The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich

Hans Mommsen’s book, From Weimar to Auschwitz, presented an interesting look at Hitler within the Nazi Party. The overriding themes in the chapter “Hitler’s Position in the Nazi System” were the stubbornness and charisma of Hitler and the chaos within the Nazi Party. The weak leadership of Hitler along with the inability to concentrate power to one position helped lead the Third Reich to be a very frenzied and unorganized government.

5. Bergen, Doris. Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996, p.233

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.

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.

On November 7, 1983 Herschel Grynszpan, a seventeen year old Jew, caused the Nazis to seek revenge. Herschel was living in France for a few years when he discovered that something had happened to his parents. He learned that his parents had been transported to Poland by the Nazis from Hanover. In anger the teenager came up with a plan involving Ernst vom Rath to get back at the Nazis.

Females of every age group, whether it was minimal or considerable, were treated differently during the Third Reich compared to during the Weimar Government. Throughout the Weimar Government, there had been movements to increase the rights of women. Under the constitution, women had complete equality with men. This incredible step was entirely erased once Hitler came to power. In Hitler’s mind, the natural role for women was domestic, they were best equipped to look after the home, care for the husbands and raise children so that’s what they should do. Life under the Nazi’s control had many changes, most impacting for the worse for women however, despite this, the support for Hitler from women increased and remained strong.

The first topic of the semester will explore the rise of Fascism in Nazi Germany and the methods by which citizens of Germany and Austria were influenced to join in Nazi ideology and policies or to resist them.

Many historians believe that due to the Wilhelmine Era and the expansion of the German nation, as a whole, led to the outbreak of World War One. During the Bismarck era, Bismarck 's main goal was to keep France isolated and stay in good relations with Austria and Russia so that it would prevent a two-front war. Although Bismarck 's foreign policy was creating cooperation, it did not last very long. The spark of World War one came from the Wilhelmine era, which turned away from everything Bismarck’s foreign policy represented. The expansion of the military scared Europe, the industrialization of the railroad was a suspicion to other countries, and

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

The Second Reich lasted from 1871 until 1918. The first era was known as The Era of Bismarck where Germany started to become a powerful economic and political force in Europe. However, due to Bismarck’s authoritarian rule causing political and social tensions, he was removed from office. William I reined as emperor since the founding of the Second Reich but died in 1888. His son Frederick III then took over only to die of throat cancer months later. This string of events led to William II taking office in 1890. William had his own ideas about both the domestic and foreign policy that

The Weimar Constitution was a genuine attempt to create a perfect democratic country. In his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960), American historian William L. Shirer described the Weimar Constitution as "on paper, the most liberal and democratic document of its kind the twentieth century had ever seen ... full of ingenious and admirable devices which seemed to guarantee the working of an almost flawless democracy.” The constitution guaranteed equal rights to the German people, yet also contained the fundamental structural flaws that would play a major part in the Republic 's downfall (and thus the Nazi Party’s rise). Two clear examples of such weaknesses were the use of an excessively proportional electoral system and the

The Nazi party affected many people around the world through both the Holocaust and World War II. Hitler had a plan to exterminate all the Jews, and propelled this idea through the Holocaust putting Jews in concentration camps and killing them. Hitler's evil plan caused one of the world's biggest tragedies, World War II.

Shirer explains Hitler’s early life in a very descriptive way. He explains Hitler’s relationship with his parents, his negligence and failure towards formal education, his attempts towards sustaining his artistic talent, and frustration towards his rejection. Hitler was never interested in getting formal education. His father Alois Hitler was a civil servant, but Hitler never wanted to be like his father. He has the urge to become a painter or an artist. His father’s life never interested him. According to the book “The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich,” Hitler explains his negligence towards getting a formal profession.

The Allies' poor understanding of the nature of the Third Reich meant that the preliminary lists drawn up left out key figures while focusing on individuals who had played along with Hitler, but had clearly had little or no influence on foreign policy or waging war. It should be noted that identifying key individuals were only assisted by those officials attempting to avoid execution. For example, the prosecution teams were so poorly informed that the head of the Einsatzgruppen (special action groups) on the Eastern Front, not only avoided an appearance in an Allied court but was actually found to be a helpful witness, incriminating others. Only when Justice Jackson went to the OSS and saw General Donovan were many of the key players identified. The OSS since 1942 had been building dossiers of those individuals who were responsible for crimes.

People have seen Nazis as cruel and soulless people or terrorist , but many see it the other way around as heroes and saviors of the human race .The Nazis also know as the “third reich” started in Berlin Germany around 1933 till 1994 they were under the control of a strong leader known as Adolf Hitler. Hitler become the chancellor of Germany on January 30 , 1933 , later on another leader named “Hindenburg” died on August 2 , 1934 , Hindenburg was dictator of the Germany at the time , but when he died, Adolf Hitler came came into power and controlled Germany.