After World War I with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the conditions in Germany began on a downward spiral. In parallel to Russia and Lenin, Germany went through its phases of shifts in power from royalty, government rule, to a single party ruler. However, the rule of a monarch and government proved to not work in favor of the Germans. The conditions of Germany called for the intervention of a single party leader. The conditions which existed in Germany, allowed Hitler and Nazis to use legal methods to rise to power in Germany.
Economic conditions in Germany proved to be essential in Hitler using legal methods to rise to power in Germany. Post-Treaty of Versailles Germany, the economy was at an all time low. The country was stripped of all means to make it prosperous. It lost the two coal rich regions of Alsace-Lorraine, which under the treaty, was forced to be returned to France. Germany had to limit its military along with paying damages for war. These really big changes in Germany had an effect on its economy. By the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, meant the loss of coal, which was very valuable to the country in which it pumped money into the economy. Along with limits on Germany’s military meant that many soldiers would be on the road to unemployment. This contributed to the increase those who were unemployed because the soldiers came back home to find no jobs. Without the presence of workers, the flow of money within the economy begins to slow down, which takes a toll on business. The money that wasn’t going to the soldiers, were used to help pay for war damage stated in the terms of the treaty. The Treaty of Versailles proved to be significant in the decline of economic standards in Germany. The reason, that it left a bad taste in the mouths of many of the German citizens. The conditions left the public with doubts with its inability to handle it self under economic pressure. Hitler would begin to tack this on to list of reasons why the country needed a change in leadership (through propaganda), and the way in which the Weimar were running things were going to take Germany into the abyss.
A key condition that leads to Hitler’s rise in power was the growing number of opposition groups from both sides of the political spectrum. The Weimer government wasn’t doing enough to satisfy the citizens of Germany’s needs. Those citizens that wanted change, formed separate opposition groups who agenda were mostly similar, to over throw the Weimer government and start a new and better era in Germany. Opposition to the Weimar government proved to be the thorn in its side. Its major weakness was that it was not able to effectively put down the coups that raged to overthrow them. The main reason was that it could not gather itself a sufficient military. This is evident in the Beer Hall Coup in which the Weimer government had to call on the support of right wing radicals (in connection with Hitler) to put down the coup. This crucial mistake of the Weimar government would come back to bit them. Opposition groups proved significant to understanding how Hitler was able to use legal means to rise to power. They showed the weakness of the Weimar government and how it could not successfully maintain authority on its own. The inability to maintain control over the common people meant that the government was in need of new leadership. Hitler would be able to use this to his advantage when presenting his claim and the Nazi agenda to the public (the method of propaganda).
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Akevian,
ReplyDeleteReally good post homie!!! I believe you fully answered the question and your thesis proved that. Your introduction paragraph was a really good insight in to what your post was going to be about. I also liked the way you separated your post by talking about economic conditions first and then talking about opposition groups in your last paragraph. Your analysis at the end of each paragraph was also very good. The only thing is that your conclusion was a bit short and ended rather abruptly. But other than that you get a 17 from me.