Hitler's rise to power

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        As we have mentioned in the “Early life” page, Hitler was blinded in 1918. After he recovered, he was stationed in Munich. During his time there, he saw socialism as part of a Jewish conspiracy. Many of the socialist leader in Germany were Jewish. Many of the leaders of the Russian Revolution in Russia were Jewish, too. Hitler also knew that Karl Marx, the prophet of socialism, was also Jewish. Hitler hated socialism. He saw socialism as a way to undermine Germany. He also hated racial and gender equality brought by socialism as he thought that Germans, “Aryans” were naturally superior to the other races.

        Later, Hitler was recruited as a political officer, whose job was to lecture soldiers on politics. Hitler now had a captive audience who was also angered by the unfair treatment of Germany of the Versailles Treaty. Hitler was no longer isolated. The German soldiers attended his lectures and shared his sense of failure.

        Hitler later became a member of the German Worker’s Party. Interestingly, he first attended the meeting as a government spy. In one of the meetings, Hitler impressed the president of the Party with his ability to orate and persuade audiences. He was later appointed the propaganda manager of the party.

        While in the Party, Hitler became an amazing orator: “Hitler always arrived late which helped to develop tension and a sense of expectation. He took the stage, stood to attention and waited until there was complete silence before he started his speech. For the first few months Hitler appeared nervous and spoke haltingly. Slowly he would begin to relax and his style of delivery would change. He would start to rock from side to side and begin to gesticulate with his hands. His voice would get louder and become more passionate. Sweat poured of him, his face turned white, his eyes bulged and his voice cracked with emotion. He ranted and raved about the injustices done to Germany and played on his audience's emotions of hatred and envy. By the end of the speech the audience would be in a state of near hysteria and were willing to do whatever Hitler suggested. As soon as his speech finished Hitler would quickly leave the stage and disappear from view. Refusing to be photographed, Hitler's aim was to create an air of mystery about himself, hoping that it would encourage others to come and hear the man who was now being described as ‘the new Messiah’.”

        Later on in 1921, Hitler challenged Anton Drexler for the leadership of the party and became the new leader of the party, now known as the Nazi Party.

        On November 8th, 1923, Hitler and his armed stormtroopers entered the government building where Gustav von Kahr was holding a government meeting. Hitler fired two shots in the air and told the audience that the National Revolution had begun. Hitler then planned to march on Berlin and remove the national government. However, he failed and was sent to Landsberg Castle in Munich to serve his prison sentence. While in Landsberg prison, Hitler read a lot of books. He also wrote the famous Mein Kampf, an outline of his political philosophy. Hitler expressed his believe in Aryan superiority in his book. He claimed that Jewish people has threatened Germany and the Aryans. He argued that Jewish people were lazy and had contributed little to world civilization.

        After Hitler was released, Nazi Party started to do better. In 1928, The Nazi Party only gained 3% votes. However, the party was well organized and membership had grown from 27,000 to 108,000. Later, when the Great Depression started and the United States began to recall loans from Europe, the fortunes of the Nazi Party changed. Germany suffered great unemployment. And in 1930, the Nazi Party increased its number of representatives in parliament from 14 to 107. Thus, Hitler became the leader of the second largest party in Germany. Later, the Nazi Party won 230 seats, making it the largest party. However, Hitler’s demand of him being the chancellor was refused. He was furious and began to abandon his strategy of disguising his extremist views and violence. He called for the end of democracy since he thought that it was “rule of stupidity, of mediocrity, of half-heartedness, of cowardice, of weakness, and of inadequacy.”

        In 1933, Hitler became the chancellor. After the 1933 General Election, Hitler proposed an Enabling Bill that gave him dictatorial powers.

        Thus, Hitler had transformed from a dispatch runner during WWI do the dictator of Germany who would soon started a disastrous world war—WWII.

        Below is a YouTube video about Hitler's rise of power from 1932 to 1935.