Adolf Hitler's rise to power

This article is part of a series about Adolf Hitler
Personal Family Military career Political views Religious views Health possible monorchism Psychopathography Sexuality Wealth and income Vegetarianism Bodyguard Private library Columbus Globe for State and Industry Leaders Rise to power Naturalization Beer Hall Putsch Reichstag fire Enabling Act of 1933 Führer of Germany Nazi Germany Cabinet Economy German rearmament World War II Anschluss Occupation of Czechoslovakia Western Front Eastern Front Assassination attempts Death alleged doubles conspiracy theories last will and testament Crimes against humanity Nuremberg Laws The Holocaust Final Solution Electoral campaigns 1930 March 1932 July 1932 November 1932 March 1933 November 1933 Works Paintings Mein Kampf Hitlers Zweites Buch Speeches Legacy Bibliography Historiography Oaths Hitler Oath Personal standard Cult of personality In popular culture Eponymous streets Killing baby Hitler Hitler was right Reductio ad Hitlerum
v t e

The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the German Workers' Party (DAP). He quickly rose to a place of prominence and became one of its most popular speakers. In an attempt to appeal more broadly to larger segments of the population and win over German workers, the party name was changed to the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and a new platform was adopted. Hitler was made the party leader in 1921 after he threatened to leave otherwise. By 1922, his control over the party was unchallenged. The Nazis were a right-wing party, but in the early years they also had anti-capitalist and anti-bourgeois elements. Hitler later initiated a purge of these elements and reaffirmed the Nazi Party's pro-business stance. This included the killing of Hitler's critics within the party during the Night of the Long Knives, which also served as a tool to secure power.

In 1923, Hitler attempted a coup in Bavaria, known as the Beer Hall Putsch. He was arrested and put on trial, which garnered him national fame. He was sentenced to five years in fortress confinement but served only nine months.^[1] During this time, he wrote Mein Kampf, which became the handbook of his ideology of Nazism. Once released, Hitler switched tactics, opting instead to seize power through legal and democratic means. During the 1920s, he and the Nazis ran on a platform of anti-communism, antisemitism, and ultranationalism. Party leaders vociferously criticized the ruling democratic government and the Treaty of Versailles, while promising to turn Germany into a world power. Most Germans were indifferent to Hitler's rhetoric as the German economy began to recover, in large part due to loans from the United States under the Dawes Plan.^[2] The German political landscape was dramatically affected by the Wall Street crash of 1929. The Great Depression brought the German economy to a halt and further polarized German politics. During this tumultuous time, the German Communist Party also began campaigning and called for a revolution. Some business leaders, fearful of a communist takeover, began supporting the Nazi Party.

Hitler ran for the presidency in 1932 and was defeated by the incumbent Paul von Hindenburg, but achieved a strong second-place showing in both rounds. In the July 1932 election, the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag, albeit short of an absolute majority. Traditionally, the leader of the party holding the most seats in the Reichstag was appointed Chancellor. However, President von Hindenburg was hesitant to appoint Hitler. Following several backroom negotiations—which included industrialists, Hindenburg's son Oskar, former chancellor Franz von Papen, and Hitler – Hindenburg acquiesced, and on 30 January 1933, he formally appointed Hitler as Germany's new chancellor. Although he was chancellor, Hitler was not yet an absolute dictator.

The groundwork for Hitler's dictatorship was laid when the Reichstag was set on fire in February 1933. Baselessly blaming communists for the arson, Hitler convinced von Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree, which severely curtailed the liberties and rights of German citizens as Hitler began eliminating his political opponents. Following its passage, he began arguing for more drastic measures to curtail political opposition and proposed the Enabling Act of 1933. This law gave the German government the power to override individual rights prescribed by the constitution and vested the Chancellor (Hitler) with emergency powers to pass and enforce laws without parliamentary oversight. The law came into force in March, and by April, Hitler held de facto dictatorial powers and ordered the construction of the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau for communists and other political opponents. Hitler's rise to power was completed in August 1934 when, after Hindenburg's death, Hitler merged the chancellery with the presidency into the title of Führer.

Hitler's rise to power was aided by his willingness to use violence in advancing his political objectives and to recruit party members willing to do the same. In addition to electoral battles in which Hitler participated as a speaker and organizer, violent street battles took place between the Communists' Rotfrontkämpferbund and the Nazis' Sturmabteilung (SA). Once the Nazi dictatorship was firmly established, the Nazis themselves created a mythology surrounding their rise to power. German propaganda described this time period as either the Kampfzeit (the time of struggle) or the Kampfjahre (years of struggle).