The German Government

Many people may question, if Germany was a Democratic country, how did Adolf Hitler, a tyrant who orchestrated the largest genocide in human history, rise to power? After World War I in 1918, Germany had lost the war and its imperial government began to downfall. Germany had to undertake full responsibility for the war and pay reparations debilitating its already weakened economy. By many Nationalist and veterans, the forfeiture of the war was seen as a humiliation and degradation as they believed the war could have been won if it wasn’t for protestors and politicians. Hitler, being a German soldier, became obsessed with these views. His narrow-mindedness and misapprehensions, along with many other anti- Semites, led him to pin the fault on Jews. These conspiracy theories were born out of distress, resentment, and racism, not realities (2).

The Weimar Republic would have continued to be a functional government far longer than achieved if not for the defeat of WWI, the economic burdens imposed by the Versailles Treaty, and the flawed Article 48 which all contributed to the down fall of Germany’s first attempt at a legitimate Democracy. This paper will argue that the societal, economical, and constitutional aspects all played a role in the hopeless Democracy Germany attempted which ultimately lead Germany into a totalitarian state that would further shake the world with the rise of the NSDAP and Adolf Hitler.

On The 30th of January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. In the 18 months succeeding this, Hitler became, essentially, a dictator. This essay will look at what a dictatorship is and how it operates, how the population is brought to a point where they accept a dictatorship, and examine and analyze the vital events that took place in Germany which lead to Hitler assuming dictatorial power: the Reichstag fire, the Emergency Decree, the Enabling Act, the banning of trade unions and other political parties, the Night Of The Long Knives, the death of President Hindenburg, and the German army’s oath of loyalty to Hitler. It will

With Germans of all outlooks desperately seeking solutions for the nation's problems, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party began their climb to power. 'Hitler was gifted with effective political talents. He offered an explanation for Germany's defeat, and a vision of Germany's future destiny, that played upon the fears, prejudices, and hopes of many Germans. He promised to rebuild Germany's power and restore its prosperity' (Isaacman, 16). This won the support of many Germans. Hitler was such an effective speaker that anything he said was believed even if it was not true.

In addition to the damaging consequences of the First World War with the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, certain features of Germany caused the state to be susceptible to the influence of this dangerous ideology. Along with the damage to the national ego as a result of the First World War, Germany had co-existing and conflicting highly modern strands of development forced to integrate with powerful remnants of archaic values and social structures, and had a deeply fractured parliamentary political system, and the weaknesses of this system reflected the social and political differences within the population. This shame and failure after World War I was superimposed onto a modern country which once had an advanced economy, a sophisticated state

With incompetent leadership and an unhappy nation, the German people began to realize that their country was in a vulnerable situation and began to look for stable alternatives to democracy. Hitler’s

When referring to the ‘Holocaust’ – defined by (Oxford Dictionary) as ‘Destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war:’ – we have to take into account the global awareness and knowledge of that time. We, as a planet, have come to acknowledge the ‘Holocaust’ not as the aforementioned and defined, but as the time in which, between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany, lead by Adolf Hitler, persecuted and massacred approximately six million Jews, as well as a plethora of other individuals, including the mentally handicapped, communists, poles, gypsies, homosexuals (just to name a few), as well as attempting to conquer the world. It is estimated that no less than ten million casualties were a result of the Nazi agenda, out of combat (The History Place). Giving reference to the question, in this essay I will outline and counterpoint two keys questions when regarding the approaches of functionalists and intenationalists, firmly rooting them as the crux as my debate, which are: Did Adolf Hitler have a so-called ‘master plan’ in bringing about the Holocaust, and where did the initiative come from? I will now proceed to open the debate, by first giving a brief outline as both approaches and what they encompass.

One thing which remained the same for almost all Germans was the guilt complex of possibly stopping the horrific atrocities committed by the Reich if enough of them had stood up. Already, “Germany’s economy was in a mess when Hitler was elected Chancellor in January 1933” (Trueman). In other words, Hitler had fed off of Germany’s economy which was already collapsing at the seams. Yet the fact remained that they had all been blinded by the scapegoats they were given to what was really happening. Hitler concealed the truth of his tyranny and informed Germany that “the Jews were the reason for the inner poisoning of Germany and that they had stolen the victory from Germany” (Hall). However, the event was also beneficial as “Germany has largely lost its connection to the generation of perpetrators” and anti semitism was condemned where less than twenty years ago it had been predominant among most of Europe (Beste). The Germans had lost two wars now in which they had been led by a single, dictatorial authority figure. This, ultimately, alienated them from authoritarian governments and began to lead them into democracy's

The Third Reich was a racially motivated killing machine that resulted in the death of six million Jews. However, the regime’s murderous campaign was a response to a set of circumstances that allowed it to obtain control over Germany. Today, the question of what circumstances ignited the Third Reich has gained attention from historians all over the world while creating a variety of possibilities. Thus, the different perspectives have caused the subject to become controversial among the devoted historians. This is especially true when considering the views of writers Daniel J. Goldhagen, Robert Gellately, Hans Mommsen, and Norman M. Naimark.

When an economy is suffering, people will look for an entity or person to blame yes, but they also eagerly and sometimes blindly accept what they might justify as the lesser of two evils. In this case, Evil is identified and there is nothing lesser about it. In the early 1900’s what they found changed and also ended the lives of millions. World War II and the hardship it brought upon Germany was just the tool that one man in particular took advantage of for his own personal gain and ideology. Born in Australia in 1889, Aldoph Hitler came to be one of the most famed and later despised person’s in human history. Many have written about his life and what he accomplished or yet, what he did. Many have tried to explain the why in hopes that

The downfall of Germany after the Second World War is an outcome thought by many that time as deserving for a nation touted to have caused one of the most atrocious events in human history. The Nazi Party, which ran Germany under its terrible regime before and during the Second World War, has perpetrated a series of destructive actions that soon wrought havoc to the rest of the world. From the anti-Semitic platform of the Nazi Party that generated the Holocaust up to the unholy alliances with Italy, Japan and others under the Axis Powers that led to massive destruction of lives and properties in different parts of the world, Germany undoubtedly had the greatest responsibility to account for with

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.

German society is a topic of discussion for all historians who study the period of World War II. Many Germans at the time said that they were not associated with the Nazi party nor supporters of their ideologies. But throughout this analysis, Peter Fritzsche provides claims that the German people were greatly involved in the Nazi regime goals, which is a controversial subject for today.

The rise and subsequent take-over of power in Germany by Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early 1930s was the culmination and continuation not of Enlightenment thought from the 18th and 19th century but the logical conclusion of unstable and cultural conditions that pre-existed in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party’s clear manipulation of the weak state of the Weimar Republic through its continued failure economically and socially, plus its undermining of popular support through the signing the Treaty of Versailles all lead to the creation of a Nazi dictatorship under the cult of personality of Hitler. This clear take-over of power and subsequent destruction of any

Adolf Hitler 's rise to power in Germany was the result of severely polarizing political, economic, and social circumstances. Following WWI the global powers and victors of the Great War imposed crippling stipulations on an already devastated Germany. These conditions combined with the establishment of Germany 's first ever democracy would lead to possibly the darkest ages of humanity. Understanding the circumstances which would breed the most sinister leader of the 20th century requires a widespread observation of the German state and its affairs.