How effectively did Hitler establish the Nazi dictatorship between 1933 and 1935?

Despite the Nazi rhetoric which preached that the Weimar democratic system was weak, anti-German and should be destroyed, Hitler was the fifeenth chancellor in 14 years and it was not apparent to many politicians that in 1933 this was a distinct turning point:

• there was still a functioning Reichstag that encompassed a range of political parties
• there were only three Nazis out of 12 members in Hitler's first cabinet
• Hindenburg was still president
• Hitler had been helped to power by the vice chancellor, Papen, and other powerful conservative forces, who believed they could control the Nazi leader and use him to achieve their own poltical goals
• November 1932 elections - their vote had declined from 37.27% to 33.09% and although they remained the most popular party, two-thirds of the voting public voted for other parties

Despite this, by July 1933, Hitler had largely achieved his aims, cementing power for himself and the Nazi Party in a totalitarian dictatorship 

This rapid imposition of a dictatorship related to four interlinking factors:

• violence
• propaganda
• Gleichschaltung
• pseudo-legal methods

Hitler was also helped by the miscalculations of others:

• the right-wing political elite hoped to use Hitler's popularity to impose a dictatorship, but then remove him and replace the Nazi's with a conservative, military-style government
• they believed Hitler could be controlled easily due to there only being three Nazi's in the cabinet
• however, this was deceptive as these Nazis held key positions from which they could exercise significant power
• Goering had control over the Prussian police
• Frick held the position of Reich Minister of the Interior 

The role of violence in establishing control:

• Violence was a key aspect in establishing the Nazi dictatorship
• Goering was able to utilise his control over the Prussian police force by deputising 50,000 SA, ** and Stahlhelm members as auxiliary police
• This essentially legalised these violent organisations and their attacks on Communist and socialist members
• It was a key combination of violence and legality 
• Nazi paramilitary organisations were essentially the police, making it extremely difficult for persecuted groups to mount any kind of opposition against the Nazis
• February 1933 - law passed banning any newspaper from speaking out against the new government
• 27 February 1933 - a Dutch Communist, van der Lubbe, was arrested while burning down the Reichstag - Hitler was aided by this
• Inciting a fear of a Communist revolution, Hitler was able to convince Hindenburg to utilise Article 48 and proclaim a state of emergency 
• The Reichstag Fire Decrees that followed:
  • destroyed all democratic liberty in Germany
  • personal rights suspended
  • unlimited periods of detention
  • violence increased
  • Dachau opened 20th March
• 5 March 1933 - Nazi election campaign was tainted by repression and violence against the Nazis' political opponents
• The Nazis used their control of the German press to perpetuate the idea that only the Nazis could save Germany from a Communist revolution
• Despite this, the Nazis only took 44% of the vote
• However, Nationalist allies of the Nazis won 8% of the vote, allowing the Nazis a small…