Hitler

1
Hitlers Rise to Power
2
November 11 1918, Germany agreed to an ARMISTICE
or peace agreement.
3

• Hitler at this time was in hospital blinded by
  mustard gas. He was furious that the armistice
  had been signed.
• STAB IN THE BACK idea that the German army had
  been betrayed by NOVEMBER CRIMINALS , the
  politicians who had signed the Armistice.

4
TREATY OF VERSAILLES

• The terms of the TREATY OF VERSAILLES
• taking away 14 of German territory.
• placing restrictions on the German armed forces
• making them accept the blame for the war (the WAR
  GUILT clause).
• Germany was forced to pay massive REPARATIONS
  (compensation) for the damage caused during the
  war

5

• Hitler returned to Germany a bitter man. In 1919
  he joined a small right-wing group called the
  German workers party or DAP.
• They later changed the name of the party to
  National Socialist German Workers Party or NSDAP
  (NAZIS)
• In 1920 they published a 25 point programme which
  outlined their beliefs.

6

• Germany was finding it difficult to pay the
  6600m pounds reparations in 1922 Germany stopped
  paying. In 1923 the French entered the RUHR
  region of Germany to enforce the payment of
  reparations.

7

• In the early 1920s Germany suffered serious
  HYPERINFLATION. This meant that the German
  currency was worth next to nothing.

8
The Munich Putsch, 1923

• Hitler attempted to seize power by force. He
  stormed into a beerhall meeting in Munich and
  declared a national revolution. The putsch
  failed.

9

• Hitler was arrested and imprisoned. From his
  prison he wrote Mein Kampf meaning my
  struggle.

10
The Golden Years 1925-28

• Under GUSTAV STRESEMAN (German Chancellor and
  then Foreign Minister) Germany recovered from the
  hyperinflation.
• This was helped by the DAWES PLAN which set
  reparations payments at a fixed annual rate.

11

• The WALL STREET CRASH of October 1929 hit Germany
  hard. Streseman had borrowed large sums of money
  from USA and now Germany had to pay it back.

• Germany suffered immensely during the DEPRESSION.
  By 1932, 6 million people were out of work.

12

• The Nazi party put themselves forward as the
  party that could get people back into work and
  restore German pride.
• They also looked like the party of order and
  discipline, using the SA (stormtroopers or
  brownshirts) to parade through the streets and
  intimidate or beat up opponents.
• ERNST ROEHM (right) led the SA and was a key
  figure in the Nazi party.

13
Success in the elections

• In the 1930 election the Nazis won 107 seats in
  the Reichstag. In July 1932 they won 230 seats.
• These successes led Hitler to stand for President
  but he lost to von Hindenburg who was re-elected
  by 19 million votes to 13 million

14
Hitler becomes Chancellor

• Hitlers fortunes changed when Franz von Papen
  persuaded von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as
  CHANCELLOR.
• Hindenburg (left) was assured that Hitler could
  be kept under control and so appointed him as
  Chancellor in 1933.

15
The Reichstag Fire

• Hitler immediately called for a general election.
  Six days before the election, the Reichstag
  building caught fire.
• A communist supporter, Marinus van der Lubbe was
  arrested and charged. The Nazis used the fire as
  the perfect propaganda weapon to blame the
  communists.

16

• At the next election, the Nazis won enough seats
  to dominate the Reichstag.
• Hitler filled the building with Brownshirts and
  forced through the ENABLING ACT which gave him
  the power to rule as a dictator for four years.

17
The Totalitarian State

• Hitler then used the Gestapo (the secret police),
  and concentration camps, run by the SS to get rid
  of any opposition.
• He also made sure that any risk to his own
  personal power was removed. On the 29 June 1934,
  Hitler had Roehm and 400 SA members murdered in
  the NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES

18

• When Hindenburg died soon afterwards, Hitler
  merged the positions of President and Chancellor
  and declared himself Fuhrer (leader).