how did adolf hitler, a tyrant who orchestrated one of thelargest genocides in human history, rise to power in a democratic country? the story begins at the endof world war i. with the successful allied advance in 1918,
Medical School Loan Consolidation, germany realized the war was unwinnable and signed an armistice ending the fighting. as its imperial government collapsed, civil unrest and worker strikesspread across the nation.
fearing a communist revolution, major parties joined to suppress the uprisings, establishing the parliamentaryweimar republic. one of the new government's first tasks was implementing the peace treatyimposed by the allies. in addition to losing over a tenthof its territory and dismantling its army, germany had to accept full responsibilityfor the war and pay reparations, debilitating its already weakened economy. all this was seen as a humiliationby many nationalists and veterans.
they wrongly believed the war could have been won if the army hadn't been betrayedby politicians and protesters. for hitler, these views became obsession, and his bigotry and paranoid delusionsled him to pin the blame on jews. his words found resonance in a societywith many anti-semitic people. by this time, hundreds of thousands of jews had integrated into german society, but many germans continued to perceivethem as outsiders. after world war i, jewish success ledto ungrounded accusations
of subversion and war profiteering. it can not be stressed enough that theseconspiracy theories were born out of fear, anger, and bigotry, not fact. nonetheless, hitler found success with them. when he joined a small nationalistpolitical party, his manipulative public speakinglaunched him into its leadership
and drew increasingly larger crowds. combining anti-semitism with populist resentment, the nazis denounced both communismand capitalism as international jewish conspiraciesto destroy germany. the nazi party was not initially popular. after they made an unsuccessful attemptat overthrowing the government, the party was banned, and hitler jailed for treason. but upon his release about a year later,
he immediately began to rebuildthe movement. and then, in 1929, the great depression happened. it led to american banks withdrawingtheir loans from germany, and the already struggling german economycollapsed overnight. hitler took advantage of the people's anger, offering them convenient scapegoats and a promise to restore germany'sformer greatness. mainstream parties provedunable to handle the crisis while left-wing opposition was toofragmented by internal squabbles.
and so some of the frustrated publicflocked to the nazis, increasing their parliamentary votes fromunder 3% to over 18% in just two years. in 1932, hitler ran for president, losing the election to decorated war herogeneral von hindenburg. but with 36% of the vote, hitler haddemonstrated the extent of his support. the following year, advisors and business leaders convinced hindenburg to appoint hitleras chancellor, hoping to channel his popularityfor their own goals. though the chancellor was onlythe administrative head of parliament,
hitler steadily expanded the powerof his position. while his supporters formed paramilitary groups and fought protestors in streets. hitler raised fears of a communist uprising and argued that only he could restorelaw and order. then in 1933, a young worker was convicted ofsetting fire to the parliament building. hitler used the event to convincethe government to grant him emergency powers.
within a matter of months,freedom of the press was abolished, other parties were disbanded, and anti-jewish laws were passed. many of hitler's early radical supporterswere arrested and executed, along with potential rivals, and when president hindenburg diedin august 1934, it was clear there would be no new election. disturbingly, many of hitler's early measures didn't require mass repression. his speeches exploited people's fear and ire
to drive their support behind himand the nazi party. meanwhile, businessmen and intellectuals, wanting to be on the right side of public opinion, endorsed hitler. they assured themselves and each other that his more extreme rhetoric was only for show. decades later, hitler's rise remains a warning of how fragile democratic institutionscan be in the face of angry crowds and a leader willing to feed their angerand exploit their fears.
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