Rise of Hitler

A brief analysis of Post World War 1 Germany and How it became a breeding ground for Hitler

Many people say World War II started on 1st September 1939 when Adolf Hitler (Fuhrer of Germany) ordered the German Military to invade Poland but it started way back before that.

The year was 1918 and the day was 11th November, the first world war was officially over. Germany had signed the Armistice with the Allied Powers, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, that ended the war. French Marshal Ferdinand Foch prepared the Armistice. An Armistice is a little different from A Surrender as in an Armistice both sides agree to stop the fighting whereas in a Surrender there is a clear winner and a loser. After the armistice, it was clear that Germany and the Central Powers namely the Ottoman Empire ( today’s Turkey) and Austria-Hungary had lost the war. So to ensure that such a bloody war never happened again, the Allied and central power leaders met in the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France and on 28th June 1919, they finished and Signed the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was very harsh on Germany for instance Germany had to sign a War Guilt clause under which Germany was required to disarm, make ample territorial concessions and pay reparations to namely UK, USA and France. The total cost of reparations was 132 billion marks (USD 31.4 billion at that time) which is now equivalent to 442 billion dollars. Many important Industrial areas like the Rhineland and The Ruhr region were taken away from Germany.

Germany was only allowed to have an Army of no more than 100,000 troops with no Air Force or Navy. Germany was hit very hard. The German Monarch Kaiser Wilhelm II was abducted. The Weimar Republic was formed under the Weimar constitution and Monarchy was abolished in Germany. There was a sense of defeat in the German people. The German economy toppled, the banking systems crashed, and unemployment hit a record high in Germany. Then there was a rising threat from Bolshevik Communists in Russia establishing a political force, the Spartan’s League to topple the Weimar Republic.

In the early 1920s, The Weimar Republic (Germany) was forced to adhere to the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. There was a ‘War Guilt’ Clause in the Treaty, under which Germany had to pay 6.6 billion pounds,(now roughly equivalent to US$442 billion) to the allied powers. Due to the payment of war reparations, the whole German Banking system collapsed. In response to this Germany started printing more currency and the result of this was a situation of extreme Hyperinflation (erosion of the Real value of the currency at a very fast rate), for example, a loaf of Bread in Berlin cost around 160 marks in 1922 cost 200,000,000,000 marks by the end of 1923. One US Dollar in 1923 was equal to 4,210,500,000,000 marks. This further contributed to the ongoing political disorder.

In 1924, the US government came to the rescue of Germany, by forcing France to vacate the Ruhr region of Germany (which it under during the Treaty of Versailles). This gave Germany an economic boom and also Germany was loaned $200,000,000 by the US Government. This resulted in the revival of Coal and steel industry in Germany and the transferring of the Reparations burden on the heads of American bond investors. France was very dependent on German coal so German Industrialists reduced coal exports to France which in turn led to the Hobble of the French Steel Industry. But this growth was short-lived.

On 29th October 1929, the wall street collapsed. In a single day, more than 26 billion dollars were wiped out. This day is known as Black Tuesday. It marked the Beginning of the Great Economic Depression. After Black Tuesday American Investors started taking out money invested in Germany which in turn resulted in the total collapse of the German Economy. Over 2 million people were Unemployed in Germany at the end of the year 1929. Now the German politicians started blaming each other which resulted in the rise of Hitler and Fascism in Germany.

Adolf Hitler, an Austrian by birth, was an unsuccessful artist and a corporal in World War 1. He was angry at the Ruling class of the Country for Ending World War 1. After World War 1, Hitler was told to infiltrate the newly emerging Fascist organisation the German Workers Party (Precursor to the Nation Socialists Workers Party). But he was so moved by their philosophy that he left the army and joined them. He was such a powerful orator that he quickly rose through the ranks. In 1923 he tried to overthrow the Government but failed. He was Imprisoned. During this time He wrote his famous book ‘MEIN KAMPF’ meaning My Struggle. In this he denounced capitalism and communism and termed it as a Jewish Conspiracy against the world, He also criticized the German Government for surrendering in the First World War, He also laid out plans to reform Germany into a One Race State. Throughout the book, Jews were portrayed as Devils who were responsible for all the problems and were compared to Germs. The solution to this problem he proposed was only Total Extermination of Jews. The Book sold 228,000 copies during 1925-1932 and over 1 million copies in 1933 ( when Hitler became Chancellor). When he was released from prison, he started Rebuilding the National Socialists Workers Party into The Nazi Party. The party which had only 2% votes in 1928 was the biggest political force by 1932 getting 32% votes. In 1932 Hitler lost the Presidential elections to Hindenburg but was appointed Chancellor of Germany. This gave him the power he needed to change Germany.

On 27th February 1933, The Reichstag (German Parliament) was set on fire. There are mainly two theories on who did it. First that it was done by The German Communist Party and second The Nazi Party itself burned down the Building. Due to this President Hindenburg announced Reichstag Fire Degree under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution which suspended Basic Rights and Allowed Detention without trial. The German Communist party was Suppressed and its 4000 members were arrested.

In 1933 the Enabling Act was brought in to give Hitler dictatorial powers. Nazi Party didn’t have the numbers in the Reichstag to pass it so Nazi party workers arrested all 81 members of the Communist Party and many more. The Act was passed with a historic vote with 441 members voting in favor and 81 members against it. This converted Germany into a De Facto legal Dictatorship.