Hitler - How He Rose to Power
Hitler - How He Rose to Power
On the 11th November 1918 the Armistice was signed which brought the dreadful Great War to an end. Germany Surrendered to the Allies. The following year the leaders of the Allies met at Versailles to decide how Germany was to be treated. When the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were given out in June most Germans were fuming.
Adolph Hitler left the German army in January 1919. He had spent the last weeks of the war in hospital recovering from gas blindness. He believed that the army had not been defeated but had been stabbed in the back my politicians for accepting the Armistice. When the war ended Hitler got a job working as a spy for the German army. He was sent to a meeting of the German workers party in 1919, which was led by Anton Drexler, who was very anti-Semitic. Hitler joined the party and became its leader in 1921.
Hitler wanted to attract as many people as possible to the party, so he changed the name to National Socialists. He hoped the word “national” would attract people to the party. The National Socialists or Nazis as they began to be called, were very violent they would attack their opponents at meetings and this put many people off. A violent ex-soldier led Hitler’s Private army the S.A.
In 1922 and 1923 Germany was hit by Hyperinflation. This means massive rise in prices, everyone was affected by this. Te confusion caused by the hyperinflation led Adolf Hitler to believe that he could take power in Munich in November 1923. The attempt failed. Hitler believed that the government was so unpopular that Germans would be on his side. Hitler was arrested for high treason. While Hitler was in prison he wrote a book called my struggle, he became very popular with the Germans.
When Hitler left prison he set up a proper political with a national organization. He set up different sections for the party teachers, women and children. He appointed Josef Goebbels as head of propaganda.
On 3rd October Gustav Stresemann died. On the 24th of October Wall Street, the American stock exchange crashed. This caused thousands loss of jobs. There was bad employment. From 1929 support for the Nazis grew steadily.
The nazi party was well organised and had the support of Alfred Hugenberg who was a millionaire and owned 53 newspapers. Hitler said the depression...