to become Chancellor of Germany.

An event that in the short term led to Hitler rising to power and becoming Chancellor of Germany was of course the Nazi success in elections. Initially, in the Reichstag Elections of 1928, the Nazi party had 2.6% of the vote and 12 seats in parliament. This leapt to 107 seats in the 1930 Reichstag elections and to 230 seats in the 1932 July Reichstag Elections. However, in the 1932 November Reichstag Elections, this dropped to 196 seats, but and finally in the 1932 March Reichstag Elections the Nazi party was back up with 228 seats, however still not achieving the majority. By the 1932 March elections, it was apparent that a majority would not be reached, and in 1933, these votes allowed Hitler to become Chancellor of Germany.