GCSE History Notes (AQA)

Hitler's rise to power started in 1929 when the American Stock Exchange collapsed, causing the economic depression. America called in all of their loans, including the money which Stresemann (leader of Germany in 1929) borrowed to get Germany back on their feet after they were left crippled by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. This lead to German unemoloyment rising to 6 million.It had destroyed the Weimar Republic. This made Germany pray for a new, inspiring leader who can help Germany recover. The government did not know what to do after this. In 1930, Chancellor Brüning had decided to cut government expenditure, wages and unemployment pay which was a really bad decision considering Germany were in a depression. Brüning could not get the Reichstag to agree with his actions, but President Hindenburg used article 48 (a power to have any law passed with out government approval) to pass it. This angered the Germans which meant the Nazi's were looking more and more appealing.Many workers turned to communism. This scared wealthy business men because they would lose their workers, so they began to support the Nazi's. Hitler's campaigns stated that it is the Treaty of Versailles which has crippled Germany, he got the German people motivated. The Nazi's went from having only 12 seats in the Reichstag in 1928 to 230 seats in 1932 (the largest party). After dismissing  Brüning, Hindenburg hired Von Papen and then Von Schleicher. Between them they only lasted 8 months. President Hindenburg was left no choice but to appoint Hitler as chancellor in January of 1933 in the hope that he could control his actions. 

27 Feb 1933 - Reichstag Fire - the Reichstag building is set on fire. A Dutch Communist, van der Lubbe, is caught red-handed in the burning building. This give Hitler a reason to blame the communists and thus eliminate them as a competition.

23 Mar 1933 - Enabling Act - the SA intimidates all the remaining non-Nazi deputies. The Reichstag votes to give Hitler the right to make his own laws.

2 May 1933 - Trade unions are abolished and their leaders arrested.

14 July 1933 - Political parties are banned - only the Nazi party is allowed to exist.

24 April 1934 - People's Courts - Hitler sets up the Nazi people's courts where judges have to swear an oath of loyalty to the Nazis.

30 June 1934 - Night of the Long Knives - some SA leaders are demanding that the Nazi party carry out its socialist agenda, and that the SA take over the army. Hitler cannot afford to annoy the businessmen or the army, so the **murders perhaps 400 of the SA members, including its leader Röhm, along with a number of Hitler's other opponents.

19 Aug 1934 - Hindenburg dies. Hitler is Fuhrer.

At the Treaty of Geneva in 1954, Indo-China was divided into Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and South Vietnam, although it was agreed to hold elections in 1956 to unify the two parts of Vietnam.

Ngo Dinh Diem, the ruler of South Vietnam, refused to hold elections.Ho Chi Minh was a communist, who was supported by China. In 1960, he set up the National Liberation Front (NLF) in South Vietnam, which started aguerrilla war to take over South Vietnam from Diem and his American backers.The Americans called the NLF guerrillas the Vietcong, and supported Diem with military advisers and money.

Diem's government was made up of rich Christian landowners. It was corrupt and unpopular and persecuted the poor Buddhist peasants. By 1963, most of South Vietnam's rural areas were under Vietcong control - the ARVN (South Vietnamese army) could not defeat them.

In 1963, the US supported a military coup, which murdered Diem and put a military government in SouthVietnam.

In August 1964, sailors on the American warship USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin claimed they had been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The US Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, allowing the American President Lyndon B. Johnson to take direct military action in retaliation.

In February 1965, the Vietcong attacked American air bases and killed American soldiers. President Johnson declared war against North Vietnam.