World War Two Rise of Hitler
James Sterrett
First Draft of World War II Paper about Hitler’s Rise to Power
UMD
World War Two
Blog Post Article for Sterrettjames.com
World War Two History Blog Post: Hitler’s Rise
Hitler was one of the most evil people in history; he did unforgivable things. Hitler rose to power due to class resentment that made the working class of Germany heavily support Hitler and his policies. He rose to power because of the debt after World War One’s peace treaty, which made Germany go heavily into debt to allied powers. The debt owed to American investors burdened Germany even as Germany was building up its economy and helping its people. Hitler rose in Germany because a crashing German economy toppled the Weimar Economy. Hitler rose to power during World War Two because of class dysfunction/resentment, because of heavy German debt, a crashing economy, and resentment from the first World War Treaty.
Hitler rose to power due to class resentment from the working class of Germany, who started disfavoring the Weimar Republic and started supporting Hitler. Hitler rose to power due to increasing political apathy in Germany in the 1930’s.#_ftn1 Another factor that led to his rise was the fact that many Germans supported Hitler for helping the German people’s daily lives.#_ftn2 He actively worked to improve their conditions. Hitler also destroyed opposition parties, according to Detlev J. K. Peukert.#_ftn3 The National Socialists were the Nazi Party. According to the primary sources, KdF events were very popular in Germany; they were part of the fascist growth. The research views the KdF as “one of National Socialism's greatest achievements.”#_ftn4 This is important because it shows that the National Socialists were politically savvy and led strong political campaigns that contributed to their rise. This meant that Hitler and the National Socialists had preplanned or researched their rise to power. Hitler designed and led a coordinated, intelligent, savvy, and horrifying rise to power. Hitler used his power to help the German working class, who thereafter supported him and looked away at his atrocities. Hitler’s rise was partially caused by broader economic shifts in Germany, in Europe, and even in the entire world.
Hitler rose to power due to economic conditions in Germany that caused mass poverty and mass suffering. Hitler came to power due to extremely high inflation in Germany in the early 1920’s that caused millions of Germans to lose their life savings#_ftn5. Germany faced hyperinflation, which is when inflation rises at a devastatingly high rate; this caused economic collapse in Germany and widespread poverty in Germany.#_ftn6 In 1924, Germany released a new currency, the Reichsmark. This new currency recovered Germany's economic standing and helped Germany recover from the economic crises. However, this also contributed to Hitler’s rise to power. It contributed to Hitler’s rise to power because it influenced how Germany's economy was structured, which helped Hitler take power for himself. Hitler was able to have more power of the German currency and also allowed him more power over the German economy later when he took power.
Hitler took power partially because of the World War I treaty that caused Germany to fall into heavy debt. Hitler took advantage of the fact that the WWI peace treaty greatly burdened Germany unfairly and contributed to World War Two. That particular treaty was the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles heavily burdened Germany with debt, took land from Germany, blamed them for WWI, humiliated them, and dismantled their military. The Treaty of Versailles caused the German economy to collapse.#_ftn7 The Treaty of Versailles also humiliated the Germans, which caused resentment in Germany that led to severe toxic nationalism. Germany also fell into debt because of American investors lending to Germany, and sometimes they eventually could not pay the debt back. Germany’s Weimar Republic collapsed because of Hitler gaining secure economic, political, military, and social power.#_ftn8
The Weimar Republic collapsed due to heavy investments from America that the Germans could not pay back. The Germans had heavy amounts of loans from American investments that were used to build, infrastructure: like roads, bridges and airports, Pleasantries like: parks, school’s stadiums, fields and other amusements. These investments temporarily made Germany the envy of the world for its citizens; however, the debt quickly popped, and it quickly collapsed. Additionally, Germany collapsed quickly because of economic conditions and heavy amounts of debt.
Germany was infiltrated (Hitler was Austrian), influenced, and then led by Hitler because of Hitler’s cunning, brutality, cruelty, and evil. Hitler quickly took economic, political, military, and cultural control over Germany. Hitler \’s rise to power was caused by social, economic, class, and nationalistic conditions/ reasons that caused massive changes/ upheaval that benefited Hitler. Hitler was one of the most evil men of all time; however, he was liked by some of the working-class Germans due to his policies that helped the German working class. Additionally, the Germans already were extremely resentful of the Allies after World War I, and nationalism was quickly increasing in Germany.
Bibliography:
Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Hastings, Max. Inferno: The World at War, 1939–1945. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
Hawes, James. The Shortest History of Germany: From Julius Caesar to Angela Merkel—A Retelling for Our Times. New York: The Experiment, 2019.
Hett, Benjamin Carter. The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2018.
Moeller, Robert G. The Nazi State and German Society: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010.
Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. 50th anniversary ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011.
Footnotes
#_ftnref1 Robert G. Moeller, The Nazi State and German Society: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010), [pg. 53].
#_ftnref2 Moeller, Nazi State and German Society, [pg. 53]
#_ftnref3 Moeller, Nazi State and German Society, [Pg. 53].
#_ftnref4 Moeller, Nazi State and German Society, [Pg. 55].
#_ftnref5 James Hawes, The Shortest History of Germany: From Julius Caesar to Angela Merkel—A Retelling for Our Times (New York: The Experiment, 2019), [pg. 154].
#_ftnref6 Hawes, Shortest History of Germany, [pg. 155].
#_ftnref7 Mary Fulbrook, A Concise History of Germany, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), [pg. 48]
#_ftnref8 Benjamin Carter Hett, The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2018), Chapter One
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