“Gentlemen, you are about to witness the most famous victory in history.’ This is what Adolf Hitler said to his generals on June 9th, 1940, prior to ‘Operation yellow’(Booth,1980) (Walton,1980). We all know him, the man that made Germany great again, the man that pulled its country from a social crisis, and the man that got absolute power over Germany in 1933. But how exactly did Hitler get this power? What made it possible? And most importantly, why was it possible at that exact moment in history?
We will start at the beginning. World War One was over and the allies, who won the war, came up with the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty mostly stated rules about what Germany could and could not do (Van Der Geugten, 2015) (Hijstek, 2015) (Verkuil, 2015). Among other things, Germany could only have a really small army. This was seen as a big embarrassment for the, at the time, republic (history.com editors, 2017). There was a lot of poverty and the German people needed a savior. Hitler was that savior. The country was economically devastated due to the loss of the war (Castillo, 2003). There was a lot of unemployment, people found the then government, the Weimar Public, weak and they needed someone to step up. Hitler promised to solve all the problems of the fallen kingdom and he promised that the pride and glory that the country once had carried would return again (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). That is how, by using the peoples and the countries’ weaknesses, Hitler gained power.
After already gaining public support, Hitler started to use more propaganda techniques. Hitler told the people what they wanted to hear (Van Der Geugten, 2015) (Hijstek, 2015) (Verkuil, 2015). “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed”. This ‘big lie’ is a good example of one of those techniques (Nitardy, 2016). Hitler told, for example, the German population that the Jewish people were to blame for all their problems and mistakes. At the time this all made sense to the people and started to believe him (Van Der Geugten, 2015) (Hijstek, 2015) (Verkuil, 2015). He sold this lies not only because of the great publicity but also because of his great ability to talk as a public speaker (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). The ‘big lies’ he told and the use of ones believe is another reason for how Hitler raised to power.
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Last but not least, the direct reason of how Hitler ceased power; the fire in the Reichstag building on February 27th 1933. It all started a month earlier, late January 1933 (history.com editors, 2018), when the at the time President Hindenburg made the fatal error of making Hitler chancellor hoping he would remove the communists threats. Hitlers ideology was that every state should be a one-party state with the leader having dictatorial power (Van Der Geugten, 2015) (Hijstek, 2015) (Verkuil, 2015). He got this absolute power after the devastating fire.
The Reichstag was used for many political issues, one of them being: passing laws and approving them. He used the fire to pass a legislation known as The Enabling Act. This law gave Hitler the ability to pass laws without them being approved. A year later Hindenburg died, making Hitler President while remaining chancellor (Van Der Geugten, 2015) (Hijstek, 2015) (Verkuil, 2015). That one mistake Hindenburg made in 1933, changed history and gave Hitler dictatorial power in a legal way.
In conclusion, Hitler got the power by using other peoples weaknesses as his own strength and by using propaganda and strong words. He told the people what they wanted to hear, making it look like it was the best solution for all their problems. That was also the reason of why it was possible for him to seize power at that exact moment in history. A path also appeared in front of Hitler and he took the way to changing history; the Reichstag burned down making him able to pass the Enabling Act, after he became chancellor. That fire was the last drop of water that made the bucket overflow.
References
- Booth, O. & Walton, J. H. (2001). The Illustrated History of World War II. London: Book Sales.
- History.com editors (2017). History. New York City: A&E Television Network. Retrieved from: https://www.history.com/topics/germany/weimar-republic January 9th 2020.
- Castillo, D. (2003). Marcuse Faculty History. Santa Barbara: Marcuse Faculty History. Retrieved from: http://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/classes/33d/projects/1920s/Econ20s.htm January 18th 2020.
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d.). Hitler comes to power. Washington D.C.: Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hitler-comes-to-power January 18th 2020.
- Nitardy, W.B. (2016). Understanding The Anatomy of Evil. Denver: Outskirts Press.
- History.com editors (2018). History. New York City: A&E Television Network. Retrieved from: https://www.history.com/topics/germany/reichstag-fire January 19th 2020.
- Van Der Geugten, T. & Hijstek, B. & Verkuil, D. (2015). Geschieniswerkplaats. Houten: Noordhoff Uitgevers.
