Elmore- Hitler: T.C.B.

The Weimar government, established after the fall of Kaisership in Germany, kept its people relatively unhappy with a weak central authority which was not effective in managing the population. Then, Nazism came along. Adolf Hitler, using various methods to implement a new and strong central authority figure, was successfully able to sway the people into a such a drastic change of government.

At the time of the creation of the Nazi party, Germany was in a condition of dissatisfaction; the people were not content with the Weimar government, which was very weak, and thereby unable to deal with the problems facing the country. By the end of the 1930's, food shortages, massive inflation, and skyrocketing rates of unemployment plagued the country, partially from the aftermath of World War I, and partially from the worldwide Great Depression. These conditions are significant in that they set the stage for a massive need for change. After all, could any citizen be happy with this state of condition, when only a few years ago, Germany was set to become *the* European power? Although the evidence would make it seem as though the country was in recovery from the post-WWII trauma, a different interpretation might make the evidence seem contradictory. For example, many complained to the Weimar government for accepting the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. While new plans were created in the later 1920's to fix the problems, they often hurt more than they helped. For example, the most famous, the Dawes Plan, set the debts from WWII at lower rates and could then be paid over time, but this only meant that *another* generation, one that did not start the war, would be responsible for paying. In addition, Germany was still unable to defend itself, and thus, although facing admission into the United Nations, was the weakling in the room. On paper, it would seem that Germany was recovering. However, based on the lowered percentage of votes the Weimar government was getting each time the economy got worse, the benefits of recovery packages might be considered deceitful. Faced with such economic and political maladies, the weak Weimar government thereby appeared unable to enforce its sovereignty as the conditions became worse, and thus the problems continued without solution. Clearly, something was not working, and thus a new system of government would be needed in order to clear up the problems. The radical parties that had only seemed crazy and extremist now began to look more appealing. They promised a simple solution to the problems the lack of authority the citizens craved: Nazism.

Born in Bavaria, Nazism and its great leader, Adolf Hitler, proposed radical right-wing conservatism. Among other methods of fixing the problems presented in the 1930's, his 25 points for fixing Germany included a central thematic approach: ALL HAIL HITLER. Examining some of the provisions of the 25 points, it is clear that the only way by which the problems of Germany could be solved was to have a single autocratic ruler; to speak truthfully, Hitler realized the simplicity of this manner of government. Fascism, in its ideaology teaches that there is power within a single ruler because with one person making all of the decisions, there are no complications that would normally arise from a federalist system, as demonstrated in the multi-layer system in the United States. In other words, with a single person in charge, as demonstrated by Hitler's points reguarding German cultural responsibility and the definition of citizenship, there would be no arguments. By realizing that such a government would reduce conflict and allow decisions to be made quickly, Hitler intended on gaining the support of the people. There is a simple logic pattern in his approaches from an analytical view: sell the people what the other store isn't selling them, and they'll buy, no matter the price. Some examples from the 25 points of Hitler's products include severe punishments for traitors, creation of strong central authority in the state, and repealing the Versailles treaty completely. Also, every German citizen now had the ability to make a fair living, and those making money who weren't German citizens would be cut from the population, thus pleasing the vast majority of citizens. Would the Weimar government have done such acts? No, and thus, no problems were solved. By eliminating the complications of a heavily beaurucratic system such as the one utilized by the Weimar government, in which decisions would be made by multiple debates and the opinions of a large ruling body, and nothing was ever done, the Nazi party created vast support. This is shown in the trend of election and voting share rates, which went as low as 2.7% in the mid 1920's to approximately 37% in a few short years (video). Hitler, taking advantage of the opportunities before him, promised in his party's platform the firm hand with which to "get the job done."

Through focusing the ideas of the Nazi party around a central belief of autocracy, Adolf Hitler was successfully able to take control of Germany by giving them solutions to their poor economic conditions in the form of a central authority, one which could effectively execute its own motivations. In other words, Hitler believed in T.C.B.