Download How was Hitler able to become Chancellor in 1933?

Do you know your hyperinflation from your depression?
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1923
1929
Triggered by the American Wall Street Crash
Result of a combination of printing more money and the Ruhr crisis
Happened the same year as the Nazi led Munich (Beer Hall) Putsch
Created hyperinflation
Created mass unemployment
Destroyed people’s savings
Destroyed people’s belief in Weimar democracy
Was solved relatively quickly
Was resolved in main by the policies of Stresemann
Led to the signing of the Dawes Plan
Led to the recalling of American loans
Helped the Nazis into power
The Nazis still remained a marginal party
Everyone was adversely affected
At its worst it lasted 4 long years
Triggered unprecedented collapse of business, industry & trade
How was Hitler able to
become Chancellor in 1933?
(1) Unpopular
economic policies:
(2) Presidential Rule
• Germans judged
their country by its
economic success
• Unsuccessful economic policies & a lack of
consensus about what to do in the RS led to a
collapse of the coalition govt as the Social Democrats
withdrew
• WR did not seem to
know what to do
about depression
• President Hindenburg fell back on Article 48 and
used emergency powers to appoint his Chancellors
and pass emergency laws
• Feared printing
money & increasing
spending would lead
to inflation (1923)
• Instead Chancellor
took followed
unpopular policies of
raising taxes,
cutting wages &
reducing
unemployment
benefit
How did the Depression
weaken the Weimar
government?
(3) The Rise of Extremism
• Germans lost faith in their govt – they wanted a
strong party to lead Germany to recovery
• People started to vote for extreme parties like the
Communists and Nazis who offered them solutions and
someone to blame for the crisis they were in
• Street fighting increased between political opponents
Weaknesses of the
Weimar Government
Political
manoeuvring
between von
Schleicher & von
Papen
The Depression
Why did Hitler become
Chancellor in 1933?
Hitler’s
leadership
skills
Nazi Tactics
W:\History\KS4\Germany 1918-45\Hitler
and dictatorship\Why did Hitler become
Chancellor in 1933 (student task).doc
Why did Hitler Become Chancellor In
1933?
Political Manoeuvring between von Schleicher and von Papen
The German Reichstag
c.500 MPs
Chancellor
President
Sequence of Events:
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Early 1931 Hindenburg meets Hitler
Hitler fails in Presidential elections 1932
Groener and Bruning forced out of Reichstag
May 1932 von Papen Chancellor
July 1932 election (Nazi numbers up)
November 1932 election (Nazi numbers down)
Power struggle von Papen vs. von Schleicher
30 Jan 1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor as
part of Nazi-Nationalist coailition
What does all this tell us?
Hitler was helped into power by a single
decision, which was underpinned by their
electoral success, Nazi powers of persuasion and
their application to the task of achieving power
 Hitler was underestimated by key political
figures
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Extra: Hitler’s greatest advantage was the inability
of the German political system to invest genuine
power in elected government!