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How Did Hitler Become Chancellor in 1933

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How Hitler became Chancellor in 1933

Hitler, the very name of the man is no more than a whisper in the new Germany that was born out of the fires and humiliation of WW2 and foreign occupation. Historians such as Ian Kershaw even dare to ask; “Has this been Hitler’s century?” .The very fact that one could even consider a century to be defined by one man is testimony to this man’s lasting effect on not just Germany or Europe, but the world. The common view of history is that Hitler forcibly took power by means of extreme violence, fear and propaganda. There is some truth to this assertion, but the reality is that Adolf Hitler actually came to power by democratic means. The question I am going to answer is how and why a man like Hitler was able to make a mockery of the democratic system we uphold as the pinnacle of government, by getting himself appointed as chancellor of Germany in January of 1933.

In understanding how Hitler was able to become chancellor, it is impervious to bring to light the conditions present in 1920s and 1930s Germany. To begin with Germans were deeply bitter about the humiliation they suffered as a result of losing the First World War. The perceived truth believed by most Germans was that they had not started the First World War, or lost it! The resulting blame for this deep embarrassment fell on the shoulders of communists, capitalists, weak politicians and Jews. Finding the NSDAP’s intentions to target these groups with the help of their vicious Sturmabteilung, persuaded many to vote NSDAP. A general public unhappiness about the Weimar government also made many flock to Hitler. In the public’s eyes, all the Weimar republic had ever done for them was bring inflation at an unprecedented level, allow communists and freikorps to roam the streets unchecked and bow down to the western powers that had so humiliated them. A condition that was

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