'the Impact of the Depression Was the Main Reason Why Hitler Became Chancellor in January 1933.' Do You Agree? Explain Your Answer.

505 Words3 Pages
There are many factors to Hitler’s success. The impact of the Depression was certainly one of them. When the American financial market crashed, it hit particularly hard for the Germans. Germany had taken many loans from America but when the financial market crashed, Germany was unable to take any more loans or pay America back. Because of this inability to repay, businesses started to close down because the loans were rapid and little trade was taking place. No one had the money to buy from businesses or factories so they were forced to close. Unemployment became a missive issue - by 1932, 6 million people were unemployed. Millions of Germans became homeless because they couldn’t afford to pay rent or housing bills. Many people felt extremely let down by the Weimar Government because they felt it wasn’t doing anything to help or support them, so they began to turn to extremist parties like the communists and the Nazis. People’s lives had become miserable. The opinion suggests that’s the impact of the depression was to only reason for Hitler’s success - this wasn’t true, as although it was very important, there were many other contributing factors. Firstly, Hitler was a great speaker, he had a confidence when speaking that persuaded people to give him their support. Also, Hitler’s rival parties had the opportunity to join together which would therefore weaken Hitler, however they wouldn’t work together, giving Hitler a boost above them. The people of Germany also had given up hope with the Weimer Government, so when Hitler came along and made the kind of promises people wanted to hear, they started to support him more. Hitler promised: jobs for the unemployed, trade for farmers and businesses and a 'great Germany' for the middle class. This is exactly what the people wanted and needed to hear. Hitler also had the advantage of his Nazi stormtoopers as they were
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