Hindenburg appointed Kurt Von Schleicher, an army general, as Chancellor. Hitler forced Strasser to decline. They believed they could control Hitler and get him to do what they wanted. Hitler's speech as Chancellor of Germany. Major events leading to Hitler becoming Chancellor April — Presidential election.
Hitler had insisted on the ministerial positions to gain control over the police in much of Germany. Hitler, Chancellor of Germany: Hitler, at the window of the Reich Chancellery, receives an ovation on the evening of his inauguration as chancellor, January 30, Because of the political stalemate, he asked Hindenburg to again dissolve the Reichstag, and elections were scheduled for early March.
On February 27, , the Reichstag building was set on fire. According to the British historian Sir Ian Kershaw, the consensus of nearly all historians is that van der Lubbe actually set the fire. Others, including William L. The decree was permitted under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which gave the president the power to take emergency measures to protect public safety and order.
In addition to political campaigning, the NSDAP engaged in paramilitary violence and the spread of anti-communist propaganda in the days preceding the election. These laws could with certain exceptions deviate from the constitution. Since it would affect the constitution, the Enabling Act required a two-thirds majority to pass. Leaving nothing to chance, the Nazis used the provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to arrest all 81 Communist deputies in spite of their virulent campaign against the party, the Nazis allowed the KPD to contest the election and prevent several Social Democrats from attending.
Ranks of SA Nazi paramilitary men served as guards inside the building, while large groups outside opposing the proposed legislation shouted slogans and threats toward the arriving members of parliament. The position of the Centre Party, the third largest party in the Reichstag, was decisive. The Act passed by a vote of —84, with all parties except the Social Democrats voting in favor.
Having achieved full control over the legislative and executive branches of government, Hitler and his allies began to suppress the remaining opposition. The Social Democratic Party was banned and its assets seized. While many trade union delegates were in Berlin for May Day activities, SA stormtroopers demolished union offices around the country.
On May 2, , all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested. Some were sent to concentration camps. Rosenberg was an ineffective leader and the party became divided over key issues. The failure of the Munich Putsch had shown Hitler that he would not be able to take power by force.
Hitler therefore decided to change tactic and instead focus on winning support for his party democratically and being elected into power. Following his release from prison on the 20 December , Hitler convinced the Chancellor of Bavaria to remove the ban on the Nazi Party.
In February , Hitler organised the Bamberg Conference. Hitler wanted to reunify the party, and set out a plan for the next few years. Whilst some small differences remained, Hitler was largely successful in reuniting the socialist and nationalist sides of the party. Firstly, the Nazi Party adopted a new framework, which divided Germany into regions called Gaue.
Each Gaue had its own leader, a Gauleiter. Each Gaue was then divided into subsections, called Kreise. Each Kreise then had its own leader, called a Kreisleiter.
Each Kreise was then divided into even smaller sections, each with its own leader, and so on. Each of these sections were responsible to the section above them, with Hitler at the very top of the party with ultimate authority. The Nazis also established new groups for different professions, from children, to doctors, to lawyers.
These aimed to infiltrate already existing social structures, and help the party gain more members and supporters. These political changes changed the Nazi Party from a paramilitary organisation focused on overthrowing the republic by force, to one focused on gaining power through elections and popular support. Initially most members were ex-soldiers or unemployed men.
If Hitler was to gain power democratically, he needed to reform the SA. He set out to change their reputation. A new leader, Franz von Salomon, was recruited.
Rather than the violent free rein they had previously enjoyed, Salomon was stricter and gave the SA a more defined role. In , Hitler also established the Schutzstaffel , otherwise known as the SS. The SS were a small sub-division of the SA with approximately members until In , Heinrich Himmler took over the organisation, and expanded it dramatically.
By , the SS had 35, members. They terrorized and aimed to destroy any person or group that threatened this. The SA and the SS became symbols of terror.
The Nazi Party used these two forces to terrify their opposition into subordination, slowly eliminate them entirely, or scare people into supporting them. Whilst the SA and the SS played their part, the Nazis primarily focused on increasing their membership through advertising the party legitimately.
They did this through simple and effective propaganda. The Nazis started advocating clear messages tailored to a broad range of people and their problems. Jews and Communists also featured heavily in the Nazi propaganda as enemies of the German people.
Joseph Goebbels was key to the Nazis use of propaganda to increase their appeal. Goebbels joined the Nazi Party in and became the Gauleiter for Berlin in Goebbels used a combination of modern media, such as films and radio, and traditional campaigning tools such as posters and newspapers to reach as many people as possible. It was through this technique that he began to build an image of Hitler as a strong, stable leader that Germany needed to become a great power again.
Goebbels success eventually led to him being appointed Reich Minister of Propaganda in Germany was particularly badly affected by the Wall Street Crash because of its dependence on American loans from onwards. As the loans were recalled, the economy in Germany sunk into a deep depression. Investment in business was reduced. People in full time employment fell from twenty million in , to just over eleven million in In the same period, over 10, businesses closed every year.
As a result of this, the amount of people in poverty increased sharply.
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