This investigation seeks to evaluate the path that the Nazi party followed in its way to power, focusing the appointment of Hitler as chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg. The main body of this investigation outlines the factors that made Hitler Hindenburg’s choice for chancellor, describing how the democratic Republic disappeared and how the Nazi Party gained support and was increasingly popular. The external factors that made the Republic weak as well as Hitler characteristics as a leader are then analyzed to determine why Hitler was appointed even though Hindenburg had been suspicious about Hitler all along. Two of the sources used in this essay, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and Hitler and Nazi Germany are then evaluated in detail in terms of their origins, purpose, value and limitations.

The Weimar Republic had become a flawed structure, which contained a destabilized and increasingly volatile population. The country had been struck by economic crises, a more devastating crisis after the 1929 great depression. Coalition government made

In 1923 Hitler attempted to seize power in Bavaria through the Munich Putsch as a prelude to marching on Berlin, this ended in complete failure. But then the party appeared with a new dynamic, developed by Hitler between 1924 and 1928 and this ‘new’ party took more advantage of the problems that the Republic was facing. The idea was to reach to power by constitutional means and to gradually make revolutionary changes. In normal circumstances the German population wouldn’t have been attracted by the ideal that were presented by the Nazis. But this population was increasingly unstable as well as volatile. These social problems came from way back when the First World War was ended and the myth of ‘the stab in the back’ was started. After that, the Treaty of Versailles was signed adding more political and social distress to the German situation. The Republic wasn’t really working the way it should have and the coalitions between parties were increasing the internal disagreements instead of solving the countries problems. It could be seen when the Great Coalition was brought down over a disagreement over proposals to cut unemployment benefit. By the other hand, the Nazis were slowly introducing some solutions to the internal problem, some justifications as to who had the fault for what was happening and some reasons to go against the Republic government. These were basically: the nationalist offensive against the ‘stab in the back’ and the treaty of Versailles, the need for the German expansion as a solution to the problems and the identification of ‘race enemies’ like the Jews, who were easily blamed for the country’s situation. So far it has been shown that in fact, Germany was going through a tough moment politically but economically it wasn’t doing fine either. The Great Depression of 1929 also affected hugely the German economy since the United States put a lot of pressure on the German government so that this paid the loan money that was received after Versailles leaving Germany near bankruptcy. Meanwhile Hitler was taking advantage of all of these flaws and placed forward his propaganda campaign that was managed by Goebbles. Hitler managed to draw the attention of the upper classes. Landowners, businessmen and industrialists saw in Hitler the prospects of safety from the threat of communism and socialism. After 1928 Hitler had managed to collect for the Nazi Party the electorate that had become disillusioned with the Republic’s manifest deficiencies. And whilst this was very important for Hitler’s rise to power it does not fully explains it. There were other factors that forced a way in through the republic’s fissures. Firstly the recruitment of Brüning to for a government based on the Centre Party and because he lacked of majority in the Reichstag he had to appeal to Article 48 of the constitution which made possible legislation by presidential decree. Secondly, by 1932 Papen and Schleicher made executive decrees the normal legislative process; so that by 1933 the grounds for a dictatorship had been well prepare

Some topics in this essay:
Nazi Party, Treaty Versailles, Party Hitler, Papen Schleicher, Weimar Republic, Weimar Hitler, German Army, World War, Munich Putsch, Versailles German, nazi party, treaty versailles, nazi germany, stephen lee, political crisis, world war, middle class, hitler nazi, support nazi, support nazi movement, brought disagreement, fall third reich, coalition brought disagreement, ‘race enemies’ jews, power constitutional means,