Assess the importance of economic factors in the rise to power of the Nazi Party in Germany between 1918 and 1933
...power was essentially linked to the Great Depression”. However the question many raise is that if this was the case why didn’t Hitler gain power in 1929 rather than 1933? Richard Lowenthal believes that other factors were more important. At noon on January the 30th 1933 Hitler was finally appointed Chancellor by President von Hindenburg. Lowenthal believes this was the result of much persuasion by not only Hitler but others much closer to Hindenburg: “In advanced industrial countries, the only revolutions still likely to be acclaimed by the masses in a crisis are those that place not against the state machine, but with its help” He says that the President’s opinion was changed drastically by his trusted advisers von Schleicher and von Papen. They backed Hitler in the hope that once in power they could control him. They had tried before and failed to take control using other methods and now, according to Ovenden, saw Hitler as their only option. “It was the failure of traditional counter-revolutionary methods…which pushed even bourgeois leaders like von Papen, who had opposed Hitler being brought into the government in August 1932, to back a Hitler chancellorship” It has been suggested that Hindenburg couldn’t possibly hold out against such a strong wave of feeling, especially considering many, like W.L. Shirer, believe he was “senile”. As he put it the only people he could turn to were “a few shallow, ambitious men”. However it is also said that Hitler would never have been able to get him into this position had the Nazis not got into the Reichstag and this could not have been achieved if they had not been able to manipulate the system. When the German constitution was created there were several basic flaws in it. Article 48 of the constitution gave the President the power to dissolve the Reichstag in a time of emergency. Most insist that the Reichstag fire gave him the reason he needed to use this as the final tool which enabled him to take complete control over Germany. Also, when the Allies were deciding what to do with Germany after WWII they came up with the idea of giving her the most democratic system possible, Proportional Representation. This meant that a party could get seats without winning in any state. W.L. Shirer outlines the problems caused by this system: “There were too many political parties, and they were unable to form an enduring majority on the Reichstag that could back a stable government” This is often said to have allowed Hitler to slip in and begin to make his views heard which then built up his popularity. However many, like Kershaw, believe that he was just the right man, in the right place, at the right time: “Without the changed conditions - Hitler would have remained a nobody. His main ability by far… is he could inspire an audience which shared his basic political feelings” As well as his luck, Kershaw is also tapping in to another factor that he believes was crucial in increasing Hitler’s popularity and bringing him closer to being appointed as chancellor. After the failure of the Munich Beer Hall Putch the Nazis reorganised their tactics. The violence and shameless discrimination was slowly replaced by ordered political protests, like having the party representatives walk out of the Reichstag, and more subtle hints at their racial beliefs. Kershaw picked up on this in Hitler speeches as show when he says “In the early 1920s, Hitler's speeches had been dominated by vicious attacks on the Jews. In the later 1920s, the question of 'living-space' became the central theme. In the election campaign of 1930, Hitler seldom spoke explicitly of Jews”. Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, also began to use posters, film and radio to build on Hitler’s image and make him seem a more attractive political choice. All this did help to improve his appeal but much more important was the more powerful support gained for other reasons. ...