Night Of The Long Knives Essay

Adolf Hitler used the power as Hindenburg's chancellor to help him rise to power .Before Hindenburg’s death they made a law saying the office of president will share his power with people in the chancellor. “Hitler became head of state as well as head of government and was formally named leader and chancellor”.This was because the president would need

Ever since Hitler rose to power in January 1931, up to 1932, he built his power base and managed as well to make it impossible for him to be legally removed from power. He managed to do so, mainly; by making sure that every powerful group that could have indeed removed him from power remained idle or was annihilated. These were, at the time, trade unions, his political opponents, church leaders and army officers, and they were dealt with differently according to how much power they had in reality, either giving concessions or eliminating them ruthlessly.

Due to the failure of the Weimar Republic and general public dissatisfaction arising from poor economic conditions exacerbated by the Treaty of Versailles, coupled with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, German citizens were understandably desperate for change. Until this point in time the Nazi party, and Hitler, had been essentially unpopular. However, the economic situation ensured Hitler’s increasing popularity as the people looked toward more extreme but non-communist ideals. The initial consolidation of Nazi power in 1933 arose from key events such as the support of the Nationalist Party with the Nazis to form a coalition government, implementation of the Enabling

Hitler was “content” with disputes between his subordinates and on occasion, “actively furthered rather than tried to hinder governmental chaos”. Bracher is correct in arguing, “institutional antagonism was resolved by the key position of the Fuhrer”. Through distancing himself from disputes, Hitler transcended governmental chaos and emerged as the ultimate decisive force. Rival agencies competed with each other to win Hitler's favour: the only source of political legitimacy. Furthermore, although leading Nazi figures were given considerable autonomy in creating policy, they were required to work within the framework of Hitler’s ideology and to remain loyal to him. As Overy maintains, power should not be confused with responsibility; although responsibilities were delegated to individuals, there were “no other power centres separate from the will of the central figure”. Hitler dealt ruthlessly with any threat to his position. Rohm, commander of the SA, was executed in 1934, whilst Goering was condemned to death by Hitler in the final days of the war, for suggesting that he should take over government. Although, Hitler distanced himself from daily administration, this apparent neglect stemmed not from an inability to do so, as Broszat suggests, but from a lack of interest in administrative affairs. Numerous examples prove the ultimate executive power of

Then a month later President Hindenburg died, which made Hitler the head of state. This allowed him to control all aspects of Germany, and also allowed him to start rebuilding the military forces that had been ordered to disband with the passing of the Treaty of Versailles. This was probably the biggest step thus far that would send Germany to war yet again. Along with that he had personally taken over as leader of the military when Werner von Blomberg had openly told Hitler that he disagreed with him about having the military ready to go to war as soon as 1938. (Shire, 1960) Over the next few months he had stripped 16 generals and had 44 more transferred because they were believed to not be sufficiently pro-Nazi.

No party ever gained majority government during the history of the Republic, and this weakened the government. Proportional representation was responsible for a series of coalition governments, which ruled Germany through the years of 1919 and 1933. However, the only time that a pro-Weimar party held majority was in the first elections of 1919, and every time after Weimar was the minority.

The Night of the Long Knives was extremely significant in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship and ultimately Hitler’s power. This night of brutal murder and elimination of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) gave Hitler the support of the army, which he need for both the creation of a totalitarian state and his future foreign policy and also relieved the pressures on Hitler. However, The Night of the Long Knives was also the continuation of many other events, which could be described as equally as important, such as the Enabling Act and the Reichstag Fire.

There was a power struggle in Germany after the 1932 election. Many of the political parties thought they could use Hitler's popularity to their advantage. The power struggle ended in the President asking Hitler to become Chancellor in January 1933. As chancellor, Hitler encouraged fear of communism and imprisoned thousands of his political opponents. In February 1933 the Reichstag building was set on fire and Hitler cleverly blamed the Communists, who were feared by many Germans. By August 1934 Germany was a single-party state and Hitler was dictator. Hitler used his power to reverse key decisions and limitations imposed by the treaty of Versailles.

The Nazi group had a major impact on the government and influenced the decision for the next Chancellor of Germany. “...Paul von Hindenburg, had appointed Hitler Chancellor. Having won more than 37 percent of the vote in the previous year's legislative elections, Hitler's Nazi party had enough power to effectively paralyze Germany's democratic government, which had been in place since 1919,” Smith says (pg.15). This shows that Hitler's Nazi group was extremely powerful and explains how Hitler arose to power. This quote reveals that Hitler had the most power since 1919, which demonstrates how powerful Hitler will become in the future. “By the early 1930’s, Germany was in desperate shape. Its defeat in World War One and the harsh conditions imposed by the United States, Britain, and France in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles - included debilitating reparation payments to the victors - had left Germany humiliated and impoverished, with ruinous inflation eating away at its economy. The worldwide Depression that followed the 1929 U.S. stock market crash exacerbated the situation as banks

In the lead up to the depression the Nazis had 12 seats and just two years later in the peak of the economic crisis the Nazis had 107 seats. This reflects the dissatisfaction that was shown in the present government and the fact that Hitler was the only person who promised the solutions that they people wanted. Many historians have stated that if Stressman had not died in 1929 then Germany may have recovered to its former strength and Hitler may never had the chance at gaining power. From 1930 onwards the country is being ruled by presidential decree through the use of Article 48, so therefore no party could gain a majority for the German economy to get back on its feet. Hitler took advantage of these times of hardship and promised these desperate people what they wanted, employment and a way out of these poverty times. Hitler was the only option left, and is desperate time people look for desperate politics to solve these problems. Weimar

Even though Germany was left in a period of struggle and economic weakness after WW1, Adolf Hitler would take a stand by creating a party that would help refine the structure of the economy. This party, when abbreviated, was called Nazi, would also create harsh laws and unrelentless punishment. Due to the Nazi party’s quick growth, there was an immediate impact on lifestyle and politics for the people of Germany. The long term impact brought forth by the consequences or legacy of the Nazi party included a population decrease and an increase in deaths. To make both of these impacts, Hitler had to overcome many hard challenges.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Terror as an instrument of the French Revolution.

In order to grow more popular the National Socialist German Workers Party had to get the support of other groups who were also influential at the time in Germany. In 1930 The Nationalist German Workers Party had gained the support of many wealthy individuals and the entire military order members. By 1933 the Nazis had even gotten closer and had made connections with the President of Germany, who at the time was Paul von Hindenburg. This led to Hitler receiving titles such as the Personal Commander of the Army, Supreme War Lord, and later Chancellor of Germany (“Adolf Hitler”). While Hitler was gaining titles and prestige, he also had to make sure that the party he had worked so hard to build would not fall down, under any circumstances.

As for Hitler, absolute power was achieved by merging Presidency and Chancellorship and inheriting the position of Commander-in-Chief after Hindenburg's death in 1934. Hitler became the Führer and Reichskazler. The abolition of all other parties, the Reichstag and state parliaments, and finally the suspension of the Weimar Constitution helped vest all power in Hitler. Totalitarianism contains purges and reign of terror. On June 30, 1934, he launched the "Night of the Long Knives" to eliminate the populist wing of the SA whom the German army disgusted.

In 1933 Adolf Hitler was chosen as Chancellor of Germany by president Paul von Hindenburg. With this, the Nazi party came to power. Originally called the National Socialist German Workers party (Nazi for short), the Nazi party emphasized how Laissez-faire capitalism, economic liberalism, and democracy failed in government. The National Socialists stressed the importance of the impeccability of the German race. Although they had very determined ideas, The Nazi party began as a relatively small group in 1918. But coming into the 1930’s this was not the case. The widespread use of propaganda and radio broadcasting were instrumental to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.