“I know that men are won over less by the written than by the spoken word, that every great movement on this earth owes its growth to great orators and not to great writers,” Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1925. (Macias, 2015). Hitler’s greatest weapon, was not his strength nor his size, but it was his voice. He delivered over 5,000 persuasive speeches to sway the German people to help him in his quest to return the ‘motherland’ back to her once and future glory. “My whole life can be summed up as this ceaseless effort of mine to persuade other people.” (Rees, 2012). Throughout the entirety of his rise to Germany’s supreme leader, Hitler used his voice to persuade people, he inspired people and he rallied people. For example, in his speech to the SS he rallied his Secret Soldiers to get the German people behind him because Germany had awoken. Hitler’s political skill and policies discussed were key in his rise to power, but once Hitler gained power he didn’t have anyone to answer to, he owned Germany. Hitler won power in Germany through pure cunning. At the time of former president Paul von Hindenburg’s death in 1932, Hitler was supreme chancellor but by gaining the presidency he gained ultimate power of Germany meaning that he had no one to answer too. What also helped his cause was the initiative of the Enabling Act. This gave Hitler the power to use his authority …show more content…
During his rise to his dictatorship, Hitler instilled fear into the German people through terror. Hitler’s SA, abbreviation of Sturmabteilung (German: “Assault Division”), by name Storm Troopers or Brownshirts were employed to violently intimidate people who were a key threat in Hitler’s rise to power. (History Learning Site, 2016). These men were typically drunken thugs who Hitler employed to undertake violent tasks that he could not as it would throw his political life into turmoil. In particular, these men would assault Hitler’s political opponents. (History Learning Site, 2016). These men would also act in unviolent tasks, they would protect political meetings and they would march in the pro-Nazi rallies. These SA soldiers were the first real use of terror from Hitler. “It will be one of the most important tasks of the Movement to declare a relentless battle against the destroyers of people's power of resistance and to wage the battle until they are utterly annihilated or subdued.” (Overy, 2004). Hitler used these men in his policy of terror to both intimidate and reduce his opposition which lead to his ascension to power in Germany. Hitler not only used terror to ascend himself into power but to also consolidate it. The Night of the Long Knives was the