Smithies notes on the impact of the Depression
The depression played a very significant role in bringing the Nazi party to power by creating the social situation within Germany that created a desire for political change. Up until 1928, Germany had enjoyed a time of peace and stability under Stresemann. Democracy, finally appeared to be working and “the standard of living in Germany was higher than in any other European nation”. However, when the depression hit Germany, it hit very hard. Germany’s time of stability had been funded by international loans, particularly American loans, and with the depression these loans not only stopped but repayment was now being demanded. World trade slumped and businesses began to close. By the end of 1932, there were nearly 6 million unemployed and many more underpaid in Germany. Furthermore, the government adopted a deflationary policy which meant cutting government expenditure and increasing taxes to try and meet their payments and balance their budget. All of this created massive social hardship and led the people to desire political change. Many people remembered the hyperinflation of 1923 and the suffering that went with that and essentially associated democracy with economic poverty. Many people saw themselves in desperate times and looked to desperate measures to get them out of it. The Nazi party was one such desperate measure that more people were now looking to in order to get them out of their social hardship. In this way, the social hardship brought about by the depression provided the perfect environment for the Nazi party to promote themselves as the political change needed within Germany. The other problem was that the communists were also becoming more popular. Essentially, people were looking to radical solutions. The fact that people were turning to communism created great fear in the established politicians and social leaders. This fear of communism was also a significant factor in them making some of the decisions they did which ultimately allowed the Nazis to come to power. The next paragraph will explain those decisions in more detail.
The second major impact of the depression in helping to bring the Nazi party to power was the way it encouraged the current political leaders to make certain changes which opened the door for the Nazi party. President Hindenburg was forced by the depression into taking a more active role in politics and at 83 years of age he turned to a close circle of men for assistance. These men were generally conservative, right wing (often anti democracy) figures who preferred the idea of a return to the days of strong authoritarian leadership with a rightward persuasion. The political manoeuvring at this stage is complex, but essentially the governments brought in by Hindenburg were operating only due to the power Hindenburg had through article 48 of the constitution. When Chancellor Bruning’s budget was implemented against the wishes of the Reichstag by the use of article 48 in 1930 the Reichstag passed a vote of no confidence in Bruning. He responded by getting the President to dissolve the Reichstag and call new elections. With the economic woes, this was the perfect opportunity for extremist parties like the Nazis to flourish and Hitler took full advantage in campaigning hard and winning 107 seats in the Reichstag compared with the 12 they held previously. The political manoeuvring continued, Schleicher organised for the Reichstag to be dissolved again and elections were held once again in July 1932. Again, this played right into the hands of the Nazi party who once again campaigned fiercely and increased their number of seats in the Reichstag to 230 thus becoming the largest party in the Reichstag. Elections were held again in November by which time the Nazis were running short of money. Although they lost some ground in these elections, the damage had already been done. By this stage, the Nazis were too strong to be ignored and von Papen, looking for a right wing party with popular support, convinced Hindenburg that he could control Hitler if Hitler was given the chancellorship. Hitler was made Chancellor by Hindenburg on 30th January 1933. Gordon Craig points out that Hindenburg and his military politicians liked to operate through agents rather than boldly take control themselves. “This is a difficult game at best and they weren’t very good at it”, eventually, “their last agent, Hitler, became their master”. So from this we see the way the Depression pushed Hindenburg and his friends to become more active in political decision making and the decisions they made opened the door for Hitler to gain power.
The depression played a very significant role in bringing the Nazi party to power by creating the social situation within Germany that created a desire for political change. Up until 1928, Germany had enjoyed a time of peace and stability under Stresemann. Democracy, finally appeared to be working and “the standard of living in Germany was higher than in any other European nation”. However, when the depression hit Germany, it hit very hard. Germany’s time of stability had been funded by international loans, particularly American loans, and with the depression these loans not only stopped but repayment was now being demanded. World trade slumped and businesses began to close. By the end of 1932, there were nearly 6 million unemployed and many more underpaid in Germany. Furthermore, the government adopted a deflationary policy which meant cutting government expenditure and increasing taxes to try and meet their payments and balance their budget. All of this created massive social hardship and led the people to desire political change. Many people remembered the hyperinflation of 1923 and the suffering that went with that and essentially associated democracy with economic poverty. Many people saw themselves in desperate times and looked to desperate measures to get them out of it. The Nazi party was one such desperate measure that more people were now looking to in order to get them out of their social hardship. In this way, the social hardship brought about by the depression provided the perfect environment for the Nazi party to promote themselves as the political change needed within Germany. The other problem was that the communists were also becoming more popular. Essentially, people were looking to radical solutions. The fact that people were turning to communism created great fear in the established politicians and social leaders. This fear of communism was also a significant factor in them making some of the decisions they did which ultimately allowed the Nazis to come to power. The next paragraph will explain those decisions in more detail.
The second major impact of the depression in helping to bring the Nazi party to power was the way it encouraged the current political leaders to make certain changes which opened the door for the Nazi party. President Hindenburg was forced by the depression into taking a more active role in politics and at 83 years of age he turned to a close circle of men for assistance. These men were generally conservative, right wing (often anti democracy) figures who preferred the idea of a return to the days of strong authoritarian leadership with a rightward persuasion. The political manoeuvring at this stage is complex, but essentially the governments brought in by Hindenburg were operating only due to the power Hindenburg had through article 48 of the constitution. When Chancellor Bruning’s budget was implemented against the wishes of the Reichstag by the use of article 48 in 1930 the Reichstag passed a vote of no confidence in Bruning. He responded by getting the President to dissolve the Reichstag and call new elections. With the economic woes, this was the perfect opportunity for extremist parties like the Nazis to flourish and Hitler took full advantage in campaigning hard and winning 107 seats in the Reichstag compared with the 12 they held previously. The political manoeuvring continued, Schleicher organised for the Reichstag to be dissolved again and elections were held once again in July 1932. Again, this played right into the hands of the Nazi party who once again campaigned fiercely and increased their number of seats in the Reichstag to 230 thus becoming the largest party in the Reichstag. Elections were held again in November by which time the Nazis were running short of money. Although they lost some ground in these elections, the damage had already been done. By this stage, the Nazis were too strong to be ignored and von Papen, looking for a right wing party with popular support, convinced Hindenburg that he could control Hitler if Hitler was given the chancellorship. Hitler was made Chancellor by Hindenburg on 30th January 1933. Gordon Craig points out that Hindenburg and his military politicians liked to operate through agents rather than boldly take control themselves. “This is a difficult game at best and they weren’t very good at it”, eventually, “their last agent, Hitler, became their master”. So from this we see the way the Depression pushed Hindenburg and his friends to become more active in political decision making and the decisions they made opened the door for Hitler to gain power.