After World War I, Germany was in a state of disarray. They were now viewed by the world as aggressors from the war and were forced to pay reparations because of their guilty status. They were in debt from that and were no longer able to be or even feel like the monstrous nation they were used to being. And then, the newly inplanted Weimar Government made failing attempts to pull Germany out of the dumps. Hitler used the rsultion conditions from World War I to pursueade his way into power.
One of the Weimar Government's attempt to pull Germany out of debt was to inflate the value of money. This made money contiunously more worthless. It effected the daily lives of everyone living in Germany, making life more difficult. The value per ounce of gold became so ridiculous that people were burning money in the furnace to keep warm. This shows how hard and undesirable life was during the Weimar Government's attempts for paying reparations. The Weimar Government was new and was not ready to try to try to repay $33 billion. Because of their inexperience, the condtition of German economy was quickly decreasing. Hitler used these conditions to attempt to rise to power. His method of getting his name out there was the Beer Hall Putsch. That is where he locked the beer hall that everyone was gathered in down and stood up and expressed his disagreement to the terms Treaty of Versailles. Although this Putsch wasn't successful in Hitler's rise to power, it was one method he used to try to gain power. This supports the thesis because teh Putsch helped to put his name and his ideals in the minds of some, which may have come in handy when he later tried again for power. Although people didn't quite agree with him at the time, being recognized as something is better than never being recognized at all. This evidence effects the history of that beer hall and the attmepts of Hitler. He saw conditions weren't quite ripe, but it would ripen faster the more people started considering how bad things were.
Another thing the Weimar Government did was use help from others to keep themselves in power. They used the Freikorps to settle down the Kapp Putsch in 1920. This proved the Weimar's inability to both keep a nation at content and also to defend itself when discontent erupts. And in order to finish paying reparations, the Weimar seeked help from the United States, a former trading partner, by means of the Young Plan and the Dawes Plan. This meant that Germany's economy was at the will of America and at their ability. This signified the weakness of Germany at the time and the Weimar's satisfaction to Germany remaining weak. Hitler was not satisfied with Germany being weak. Hitler's main method when he spoke at this point was to point out the horrible conditions. He mentioned his love of the country and how he felt the country should be, a huge empire. He gained support by showing his love for Germany and pointing out weaknesses of the Weimar Government. He used their inability to protect themsevles against them. After all, how can you expect a government to protect it's country after a time of war when it can't protect itself from its own country? Hitler saw this and used it against the Weimar, his point to propaganda. And he was not happy at all that not only was Germany depending on someone else to help itself stay alive, but it was a country that decided to choose an enemy over them as trading partners and in turn, became an enemy of Germany. He felt it was low of the Weimar to do. And honestly, if the USA could just drop Germany as a trading partner so easily during the war, how was the Weimar sure that they wouldn't do the the same here? This point shows the inefficiency of the Weimar and how Hitler used that to dissueade the German people from the Weimar. But, the one condition that was the straw breaking Germany's back is the unemployment rates in Germany. In 1931 Germany had about 5.5 million people unemployed and 5 maor banks crashed. This shows the rise of Hitler because in July of 1932 the Nazi party had 37% of the vote making them the most voted for party. Hitler used the economic failures to bring his status up.
Hitler used all of the conditions that post-WWI Germany was facing. The most successful thing Hitler did in his quest for power was make no promises. He told the Germans his goals for Germany, and what he wanted. But he never promised to give them something he knew he couldn't accomplish. This was probably the most efficient method he used. Germans were so tired of hearing that things were going to get better and that the Weimar would get them out of debt when in reality their methods put Germany in even more of a low economy. Hitler used the failures of the Weimar and did not fail to point them out. He knew that by making the people realize that things as they were were not good, they would be ready to make a change. Even though times weren't always ripe, his persisitence was a smart method because he kept the people thinking. Once the thought was in their head, every little mistake that the Weimar made seemed magnified.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
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