Rise of Hitler - 1919 - 1934

January 1919

In Jan 1919, 50,000 Spartacists rebelled in Berlin, led by the Communists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht.

March 1920

March 1920, the right-wing nationalist Dr Wolfgang Kapp took over Berlin. The army refused to attack him; he was only defeated when the workers of Berlin went on strike.

1921 - 1923

The governement printed lots of money due to the general strike. This led to the hyperinflation, meaning that a load of bread in 1923 was 200,000 million marks. In November that year it became worthless.

Also see next card, Occupation of the ruhr!

January 1923

Germany were falling behind of reparations so te French, who were the most angry after WW1 occupied the ruhr, which was Germany's industrial area. All Germany's goods were taken by the French on top of reparations. 

November 1923

Hitler had 55,000 members on the Nazis and he tried to do a putsch in Munich. However, it failed and 16 Nazis were shot dead and Hitler was jailed under treason. 

1924 - 1929 - the golden twenties

The golden twenties was a much better place for Germany. Various pacts were signed with USA and other big nations ( see other cards). This led to Germany investing in roads, housing and other big projects. This made them the second most developed nation since the war, after America. However in 1929 October, Streseman died and the wall street  ( banks and businesses), in Amercia, crashed. This put Germany into another major depression. 

1924

In 1924, Streseman signed this plan. The Dawes plan enabled Germany to pay the reprations in a differant time scale. It didn't reduce reparations but it made it easier for Germany to pay USA, England and France back after the WW1. It also meant that Germany could borrow 3,000 million dollars from America in the next 6 years, which would be spent on roads etc. INdustry was given a massive boost, unpemlpoyment fell and most Germans were better off.  This stalled the Nazis progress as the Weimmar was looking strong and succesful. 

1925

Strseman signed this pact, and this enabled Germany's foreign relations to improve. It meant that Germany, France, Belgium and England agreed to mutual peace. It also meant Germany could have a seat in the league of nations. However, many Germans didn't think they should accept the seat, as they still had harsh feelings about these countries due to the treaty.

1929

In 1929, Stresemans work payed off, and was offered to sign the young plan. This enabled Germany's reparations to be reduced, from 6,600 million dollars, to 1,850 million dollars. Also it could be payed back over 59 years. Thats 2,05 billion marks a year. However on October the 8th Streseman died of a heart attack in 1929. It was then revealed that this success was only temporary. 

October 1929

Late in October, share prices in Germany were rising. So all the shareholders decided to try and sell their shares and claim profits they had made. This meant businesses lost all worth and very quickly prices fell dramatically and investors lost their fortune in the end. They therefore couldnt sell shares and those that had borrowed money for shares were in massive debts. They were forced to sell possesions. Industries therefore collapsed and after this America asked for loans back from Germany and other countries. This plunged Germany into another, yet worse than ever before depression.  This was good news for The Nazis who relished the opportunity to show the weakness of weimar and gain more votes in elections. 

September 1930

The Nazies won 107 seats. This was an increase of 95 votes since the last election. 

The social democratic party, won 143 seats.

The communist party, won 77 seats. 

This showed that the Nazis were getting a lot stronger.

The results of this election meant the Nazis had more power in the Reichstag and had more power on laws.

1932

Von Papen only had 68 supporters initiall, and time went on this number decreased. This made Hitler feel very angry as he deserved it more than Von Papen. 

July 1932

Nazis now had 207 seats. This was an increase of 123 votes. 

The social democratic party lost 10 seats and now were at 133

The communist party of Germany gained 12 seats and now had 89 seats.

207 wasn't quite the majority but was a victory and an improvement none of the less. 

This again gave them more power in the Reichstag.

November 1932

The Nazis lost 34 votes. However they were still the most powerful party in the Recishtag with 196 seats. 

The communist party had gained 12 seats. 

The Nazis were not too suprised with their little decrease, as by now there were plenty more new parties, so they had expected to lost a few seats here and there.

December 1932

He was Chancellor for two months. Hindenburg had no choice, and on 30 January 1933, he appointed Hitler as Chancellor.

January 1933

Hitler was made chancellor for many reasons. He was very popular as he promised many nice things to all differant social classes. This made Hindenburgs choice rather pressuroised, as HItler was the favourite form the German people.  

More factors why he became chancellor were:

Fear of comunism

Role of SA

Propoganda

Febuary 1933

Hitler and Goebbels claimed that the fire on the 27th of Feb was the work of the communists and the socialists.  Everyone beleived them and this decreased popularity for the communists and socialists. 

The Nazis ordered that the SA should go and stop the communists. Nearly 4,000 communists were jailed and sent to concentration camps later on. Van De Lubne was seen as the man behind this attempted revolution and he was executed in 1934.

March 1933

Nazis win 288 seats. This was a gain of 92 votes. Socilaists and communists both lost votes.

Nevertheless, this was still not a majority.However they had the most seats in the reichstag so they used this to create the enabling act. See next card. 

March 1933

The SA put pressure on non -  Nazis deputies in the Reichstag to vote in favour of Hitlers new act. The act enabled Hitler to make his own laws.

444 votes meant the enabling act passed.

Only 94 votes were against the act, and these deputies were removed from the Reichstag.

April 1933

That long horrible word means ( gleichstaltung,)  ' bringing into line.' This was the start of making a totaliterian state government under the Nazis. They used extreme tactics and violence and mind games in the upcoming years to enforce their power and show they were not a force to be reckoned with.

June and July 1934

Over this month, Hitler ordered the ** to destroy the SA. He saw them as a potential threat and were the only last step in the way of complete control. 

This also gained support from the army and military leaders, as the SA could have overthrown the military. 

400 SA leaders were murdered including the leader, Ernst Rohm alongside other opponents to the Nazis.

August 1934

Hindenburg dies and Hitler appoints himself as president. 

He makes the army swear on oath to him. This was his last step into making total power. Because the army were the only slight opponent left as they were armed and had many men. 

HItler now had complete control BITHCES.