Hitler’s Rise to Power
By Connor Powell
At the conclusion of WWI, Germany was in a tumultuous state, due to the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty called for Germany to pay massive reparations, putting them in a terrible position financially. Chaos ensued with the Sparticist Putsch, as well as the Kapp Putsch. The Weimar republic was in terrible financial ruin until the insertion of the Young and Dawes Plans provided some economic stability. The Weimar republic was in good shape until Black Tuesday, the day that the stock market crashed, thrusting Germany back into depression. This opened the window for Adolf Hitler. Hitler tried to take over the government with his Beer Hall putsch, which failed miserably. Hitler was jailed, and when he was released, he was determined and better prepared. Hitler rose to power due to the turbulent conditions the depression had created. Hitler shrewdly developed Nazi Germany into a superpower, and as a result, started WWII.
Germany was in a time of unrest setting up the perfect conditions for Hitler to rise to power. After his one-year imprisonment for his failed Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler realized the only way to rise to power would be through democratic ways. Hitler and his Nazi party saw their party’s seats increase dramatically from only twelve before the economic crash to 230 following it, making them the largest party. Hitler and his Brown Shirts appealed to the people who were looking for something radical to help them out of their desperate state. Business owners also liked Hitler because of his very anti- communist stance. Hitler was a great manipulator and through carefully orchestrated propaganda he gained more support. The government was in chaos and President Hindenburg wanted to get the Nazis on his side. Hindenburg offered Hitler Vice Chancellor, but Hitler denied and demanded to be made Chancellor. Hindenburg thought that he could control Hitler and thus let him become chancellor. Hitler wasted no time setting himself up as the absolute ruler. Through the Enabling Acts, Hitler obtained dictatorial powers through mostly legal means. Hitler then wiped out his political opponents using his Brown Shirts to murder them. This is called the Night of Long Knives. Once Hitler gained power he enacted a series of events to spread his Nazism ideology.
Hitler was interested in expanding his Nazi empire through any means necessary; this was called Lebensraum. Hitler started by reoccupying Rhineland -- an area that was taken away from Germany after WWI. Then, in 1938, he included Austria into the Greater Germany even though this was banned in the Treaty of Versailles. This was known as the Anschluss. The Nazis’ aggression caught the eye of the rest of the world and a meeting was scheduled in Munich. At the meeting, the Munich agreement was reached which allowed Nazi Germany to annex Sudetenland. The Prime Minister of Britain at the time, Neville Chamberlain, allowed this agreement to happen because of his policy of appeasement towards the Nazis. Prior to any of Hitler’s expansionist moves, he had been focused on “cleansing Germany.” Hitler was obsessed with making Germany pure. He thought the Aryan Race was the purest, and he went to great lengths to maintain this purity.
He started by enacting the Nuremburg Laws -- a set of laws based on pseudoscience that encouraged racial discrimination towards the Jewish population. Mass Rallies were held in support of the Nuremberg Laws; these rallies featured mass amounts of propaganda supporting Hitler’s agenda. The Nazis had created their Final Solution -- a plan that would systematically wipe out all the Jews in Europe. This was the most deadly phase of the Holocaust. On the night of November 9, 1938 SA parliamentary troops seized 30 000 Jews in Austria and Germany and placed them in Concentration Camps. This is known as Kristallnacht. All of these events led directly to WWII.
The ultimate result of all of Hitler’s prior actions was the outbreak of WWII. Hitler was prepared for war; he had even tried some of his weapons out during the Spanish Civil War in support of fellow fascist President Franco. Hitler continued to expand by invading Poland. Using his revolutionary blitzkrieg attack method, Hitler took Poland over and began his destructive path through Europe. This marked the beginning of WWII. Nazi Germany, along with Italy and Japan, formed the Axis, while the Allies consisted of Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and later the US. WWII would go down as the bloodiest human conflict ever, with the Allies emerging victorious. Rather then be captured upon defeat, Hitler, along with his wife Eva Braun, committed suicide. Many Nazi leaders were persecuted at the Nuremburg trials while extermination camps were destroyed. Nazi Germany had been destroyed, and following the Potsdam Conference, Germany was split up into two parts: one capitalist, which was West Germany, and the other Communist, East Germany. WWII ended Nazi Germany’s reign as one of the most terrorizing empires of all time.
From Hitler’s rise to power in a ravished Germany, to his expansive ideals as well as his anti Semitism, to finally his defeat in WWII, Hitler’s rise is one of the most talked about times of history. The United Nations was created as a way to stop anything like what Hitler did from ever happening again. Hitler’s rise from a prisoner to the most powerful man in the world shows his remarkable charisma and his shrewdness as a politician. For what Hitler did, he will probably go down as the worst human in the history of mankind, and how he got there will be something studied and analyzed forever.
By Connor Powell
At the conclusion of WWI, Germany was in a tumultuous state, due to the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty called for Germany to pay massive reparations, putting them in a terrible position financially. Chaos ensued with the Sparticist Putsch, as well as the Kapp Putsch. The Weimar republic was in terrible financial ruin until the insertion of the Young and Dawes Plans provided some economic stability. The Weimar republic was in good shape until Black Tuesday, the day that the stock market crashed, thrusting Germany back into depression. This opened the window for Adolf Hitler. Hitler tried to take over the government with his Beer Hall putsch, which failed miserably. Hitler was jailed, and when he was released, he was determined and better prepared. Hitler rose to power due to the turbulent conditions the depression had created. Hitler shrewdly developed Nazi Germany into a superpower, and as a result, started WWII.
Germany was in a time of unrest setting up the perfect conditions for Hitler to rise to power. After his one-year imprisonment for his failed Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler realized the only way to rise to power would be through democratic ways. Hitler and his Nazi party saw their party’s seats increase dramatically from only twelve before the economic crash to 230 following it, making them the largest party. Hitler and his Brown Shirts appealed to the people who were looking for something radical to help them out of their desperate state. Business owners also liked Hitler because of his very anti- communist stance. Hitler was a great manipulator and through carefully orchestrated propaganda he gained more support. The government was in chaos and President Hindenburg wanted to get the Nazis on his side. Hindenburg offered Hitler Vice Chancellor, but Hitler denied and demanded to be made Chancellor. Hindenburg thought that he could control Hitler and thus let him become chancellor. Hitler wasted no time setting himself up as the absolute ruler. Through the Enabling Acts, Hitler obtained dictatorial powers through mostly legal means. Hitler then wiped out his political opponents using his Brown Shirts to murder them. This is called the Night of Long Knives. Once Hitler gained power he enacted a series of events to spread his Nazism ideology.
Hitler was interested in expanding his Nazi empire through any means necessary; this was called Lebensraum. Hitler started by reoccupying Rhineland -- an area that was taken away from Germany after WWI. Then, in 1938, he included Austria into the Greater Germany even though this was banned in the Treaty of Versailles. This was known as the Anschluss. The Nazis’ aggression caught the eye of the rest of the world and a meeting was scheduled in Munich. At the meeting, the Munich agreement was reached which allowed Nazi Germany to annex Sudetenland. The Prime Minister of Britain at the time, Neville Chamberlain, allowed this agreement to happen because of his policy of appeasement towards the Nazis. Prior to any of Hitler’s expansionist moves, he had been focused on “cleansing Germany.” Hitler was obsessed with making Germany pure. He thought the Aryan Race was the purest, and he went to great lengths to maintain this purity.
He started by enacting the Nuremburg Laws -- a set of laws based on pseudoscience that encouraged racial discrimination towards the Jewish population. Mass Rallies were held in support of the Nuremberg Laws; these rallies featured mass amounts of propaganda supporting Hitler’s agenda. The Nazis had created their Final Solution -- a plan that would systematically wipe out all the Jews in Europe. This was the most deadly phase of the Holocaust. On the night of November 9, 1938 SA parliamentary troops seized 30 000 Jews in Austria and Germany and placed them in Concentration Camps. This is known as Kristallnacht. All of these events led directly to WWII.
The ultimate result of all of Hitler’s prior actions was the outbreak of WWII. Hitler was prepared for war; he had even tried some of his weapons out during the Spanish Civil War in support of fellow fascist President Franco. Hitler continued to expand by invading Poland. Using his revolutionary blitzkrieg attack method, Hitler took Poland over and began his destructive path through Europe. This marked the beginning of WWII. Nazi Germany, along with Italy and Japan, formed the Axis, while the Allies consisted of Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and later the US. WWII would go down as the bloodiest human conflict ever, with the Allies emerging victorious. Rather then be captured upon defeat, Hitler, along with his wife Eva Braun, committed suicide. Many Nazi leaders were persecuted at the Nuremburg trials while extermination camps were destroyed. Nazi Germany had been destroyed, and following the Potsdam Conference, Germany was split up into two parts: one capitalist, which was West Germany, and the other Communist, East Germany. WWII ended Nazi Germany’s reign as one of the most terrorizing empires of all time.
From Hitler’s rise to power in a ravished Germany, to his expansive ideals as well as his anti Semitism, to finally his defeat in WWII, Hitler’s rise is one of the most talked about times of history. The United Nations was created as a way to stop anything like what Hitler did from ever happening again. Hitler’s rise from a prisoner to the most powerful man in the world shows his remarkable charisma and his shrewdness as a politician. For what Hitler did, he will probably go down as the worst human in the history of mankind, and how he got there will be something studied and analyzed forever.