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Hitler and the
Nazi Party
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Government and Law
Assignment
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Tim Armstrong
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How Did Hitler Rise To Power?
Hitler’s political career started 1920’s
when he joined a political party that would later become the Nazi Party.
Hitler was sent to prison for trying to over
throw the government when taking to the streets. He was sentenced to five years
but only served eight months. In prison he plotted his plan to take over the
Nazi Party.
Hitler was one of the best
speakers of the party and he asked other party members to make him leader.
Hitler showed very good political knowledge and was made head of
propaganda in 1920.
Hitler was such
a good political speaker that by the end of the year the party membership
numbers reached 2,000 by the end of the year from 117 the previous year.
In
1928 the party only has 12 seats which was only 2.8% of the vote. With such as
poor result, Hitler decided to write a second book to better describe his goals
to the German public. At the end of that same year the party membership numbers
had reached 130 000. In 1931 street
fights and violence were becoming increasingly common. Inflation was high and
Hitler saw this as the perfect time to seize control of Germany. In the next
election Hitler had 13 million votes but this was not enough to take control of
Germany so he had to strike an agreement with another leader and form two parts
of the party.
Shortly
after this Hitler got the power of the military on his side and organise the
killing of many political powers on both sides to make way for himself as
leader. This was known as the night of the long knives. The army killed over 70
men on the condition that they would have control over a certain section of the
power.
Surprisingly Hitler did not try to cover this up and made a
public speech on why he had done it and the army applauded despite some of
their men also being killed.
Hitler
became the dictator of Germany in 1933.
Important
People In Hitler’s Campaign
Joseph
Goebbels
Goebbels was a German politician is famous for his role in
Hitler’s Campaign. He was the minister of propaganda for Hitler and was well
known for his speaking and anti-semitism beliefs. Goebbels was also a big
organiser of attacks on Jews throughout his time with Hitler. He helped
organise the first attack which was a boycott of Jewish businessmen, doctors,
and lawyers.
Goebbels joined
the party at 27 (1924) once Hitler had been imprisoned. However once Hitler’s
power had been firmly established Goebbels wanted to leave the party but Hitler
wouldn’t let him. After a series of events Goebbels attempted suicide but
failed. Goebbels was originally a poor man but using the Nazi Party he had made
lots of money due to the corruption in the Nazi Party.
Heinrich
Himmler
Himmler
was the leader of the SS and was high within the military and Hitler’s ranks.
He also saw himself as part of the police.
He
overlooked concentration camps and extermination camps and killed over 6
million Jews and many prisoners of war.
Important
Places in Hitler’s Campaign
Führer Headquarters
The
FHQ was one of the headquarters for the Nazi WW2 operation with Adolf Hitler
and many other German generals and commanders also visiting and using it.
Hitler actually spent very little time in Berlin so this location was mainly
used by commanders. It was fully operational there would have been guards,
bunkers, safety rooms and offices.
Führerbunker
This
location is one of the most famous throughout Hitler’s campaign because it is
where the Nazi operation was run from for the last week of the war. It is also
where Hitler and his wife of only 40 hours committed suicide together when the
enemy was 500 metres away.
Wolf's
Lair
Wolf's
Lair was one of Hitler’s most visited
compounds. It was located on the eastern front and was built in the middle of a
forest for protection. Hitler in total spent about 800 days at that compound.
Hitler left 2 days before the complex was going to be destroyed by the
enemy. Wolf's Lair was also a location
of a Hitler assassination attempt where a bomb was put inside a brief case in a
room where Hitler and his generals were meeting. Hitler survived because one of
his generals moved the brief case to the other side of the table because it was
in his way.
Nazi
Political Propaganda
Adolf Hitler knew the power of good
propaganda and decided that Joseph Goebbels would lead it. The purpose of
propaganda is to make your party look superior to others and to convince the
public that you are doing the right thing and that they should vote for you or
let you do it. Propaganda is also meant to block out any bad stuff said about
the party. This is exactly what Joseph Goebbels did.
Hitler controlled the media and if you wanted to make art, music, radio, film or newspaper articles you had to agree to the Nazi Party terms and conditions or there would be severe punishments. There was a system of censorship in place everything you read or heard about the Nazi Party was what they wanted you to hear. Everything was tightly controlled and a lot of the public generally believed it.
Hitler was also good at getting his message out. Goebbels and Hitler
made cheap radios available for sale so everyone could hear him. Big speakers
were installed on the street and cafes and other such places were ordered to
play his speeches.
Important Events
Enabling Act
The enabling act of 1933 was very helpful to Hitler as it made him a
dictator. It enabled him to pass laws without having to involve the Reichstag.
The act was to only law four years but it was renewed twice.
Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland was very much the start of WW2 and WW2 would be
the biggest war in the history of the world involving 100 million military men
and women. Once Poland was invaded France declared war on Germany and subsequently
the most of the British Empire and Commonwealth were involved.
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer
Hall Putsch was an attempt at revolution which occurred on the 8th
and 9th of November 1923. Hitler and others tried to seize power in
Munich, Bavaria and Germany. The attempt failed when the police started
shooting at people and Hitler was forced to leave with everyone else. Hitler
was sentenced to five years but only served eight months.
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf was Hitler’s first book and was an autobiography as well as
his political ideology. The book was written from his cell in Germany where he
was serving his five years. The book had sold 240,000 copies by 1933 and 10
million by the end of the war.
How Hitler’s Rise to Power
Affected People’s Lives.
As evil
as Hitler may be, his political tactics were very good. Throughout the war his
propaganda had many people convinced what was really happening outside Germany.
The tight media control had people believe what Hitler said.
Hitler would use people in positions of power and then get them on his
side. Once he had enough support internally he would simply say that your
services were no longer need and you would be out. He undermined many people of
strong political and social power causing him to have good links when the war
broke out.
Bibliography
Mein
Kampf. (2011, September 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
08:31, September 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mein_Kampf&oldid=448925089
Beer Hall
Putsch. (2011, September 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
08:27, September 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beer_Hall_Putsch&oldid=448802715
World War
II. (2011, September 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:21,
September 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_War_II&oldid=448958559
Enabling
Act of 1933. (2011, August 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
08:15, September 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Enabling_Act_of_1933&oldid=443992658
Führerbunker.
(2011, September 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:07,
September 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F%C3%BChrerbunker&oldid=448057977
Wolf's
Lair. (2011, August 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:05,
September 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wolf%27s_Lair&oldid=447158965
Führer
Headquarters. (2011, September 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 07:11, September 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F%C3%BChrer_Headquarters&oldid=448051603
Joseph
Goebbels. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 08, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels
Night of
the Long Knives. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 07, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
1933, M.
(n.d.). Propaganda in Nazi Germany. History Learning Site.
Retrieved September 06, 2011, from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/propaganda_in_nazi_germany.htm
W. (n.d.).
Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 04, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_rise_to_power
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