Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Hitler's Rise to Power
After World War 1, Germany had lost the war and signed the Treaty of Versailles that made Germany take responsibility for starting the war, reduce their army to almost 100,000 soldiers with no navy or air force, Germany was forced to pay to the nations who won the war, and not being able to join the League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles was unfair towards the German people who were going through their own version of the Great Depression in Germany. Adolf Hitler joined the German Workers Party which would later change its name to National Socialist German Workers Party commonly known today as the Nazi Party. Hitler used Germany's economic crisis to rise to power and appealed to those who were suffering from the crisis that was caused by the United States who would loan Germany money to help pay the Allies debt after World War 1. The United States gave money to Germany so that they could get out of debt to pay France and Britain which then could lead to France and Britain paying the money they owe to the US. Due to Great Depression in the US, money was not being given to Germany and the people there were going through their own economic crisis similar to the US where people were losing their jobs. As a result, Hitler believed that the crisis was a right time for him and the Nazi Party to step in power. The party appealed to people who were poor and unemployed as they wanted change through reforms, which would help his party win. He would soon become the chancellor of Germany and would be responsible for the start of World War 2.
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It's interesting to see how the end to the War to End All Wars would be the start of the second World War if not ironic. Because the Nazi party appealed to people's frustrations and preexisting prejudices at a heightened time, to what extent would lowering the reparations have eased tensions and possibly prevented the war? Also, if economic crisis allowed the Nazi's to first gain popularity, what was it that allowed them to stay in power and then lead a country into a war based in radical idealism?
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note that Hitler appeared confident and powerful in his abilities to restore order in Germany. His speeches were defiant and persuasive, which led to him being chosen easily as leader. But if the Germans had known what his plans were, would they have been more cautious and selected a different leader? Although Germany was going through a depression as well, they would not have wanted to go through another war (even though wars do create jobs).
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I feel like people back then were easily persuaded by these power authorities. Like Mr. Stewart has mentioned, people didn't really think more deeply about the decisions that political figures make: they mostly just go along to whatever things that they can relate to the most on the surface, rather than think more cautiously about whether their words were flawed or not. In the example of Hitler, the Germans, at the time of the Depression period, only wanted to get the peace back and be able to have a stable economy, so whatever Hitler has said about doing exactly that would appeal to the people, regardless of it's potential to become true or not.
DeletePeople usually vote for the person that appeals to them emotionally the most. People do not usually listen to logic that conflicts with their previous beliefs. This is why Hitler gained so much support. People believed their problems were caused by Jewish people instead of the government failing.
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