Germany, Hitler and World War1

Introduction

There are many reasons persons state as to why the nazi party was created and what some of the causes were. Throughout the length of my paper I am going to interpret and talk about some of the foremost topics that could have commanded to the increase of Nazism in Germany, such as the treaty of Versailles and some of the restrictions that were put on Germany, the decrease of the war, and the Weimar Republic. These are just some of the causes that are going to be looked at and discussed. Germany's beating in World conflict One made political, economic and communal fall in the Weimar Republic and commanded to the rise of the nationwide Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) or Nazi party.

Analysis

In the years of Hitler's rule in Germany some dramatic changes took place in both political and social areas of German life. Some of these developments were genuinely revolutionary and had significant effects on people's lives. However, most of the changes made by the Nazis could not be fully described as “revolutionary” as they affected particular sections of society, rather than the state as a whole (Deist, 102-112).

When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, his political stance could be viewed on the surface as revolutionary simply in comparison to the Weimar Republic which existed previously. The Weimar Republic consisted of a weak coalition government which caused its policies and ideals to be hazy and unclear. Hitler emerged as a strong leader with clear-cut ideas and in this way he offered the country guidance, in contrast to the ineffective Weimar government. Hitler introduced a new political order to Germany. In February 1933 he used Article 48, an emergency decree, to pass the Law for the Protection of the People and the State. This was a drastic and revolutionary political measure which suspended constitutional civil rights, gave secret police power to hold people indefinitely in custody and repressed the KPD in Germany. This stayed in place throughout the Third Reich and in effect, was its' basic law (Kershaw, pp.108-130).

An extremely significant political act was the Enabling Law of 1933 which in effect made Hitler a totalitarian dictator. It gave him the right to pass laws without consulting any other members of government. More drastic political measures followed to give Hitler complete control of the state. These included the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service which meant that administration, courts, schools and universities were to be purged of “alien elements.” This was referring to Jews and political opponents of Nazism. The Law Against the Formation of New Political Parties was extremely significant and revolutionary as it created a one party state. Germans could now not exercise their own individual political beliefs (Kershaw, pp.108-130).

These measures are certainly drastic, but in some cases, there were limitations to Hitler's' political position. The Nazi Party surprisingly only managed to gain 44% of the March 1933 election and in an attempt to gain a parliamentary majority, Hitler is ...