The Nazis Rise to Power

Hello readers! I've been very motivated lately to continue posting on this blog regularly, so let's get right to it. 

The Nazis are a group that everyone is familiar with, but I thought I would write this post as an informed piece about what exactly the Nazi Party was and what they did.

Origins

Adolf Hitler, a WWI army veteran, was frustrated by Germany's defeat in the war and by its harsh treatment in the Treaty of Versailles and joined a political organization in 1919 called the German Workers' Party. Founded earlier in 1919, the German Workers' Party promoted German nationalism and anti-Semitism. Hitler emerged as a very charismatic public speaker and attracted new members with his speeches blaming Jews and Marxists for Germany's problems as well ass speaking about extreme nationalism and the concept of an Aryan master race. In July 1921, Hitler assumed leadership of the party, which had been renamed the Nationalist Socialist German Workers' Party, or the Nazi Party for short. 

Throughout the 1920s, Hitler gave numerous inflamatory speeches in which he stated that the issues of unemployment, inflation, hunger, and overall economic stagnation in postwar Germany would continue unless there was a total revolution in the country. Hitler claimed that most of the country's issues could be solved if the communists and Jews were driven out of the country. Hitler's speeches quickly gained the Nazi Party popularity and allowed its ranks to swell, especially among young, economically disadvantaged youths and former army officers.

Beer Hall Putsch

In 1923, Hitler and his followers ssstaged the Beer Hall Putsch, which was a failed coup d'etat of the Bavarian goverment. Hitler had hoped that the coup would spark the flame of a larger revolution against the natioonal government. Instead, Hitler was charged with treason and served less than one year of a five year sentence in prison in which he famously wrote the first volume of Mein Kampf, or My Struggle, his political autobiography. The publicity surrounding the Beer Hall Putsch and Hitler's subsequent emprisonment and trial turned him into a national figure. Hitler set about rebuilding the Nazi Party after his release, and would attempt to gain national popularity through the entering of elections.

Hitler and the Nazis Come to Power

In 1929, Germany entered a period of economic depression, as much of the world did at the time. The Nazis utilized the situation as a means to gain power--they outwardly criticized the ruling government and began to win elections. In the 1932 elections, they secured over one-third of the seats in the Reichstag, or German parliament; in 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor and his Nazi Party soon gained control of every aspect of Gernamn life.

Under the Nazi Party, all other political parties were banned. The Nazis opened their first concentration camp in 1933 in Dachau, Germany as a means to hold political prisoners. Dachau evolved into a death camp where thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease, overwork, or were executed. In addition to the Jews, the camp also held prisoners who were members of other groups Hitler considered unfit for the new Germany--artists, intellectuals, Gypsies, physically and mentally handicapped individuals, and homosexuals.

Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933-1939

Once Hitler gained control of the government, he directed Nazi Germany's foreign policy towards undoing the Treaty of Versailles and restoring Germany's standing in the world. Hitler was extremely outspoken about how the Treaty of Versailles separated Germans from Germans by creating new postwar states such as Austria and Czechhoslovakia. This bit of information will come into play momentarily.

Germany under Hitler undermined the terms established in the treaty multiple times. He withdrew Germany from the League of Nations in 1933; he rebuilt the German armed forces beyond what was permitted by the treaty; he invaded parts of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and reoccupied the German Rhineland between 1936 and 1939, and would invade Poland in 1939. As a result of Germany’s invasion of Poland, France and Britain would declare war against the nation.

That’s all for now, everyone. Next time here on The Half-Pint Historian Blog we will examine the actions the Nazis took to dominate Europe between 1939 and 1945.