This made the new Weimar government, who signed the treaty, extremely unpopular and there was a lot of opposition to the government. Deep anger about the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles created an underlying bitterness to which Hitler's viciousness and expansionism appealed, so they gave him support. Hitler promised to get rid of the Treaty. These examples show how the Germans turned to Hitler because they needed a new leader to restore its former glory. After the Stock Market Crash in the United States, much of Europe was suffering an economic depression just as the United States.
His self-belief persuaded people to believe in him. However, I do not think it was solely the brilliance of Hitler's leadership which brought the Nazis to Power. The Treaty of Versailles, which was a peace settlement in which the Germans had no choice and were forced to sign after WW1, was an important reason why the Nazis came to power. The German general public were so angry over the Treaty and found it hard to accept the terms of it because it became a symbol of Germany's humiliation and defeat. This made the new Weimar government, who signed the Treaty, extremely unpopular and there was a lot of opposition to the government.
The first key issue I would like to discuss is the limited nature of the German revolution and how this damaged the prospects of German democracy. The way that Ebert used to take control lead damaged the prospects of democracy from the outset. Historians have criticised Ebert’s use of force to crush radical groups such as the Spartacists and his use of the Freikorps. Together with the crushing Spartacists in 1919 caused these left wing radicals to become divided and were therefore unwilling to compromise on reforms in the Reichstag. This made it far more difficult for coalitions to form and for democracy to function in the designed fashion.
Nobody was happy with it and Italy and Germany wanted revenge. The Treaty of Versailles made the country lose all colonies (it was under the control of the League of Nations) and also some territories that used to be part of Germany. Many citizens that used to live in Germany were now living in other countries, new ones, created by the peace settlement. This made Hitler make promises that he would use any means to reunite all Germans and that empire was desirable. It was obviously a threat to surrounding nations.
However Germany’s weak economic and political position between 1919 and 1923 cannot purely be put down to the Treaty of Versailles. Other factors such as the nature of the Weimar constitution and the threat from the right and the left of the political spectrum also played a role in the inevitable collapse of the Weimar republic and rise of the Nazi party in 1933. Nevertheless I feel that the Treaty of Versailles was the main blow to the Weimar Republic’s legitimacy as well as the most significant cause of Germany’s hyperinflation during the 4 year period. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in November 1919 by officials from the Weimar government. These men went on to be known as the November criminals, a clear sign of the resentment the German people had for the men that had effectively gave in to the allies as they saw it.
During a depression, political trends become extremist and so the Nazis flourished; Hitler offered both a scapegoat and himself as a strong leader to look up to. The depression gave Hitler the edge he needed to gain ninety-five[1] seats in the Reichstag and ultimately progress from the leader of a minority party to the Dictator of the Third Reich. The Depression also drew attention to the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution; as poverty and unemployment increased, respect for the democratic system drastically decreased. The German population did not want to be governed by a democracy as it was such a governing body that signed the Treaty of Versailles. Hatred for this document was still rife in Germany and so Hitler, who openly detested the Treaty, became the obvious choice.
Why war broke out in 1939 In 1939, Germany, after signing the German-Soviet Pact, attacked Poland. Much to Hitler’s surprise, Britain and France, who had both seemed unwilling to go to war responded to his actions by declaring war against Germany on the 3rd of September. The events leading to this war can be traced back to the end of World War I, or more specifically, the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was famous for it’s harshness and cruelty against Germany, forcing them to pay huge amounts of reparations and took away some of Germany lands, while demilitarizing some. It also severely restricted Germany’s military power.
The reparations imposed on the country under the Weimar Republic caused many political problems within the nation. The Weimar Republic was associated with failure in WW1 since it had signed the Treaty of Versailles that had ended the war, this in turn caused a strong sense of unpopularity towards the government from the people of Germany, as it was believed that the Republic had ended the war too early and that Germany could have fought on. This left the Germans feeling humiliated, along with the harsh limitations on the German armed forces and also the concept that Germany and it's allies was to blame for starting the war, known as the War Guilt Clause.In addition, when the German people discovered that the Weimar Republic failed in making the Treaty fair towards them, the government became even more unpopular. They people were outraged at the fact that the government had accepted these conditions, despite the fact that there was not a lot else the Republic could do. This added to the already high level of unpopularity of the government, after signing the armistice to the end the war, consequently resulting in the government being named the 'November Criminals'.
Because of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost 13% of her territory, which included six million people as well as a large percentage of raw materials. With the land devastated and hope lost, the German people needed someone powerful to step up, take control, and make Germany glorious once again. Adolf Hitler took advantage of the weakened state of Germany and seized power using some effective methods. The most important factors that attributed to Hitler’s rise to power were both his persuasive speeches as well as his effective use of propaganda. The degraded and weakened state of Germany after World War One was vital for Hitler to seize power.
“How important were weaknesses and divisons among his opponents in explaining Hilters’s rise to power by 1933?” After their defeat in the first world war, Germany was given an extremely harsh peace treaty, the Treaty of Versailles, which they were forced to sign in 1919. The treaty was a crippling blow to the newly formed Weimar Republic, which caused many problems for them and led to the eventual rise of Hilter and the Nazi party into power. The Nazis faced tough opposition from parties such as the Communists and Socialists, who didn’t believe in a democratic government, however these parties were relatively weak and divided, so were therefore defeated easily. There were many other factors which contributed to Hitlers rise to power such as weaknesses of the Weimar Republic, resentment over the Treaty of Versailles, economic crises in 1923 and 1929, the popular appeal of the Nazi’s and their effective use of propaganda and Hitler as a speaker. Historians disagree to an extent as to what the main reasons for Hitlers rise to power was.