1. From Chancellor to Dictator

2.  “Germans” consider the Holy Roman Empire to be the
First Reich.
 “Germany” as a nation-state came in existence in 1871
 Before this the German-speaking people lived in a number
of states
 The largest state, Prussia, defeated France in a war (1870-1)
 It organised the other states into an Empire: the Second
Reich
 The Second Reich didn’t contain every German in
Europe
 However, many of the Germans who was not in the Second
Reich dreamed of a time when they would be part of a
Greater Germany which contained all Germans

3. The Second Reich was ruled by
the Kaiser who was an
hereditary ruler
 He had enormous power over
foreign policy and war
 In 1888, Wilhelm II, 29years of
age, became Kaiser
 He was the great nephew of
Queen Victoria of England, and
Kaiser during WWI
 Wilhelm abdicated at the end of
WWI, ending the Second Reich

4. The Constitution of the Second Reich
 Germany became a
democracy
Kaiser
 The government met in the (hereditary for life)
town of Weimar to draw up a
constitution, it was known as
Weimar Germany even Chancellor (usually also the
chairman of the Bundesrat)
Chosen by the Kaiser
(Kaiser was Supreme
Commander of the Army)
Army
though they soon moved
back to Berlin Bundesrat
More important than the
Reichstag
Could only approve laws
 Socialist, Friedrich Ebert, was Reichstag in making laws. The 17
Prussian representatives could
proposed by the Chancellor and
the Bundesrat
veto any law
the first President of Upper House of Parliament
Lower House of Parliament
Germany after elections were
held Members were chosen by the
state governments of Germany
Elected by all men over the age
of 25. fewer could vote in Prussia

5. THE CONSTITUTION OF
THE NEW CONSTITUTION THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
1. Proportional Representation Army
President The President
2. Article 48 - In an emergency the Article 48
(for 7years) was Supreme
Commander of
President could abandon The President
could suspend
the army
the
democracy constitution.
He could make Chancellor Reichstag
laws and keep a
3. The Army was only allowed
Chosen by the Was more important
Chancellor in President but than the Reichsrat. It
office who did had the support could make laws. The
100,000 men not have the
support of the
of the majority of
the Reichstag
Chancellor had to have
the support of a
Reichstag majority of its
4. The Courts were the same men members
Lower House of
that were in charge of the Reichstag
Parliament
Could only approve laws
justice system before the new propose by the Chancellor
and the Reichstag
Constitution Upper House of Parliament
 They sympathized with people Elected by all adults over the age of 21
who wanted to end democracy

6.  Germany had not been allowed to take
part in peace talks
 Germany lost:
 13% of its land
 48% of its iron production
 15% of its agricultural production
 6million of its people
 90% of its merchant ships
 It also had punishments:
 Its army could be no greater than
100,000men
 No troops were allowed in the Rhineland
 It was not allowed an air force
 The navy could not have any battleships

7.  Many Germans felt humiliated by the treaty and
wanted revenge for the way they had been treated
 Paying reparations threatened to make every
German poor
 Many Germans blamed the government for signing
the armistice and referred to the government as the
‘November Criminals’ (as the armistice was signed
on the 11th of November)
 They were accused of “stabbing the army in the
back” and this theory blamed the government for
the Treaty of Versailles
 This led to a rightist trend

8.  Germany was forced to take total
responsibility for World War I and pay
damages
 Germany was fined £6600 million to repair
the damage
 At Versailles, France did not just want
Germany to be punished but also hoped to
break Germany up
 In hindsight, it could be said that the
major part of Germany’s strength
(land, population and resources) was
untouched – leaving the German
empire basically intact

9.  In the early years of the
Weimar Germany there were a
number of attempted
revolutions
 A democratic government was
being set up in Germany but
not everyone agreed with the
system
 There were various staged
armed uprisings in Berlin and
Munich

10.  The right-wing groups not only
tried to seize power but also
assassinated some of the
government ministers who were
seen as the ‘November Criminals’
 In August 1921, Matthias
Erzberger, who signed the
armistice, was shot dead Walter Rathenau, Jewish
industrialist and Foreign Minister
 In June 1922, the Foreign of Germany, was a proponent of
Minister Walter Rathenau was Jewish assimilation until his
assassination by right-wing
gunned down in Berlin nationalists in 1922

11.  All the attempts to overthrow the
Weimar government failed
 The first elections for the Reichstag
were held in 1920
 It was not a good one for democracy
 The Weimar republic had been created
by a Socialist, Democratic and Centre
Parties
 Together, they did not even win half the
seats
 The Germans were obviously doubtful of
the new system

12.  By January 1923, Germany was behind on the
reparation payments to Belgium and France
 France was angry because they needed the money to
repay their war debt to the USA
 French and Belgian troops then invaded the Ruhr – the
industrial centre of Germany
 The Ruhr is in the Rhineland and so there were no
German troops to defend the land
 The French and Belgians decided to take the goods they
needed rather than wait for the Germans to send them

13. French occupation forces in the German Ruhr district, 1923

14. 1923: German tractors on a train to France When the French and Belgians
occupied the Ruhr, they ensured that German factory production went straight to
France. The occupation was ended with the acceptance of the Young Plan in 1930.

15. The Germans could not use armed force against the
French and Belgians
 Germans workers went on strike as a protest
 They also sabotaged the mines so that they flooded and
could not be worked in as well as burning down the
factories
 Staged huge demonstrations, some became violent
 Funerals of those shot by the French army turned into
even bigger demonstrations
 The French army arrested the entire police force of Ruhr
 French and Belgium forces also stole money from banks
and took equipment from offices and factories

16.  The invasion united the Germans in their hatred of
the French and Belgians
 The strikers were heroes to the German people who were
standing up to the Treaty of Versailles – showing that
Germany could not be crushed
 The government backed the strikers
 They printed money to pay the strikers a wage but this
caused inflation
 Then, because the workers were on strike, less goods
were being made so inflation was made worse
 These two factors alone helped to turn inflation into
hyper-inflation

17.  German reparations required
that large quantities of goods
were to be sent to France and
Belgium
 As a result there was not enough
goods in Germany, making prices rise.
 At the same time, the government
printed more money and workers
went on strike
 In 1923 inflation shot out of control
 In 1918, a loaf of bread was 0.6marks
but in January 1923, it was 250marks
and then in September it was
1.5million marks

20.  Workers had to be paid twice a day so they
could carry the money but soon the
wheelbarrows, baskets and suitcases were
worth more than the money inside it
 German money was worthless, savings were lost
and those on fixed pay suffered terribly
 Businessmen found they were making lots of
money and their debts had been wiped out as
well as low wages
 Farmers also did well because people would
always need food before other goods
 Foreigners were lucky as the exchange rate
was good and could buy a lot of products most
Germans couldn’t

21.  Gustav Stresemann was elected the
new Chancellor in August 1923
 He introduced a new currency, the
Rentenmark, which replaced the old
worthless mark
 The striking workers were ordered back
to work
 He agreed to paying the reparations
again
 All this made him unpopular because he
was giving in to the countries who were
making Germany look humiliated
 Germany was rewarded with the Gustav Stresemann
introduction of the Dawes Plan in 1924
for repaying the reparations

22.  The American Dawes Plan
 The Ruhr area was to be evacuated
by Allied occupation troops.
 Reparation payments would begin
at “one billion marks the first year,
increasing to two and a half billion
marks annually after five years“
 The Reichsbank would be
reorganized under Allied
supervision.
 The sources for the reparation
money would include
transportation, excise, and custom
taxes. Charles Dawes

23.  The Dawes Plan relied on an American loan
of 800 million marks given to Germany by
the US.
 The loan was to be used to build new
factories, produce goods and jobs, and raise
the standard of living for Germans.
 Loan allowed Germany to repay its war
reparations again, and helped support the
American economy in the “roaring 20’s”
economic boom.
 In 1925, the French and Belgian troops left
the Ruhr
 Although German business rebounded
and reparation payments were made
promptly, it became obvious that
Germany could not continue those huge
annual payments for long. As a result, the
Young Plan was substituted in 1929.

24.  After 1923, people had money to spend and
Germany appeared very different to what it was
like pre-1923
 Berlin was the pleasure capital of Europe
 Going to clubs and cafes were important parts of
Berlin life
 Artists flocked to Berlin
 There was little censorship so people could do as
they wished

25.  Other countries were starting to treat Germany as
an equal
 In 1925, Germany and France signed the Treaty of Locarno
in which they agreed never to try to change the border
between them
 In 1926, Germany was allowed to join the League of
Nations
 In 1928, Germany signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact with
over 60 other countries which said they would never go to
war against each other
 Stresemann was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the
same year
▪ He died in October 1929, when Germany seemed to have
completely recovered

26.  In October 1929, the U.S. Wall Street
stock market crash occurred, with
global repercussions
 The German economic boom had been
created because of a loan from America,
but the U.S. needed/wanted this back
because of the crisis
 German industrial production slumped
 Factories were producing less and so
unemployment rose
 In 1928, employment was 1.4million
Germans but in 1931 this figure was
4.8million
 Many people lost faith in democracy and
turned their attention to extremist groups

27.  Elections in 1930 showed that the
Nazis and Communists did well
 The communists promised a fair
society of taking from the rich to give
to everyone to make all equal
 The Nazis were promising to stop the
reparations so the money would be
spent creating jobs
 Unemployment continued to grow
 This time the whole world was
effected by the Depression rather
than the inflation problems that only
Germany had suffered in 1923

28.  The German government could not agree
on how to deal with the Depression.
 Elections were called in July 1932
 The Nazis won 230 seats which was far more
than anyone else, but they didn’t get the 50%
of the seats needed to govern on their own
 Leadership in the German government
changed hands multiple times
 Paul von Hindenburg was elected President
of Germany in 1925, was re-elected in 1932,
and appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Paul von Hindenburg
Germany in 1933
 Hindenburg died the following year, allowing
Hilter to seize power and name himself head
of state.

29.  Brüning resigned in May 1932 and replaced by von Papen
 Elections were called in July in the hope the parties that supported the
government would win a majority
 He hoped to do things democratically rather than by Presidential Decree
 But it didn’t work
 The Nazis won 230seats which was far more than anyone else
 But they didn’t get the 50% of the seats needed to govern on their own
 von Papen continued as Chancellor and tired the same tactic again as he called
for elections in November
 Again it failed
 But the Nazis did win 34 fewer seats
Thus they were becoming less popular
 von Papen was also replaced by General von Schleicher
 In January, General von Schleicher resigned because Hindenburg wouldn’t allow
him to continue to govern by presidential decree
 Hitler was then asked by Hindenburg to become the new Chancellor
 In 1925 Hindenburg became President with fewer than 50% of the votes because
the Communists put up a candidate so splitting the majority anti-Hindenburg
vote

30.  Hitler would not have become Chancellor if the
President had allowed General von Schleicher to
govern my decree
 The Centre Party leaders, like von Papen, didn’t
want General von Schleicher in power and hoped to
rule Germany – using the support of the Nazis to
stay in power
 They thus thought they could control Hitler and
dominate him
 von Papen became Hitler’s vice-Chancellor
 Ironically, Hitler became Chancellor when the Nazis
were losing support

32. Adolf Hitler

33. How do we explain the
enormous power and
influence Adolf Hitler
exerted in Germany
and around the world?

34.  Adolf Hitler was born on
April 20, 1889 in
Braunau, Austria.
 Adolf was one of six
children - three of whom
died at early ages

35. Alois Schickelgruber Hitler was a customs official
who was illegitimate by birth. His father, Adolf’s
grandfather, may have been Jewish. He died
when Adolf was 14 and left him a small
inheritance.
Klara Hitler was very young when she married the
older Alois. She showered young Adolf with love
and affection. Adolf carried a picture of his mom
until the day he died. She died of breast cancer
when Adolf was 18 years old.

36.  Attended a Benedictine monastery school where he
took part in the choir.
 Hilter wanted to become an artist; his father wanted
him to become a civil servant.
 After his father died, he dropped out of high school and
attempted to get into the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts - he
failed.

43.  After his mother died, Adolf (now
18) decided to move to Austria to
pursue his dream of becoming a
great artist.
 Again he failed to gain entrance
into the Academy
 He eventually sold all his
possessions and became a
homeless drifter who slept on park
benches and ate at soup kitchens
throughout Vienna (age 19)
 Adolf did manage to sell some
paintings and postcards, but
remained impoverished

44. Adolf left Austria at the age of 24 to avoid mandatory
military service that was required of all men.
But he did sign up for
military service at the
start of WW I. He joined
a Bavarian unit of the
German Army. This is a
picture of Hitler listening
to an enlistment speech.

45.  Excited to fight for
Germany.
 Found a home fighting
for the Fatherland.
 Highest rank held was
corporal.
 Was a regimental
messenger, not an easy
job at all.

46.  Was awarded the Iron Cross
twice. (5 medals overall)
 Highest military honor in
German Army.
 Single handedly captured
four French soldiers.
 Temporarily blinded by gas
attack towards end of war.

47.  Hitler was devastated when he heard the news of
the German surrender.
 He was appalled at the anti-war sentiment among
the German civilians.
 Believed there was an anti-war conspiracy that
involved the Jews and Communists.
 Also, felt that the German military did not lose the
war, but that the politicians (mostly Jews) at home
were responsible for the defeat.

48.  Hitler was depressed after
WW I.
 Still in the army, he became
an undercover agent whose
job was to root out
Communists.
 Also, lectured about the
dangers of Communism and
Jews

49.  Hitler was sent to
investigate the German
Worker’s Party in
Munich in 1919.
 He went to a meeting
and gave a speech.
 They asked him to
become a
member, which he did

50.  Hitler began to think big
for the German Worker’s
Party
 Began placing ads for
meetings in anti-Semitic
newspapers
 Hitler changed the name
to National Socialist
German Worker’s Party
or the NAZIS

51.  Hitler drafted a NAZI
platform of 25 points
 Revoke Versailles Treaty
 Revoke civil rights of Jews
 Confiscate any war
profits
 Besides changing the
party name, the red flag
with the ‘swastika’ was
adopted as the party
symbol

52. The swastika was an ancient
symbol usually associated with
the sun. It is still commonly used
in Buddhist shrines.
Due to incorrect translations in
Sanskrit/German dictionaries Hitler
believed that the swastika was a symbol
that represented the word Swasie which
meant Aryan. This was not the case.

53.  October 30, 1923
 Hitler held a rally in a
Munich beer hall and
declared revolution
 Led 2,000 men in an
attempted take over of
Bavarian Government
 It failed and Hitler was
imprisoned on charges
of treason

54.  At his trial, he used the
opportunity to speak about
the NAZI platform and
spread his popularity.
 The whole nation suddenly
knew who Adolf Hitler was
and what he stood for
 He was sentenced to five
years, but actually only
served about 9 months
 When he left prison, he was
ready to go into action again.

55.  Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf”
(My Struggle) was written
while in jail
 Sold 5 million copies, made him
rich
 Topics included: Jews were
evil, Germans were superior
race, Fuhrer principal, dislike
of Communism and
Democracy and need to
conquer Russia

56.  Used popularity from failed
revolution and book to seize
power legally
 Spoke to mass audiences
about making Germany a
great nation again
 Nazi Party:
 1930 = 18% of vote
 1932 = 30% of vote
 Hitler becomes Chancellor
in 1933

57.  Germany was in the midst of an economic
depression with hyper-inflation
 Hitler was a WW I hero who talked about bringing
glory back to the “Fatherland”
 He promised the rich industrialists that he would
end any communist threat in Germany
 Constantly blamed Jews for Germany’s problems,
not the German people.
 Hitler was an excellent public speaker.

59. HITLER
THE THE
BECAME
REICHSTAG ENABLING
CHANCELLOR
FIRE ACT
OATH OF DEATH OF THE NIGHT
LOYALTY PRESIDENT OF THE
TO HINDENBURG LONG
HITLER KNIVES

60. The depression after the
Wall Street Crash made
many more people vote for
the Nazis. In 1933 Von
Papen convinced
Hindenburg that Hitler
should become Chancellor.
January 1933

61.  Hitler was Chancellor of Germany and only had 2
Nazis in the government: Göring and Frick
 Hitler called for elections hoping for 50% of the votes
 a majority
 Göring was the Prussian Minister of the Interior,
meaning he controlled ⅓ of Germany’s police
 This allowed for the SA to be mostly untouched while
it attacked their opponents
 Hitler did not want competition in the elections, and
may have been behind the Reichstag Fire.

62. February 1933

63.  The Reichstag, the German capitol building, was a symbol of
democracy
 Reichstag elections were to be held in March 1933.
 On the evening of February 27th 1933, the Reichstag was burnt down.
Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, was blamed.
 He was arrested at the Reichstag
 He was carrying matches and firelighters
 He even admitted he was guilty
 Hitler and Göring didn’t believe he acted alone but was part of a
Communist plot
 KPD (Communist party) leaders were put into prison
 The KPD was banned from participating in elections
 There is some evidence to suggest it was the Nazis, Göring in
particular
 The reason being to arrest the KPD and win the elections

64. With the Communists banned from
the Reichstag Hitler was able to pass:
March 1933 HITLER CAN
RULE ALONE
FOR FOUR
YEARS. THERE
IS NO NEED TO
CONSULT THE
REICHSTAG.

65. 1. The Enabling Act 2. Political Parties
 485MPs opposed the Nazis  The KPD was the first to be banned
in the Reichstag with only  In May the SPD was banned
the Nationalists (DNVP) to  In July other parties, even those who
helped Hitler get into power, was banned
support them  A Law Against the Formation of Parties
 The Enabling Act was a was also passed
‘temporary’ act that  Leaders of the parties were put into
concentration camps
allowed Hitler to make any  The first one was opened at Dachau in March 1933
law without the vote of the  150,000 KPD members would end up in camps,
Reichstag 30,000 would die there
 Hitler used the Enabling Act
to ban other political
parties

66. 3. Trade Unions 4. Regional Govt.
 Trade unions were  Germany, founded in 1871, was
associated with made up of Länder, or states
Communism and thus seen  Elected governors run the
as an enemy Länders
 In May all trade unions  Many opposed Hitler
were abolished  In April 1933, Hitler replaced
 Strikes were made illegal the elected governors with
Reich governors  appointed
by Hitler
 All were Nazis

67.  The “Brownshirts” or SA
(Stormtroopers)
 SA was used to put down
opposition parties
 Threatened and beat up
Jews and anti-Nazi voters
 Wore brownshirts, pants
and boots
 Numbered almost 400,000
by 1932

68. Now I have gotten rid of opposition political
groups, I can now deal with opposition in my
party. Ernst Rohm (an old friend), head of
the S.A. is very unpopular with the German
army leaders. They have the power to
June 1934 overthrow me. I’ve been worried about
Rohm for a while, so this is a good excuse.

69.  In the early hours of the 30th of June 1934, Hitler
entered a hotel in the Bavarian resort of Bad
Wiessee, with heavily armed SS
 In the hotel was important members of the SA
who were arrested
 Including Ernst Röhm, the leader of the SA
 They were taken to Munich and shot
 Over the next few days other members were
also arrested and shot
 Including Gregor Strasser
 Up to 200 people were killed including non-Nazis
 Including former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher

70. THE SA THE SS
 Public face of the Nazis  Founded in 1925 as Hitler’s
 Beating up opposition personal bodyguards, they
 Holding large meetings and
demonstrations were technically part of the
 By 1934, there were 2million SA
 Röhm was more socialist and  Himmler wanted to be a
expected wealth to be taken separate organisation
away from the rich
 He also wanted to take over the  Himmler told Hitler that
army which was unpopular with Röhm planned to overthrow
the army him on the evening of the 28th
 He also wanted the SA to be the of June
focus of a National Socialist
Germany  It was after this that the Night
of the Long Knives took place

71. THE ARMY INDUSTRIALISTS
 Dominated by men who had  Many industrialists
fought in the Kaiser’s army in supported Hitler
WW1  Like Fritz Thyssen
 They believed only Hitler
would ignore the Treaty of  They feared communism
Versailles and rearm  They believed only Hitler
 They would become a would destroy communism
powerful and modern army  However, they thought the
under Hitler SA programme looked far
 They were frightened by the
thought they might be taken too much like communism
over by the SA  Like von Papen

72. HITLER GÖRING
 Hitler was in power and he  Hermann Göring was in
wanted to create Lebenraum charge of the arrests and
in the east
 Therefore it was important to assassinations in Berlin
have the support of the army  He was a Nazi hero and
 He also needed the support of
the industrialists was part of the Munich
 They would create wealth to putsch
pay for the army  The removal of important
 They would be able to make
arms/ weapons Nazis like Röhm would
 Hitler only needed the SA to make him more powerful
take part in huge parades and
to impress the public

73.  Many opponents were now dead.
 On the 20th June 1934 the SS was established as
a separate organisation from the SA
 A month later the army swore an oath promising to
be loyal to Hitler rather than to Germany
 Murder had now become a part of government
action
 Hitler had wiped out 200 of his political opponents
and no one stopped him
 Hindenburg backed him and so did the Reichstag
 Hitler justified his actions as he had acted as the
“Supreme Judge of the German People”

74. A final note
August 1934 PRESIDENT HINDENBURG’S
DEATH GAVE HITLER THE
OPPORTUNITY TO COMBINE
THE ROLE OF CHANCELLOR
AND PRESIDENT. HE CALLED
HIMSELF ‘DER FUHRER’.

75.  Only President Hindenburg could sack and
replace Hitler as Chancellor
 Hitler had full control of Germany
 In July 1934 Hindenburg died
 Hitler took over and combined President and
Chancellor into Führer
 On the 2nd of August, the German Army, the last
remaining opposition, wore allegiance to Hitler
as Führer, rather than Germany
 Hitler called Germany the Third Reich, the third
German Empire, which he promised would last
1,000 years at least  it lasted just 12

76. Every soldier swore a personal oath of
loyalty to ADOLF HITLER.

78. HITLER
THE THE
BECAME
REICHSTAG ENABLING
CHANCELLOR
FIRE ACT
OATH OF DEATH OF THE NIGHT
LOYALTY PRESIDENT OF THE
TO HINDENBURG LONG
HITLER KNIVES