History Notes - The Rise of Hitler
thecbsesolver
BIRTH OF WEIMAR REPUBLIC
• The defeat of imperial Germany in the war gave an opportunity to Parliamentary parties to reshape German political system.
• National assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic constitution with a federal structure.
• Deputies were now elected to the German Parliament or Reichstag on the basis of equal and universal votes cast by all adults including women.
PROBLEMS WITH THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
• It was not received well by its own people largely because of the terms it was forced to accept after Germany's defeat at the end of the first world war.
• The peace Treaty atVersailles with the allies was a harsh and humiliating peace.
• Germany lost its Overseas colonies a tenth of its population 13% of its territories 75% of its iron and 26% of its Kol to France wall and Denmark and Lithuania.
• Germany was held responsible for the war and damages the allied countries suffered.
• Germany was demilitarised.
THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR
Weimar Republic was being made to pay for the sins of the old Empire. Those who supported Weimar Republic were called November criminals. Europe was drained of its resource. Soldiers came to be placed above civilians. Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for men to be aggressive strong and masculine.
POLITICAL RADICALISM
• The political atmosphere in Berlin was charged with demand for Soviet style governance.
• Spartacist League on the pattern of Bolshevik revolution in Russia led uprisings.
• Soviets of workers and sailors were established across many cities.
• Uprisings were crushed by Weimar Republic with the help of War veterans called free Corps.
• Communists and socialists could not make common cause against Hitler.
• Both Revolutionary is and militants nationalists great for radical solutions.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
• Political radicalisation was only heightened by the economic crisis of 1923.
• Germany had Fought the war largely on loans and had to pay war reparations in gold.
• This depleted gold reserves at a time resources was scarce.
• In 1923 Germany refused to pay and the French occupied its leading industrial area to claim their coal.
• Germany retaliated with passive resistance and printed paper currency recklessly.
• The value of German currency mark reduced leading to Hyperinflation.
THE YEARS OF DEPRESSION
German investments and industrial recovery were totally dependent on short-term loans largely from the USA.
• This support was withdrawn when the Wall Street exchange in the US crashed in 1929.
• Industrial production of Germany reduced to 40%.
• Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages.
• The economic crisis created anxieties and fears in people.
Businesses got ruined.The large mass of peasantry was affected by sharp fall in agricultural prices.
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
• The WEIMAR constitution had some inherent defects which made it unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship.
• The proportional representation made it almost impossible by any one party to achieve majority leading to coalitions.
• Article 48 gave the president the power to impose emergency suspend civil rights and Rule By decree.
• Within its short span the Weimar Republic saw 20 different cabinets lasting on an average 239 days.
HITLER'S RISE TO POWER
German defeat horrified him and the Versailles Treaty made him furious. When the first world war broke out he enrolled for the army, acted as a messenger in the front, became a corporal and earned medals for bravery. In 1919 he joined a small group called the German workers party. He subsequently took over the organisation and renamed it the National Socialist German Workers Party later known as Nazi party.
It was during the Great Depression that Nazism became a mass movement.
HITLER'S RISE TO POWER
By 1932, it had become the largest party with 37% votes. Hitler was a powerful speaker his passion and his words moved people. He promised to build a strong Nation and do the injustice of the Versailles Treaty, restore the dignity of the German people. He promised employment for those looking for work and a secure future for the youth
He devised a new style of politics he understood the significance of rituals and spectacle in mass mobilization.
Nazis held massive rallies and public meetings to demonstrate the support for Hitler and instill a sense of Unity among the people.
Nazi propaganda skillfully projected Hitler as a messiah, as a saviour, as someone who had arrived to deliver people from the distress
THE DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRACY
• On 30 January 1933, President, Hindenburg offered the chancellorship the highest position in the cabinet of ministers, to Hitler.
• A mysterious fire that broke out in the German parliament facilitated his move.
• The Fire Decree of 28 February 1933 indefinitely suspended civil rights.
• All his arch enemies, the communist most of whom were hurriedly packed off to the newly established concentration camps.
• The famous Enabling Act on 3rd March 1933 established dictatorship in Germany.
RECONSTRUCTION
• Through a state funded work creation program Hitler aimed at full production and full employment.
• This project produced the famous German super Highways and the People's car, the Volkswagen.
• In foreign policy Hitler acquired quick success. He pulled out of the League of Nations in 1933 reoccupied the Rhineland and integrated Austria and Germany under the slogan one people, one empire, and one leader.
• He had unspoken support of of England which had considered the Versailles verdict too harsh.
• Resources were to be accumulated through expansion of territory.
• In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland this started a war with France and England. In September 1940 a Tripartite pact was signed between Germany Italy and Japan strengthening Hitler's claim to International power.
• Puppet regimes, supportive of Nazi Germany, were installed in large part of Europe.
HISTORIC BLUNDER BY HITLER
Hitler moved to achieve his long-term aim of conquering Eastern Europe. He attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941. In this historic blunder, Hitler exposed the German Western front to British aerial bombing and the Eastern front to the powerful Soviet Armies. The Soviet Red Army inflicted a crushing and humiliating defeat on Germany at Stalingrad. The SecondWorld War, thus, ended in May 1945 with Hitler's defeat.
Comments
Post a Comment
Do comments, on which topic do you want the next blog from us i.e. CBSESolver