Hitler had many characteristics, which appealed to the public. One of these was his power in public speaking, as he projected his voice with passion and gave the Germans …show more content…
Hitler hijacked a local government meeting and he wanted to take control of Bavaria. Hitler was joined by Ludendorf and Nazis storm troopers began taking over official buildings. A consequence of this was that the following day the Weimar government reacted and the police killed sixteen Nazis. Hitler managed to escape, however he was arrested and charged with treason. His arrest was important in contributing to the rise of the Nazis because even though the Munich Putsch resulted in a disaster for Hitler (as he failed), Hitler gained enormous publicity throughout his trial. Newspapers wrote his every word and Hitler effectively communicated his beliefs through them. Another reason as to why it helped the Nazis was because during his time in prison, Hitler wrote a book called “Mein Kampf”, in which he wrote about his ideas. But not only this, Hitler also realized that he would be unable to gain the support of the whole public through rebellion and would therefore try constitutional means. As a result he set up the Hitler Youth, The SS, a network or local Nazi parties etc. This helped gain support for the …show more content…
However, I do believe that it was in fact the impact of the Great Depression, which was the most important factor. I believe this because of the following: Hitler was a good public speaker, which meant that by 1923 he had given the Nazis a high profile, however, they still remained a minority party because by the elections in May 1924, they only got 32 seats. In addition to this, after all of the propaganda, publicity of the Munich Putsch arrest and his attempt to rebuild the Nazi system so that it could gain power while still following the democratic system, they only had the support of less than 3% of the population. This means that Hitler and Nazi policies helped the Nazis come a long way, but they were not close to coming to power. Then there is the impact of the Treaty of Versailles, which stirred disagreement within the public and Ebert’s government and led to more rebellions. It also made the Weimar government face problems (such as hyperinflation), which proved to the public that the Weimar Constitution did not create a strong government. This helped in getting more support for the Nazis, but the Nazis were still far from getting the majority of the publics interest. I therefore believe that it was the Great Depression and its impact on the German economy which really helped the Nazis come to power. It led to problems such as unemployment, which the Weimar government simply could