Hitler: Personal and Circumstantial Factors of his Rise

Adolf Hitler, born in Austria, denounced his Austrian citizenship and later became a German politician. He started his political journey in 1919 after he joined the German Workers’ party. The party then came to be commonly known as National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) or Nazi Party which was started after world war one period. The following are some of the personal and circumstantial factors of Hitler’s rise to power and his ability to implement his policies. Some of Hitler’s policies were to do away with the Versaille treaty that was imposed on Germany after the defeat in the World War I. He wanted to expand the German territory eastwards and to re-unite the Germans as they had been misplaced after the World War I so as to create a stronger nation. (Tonge 2013). His exceptional and oratory skills earned him a position as an education officer with the German Workers’ Party giving him more opportunities to speak to the public sharing and his antiMarxist ideas. He later became the leading propagandist as a result of his eloquence and oratory skills which made him a great influential consultant of his party and a chairman of the party later. The 1929 depression and the death of Stresemann created a feeling of mistrust among the citizens, and they started getting tired of the current democratic government. Germany largely borrowed from the Americans and bankruptcy was encroaching. The Germans consequently preferred the Nazi party and the Communist party. This was an advantage to Hitler and his people as his party gained more popularity among the people as they needed strong leadership to redeem them. Hitler was given the chance of being a chancellor after he refused to take up the vice chancellor position offered by Papen. Papen thought that he could manipulate Hitler by placing him under his chancellor’s authority. He was mistaken. Later, after Papen stopped being the office holder, Hitler took over as chancellor while Papen became the Chairman. This position later assisted Hitler in his dictatorial rule in the single-party Germany, without opposition. Germans did not support the Versailles’ treaty. They chose to support Hitler as he promised them to overthrow it. This stance gained him more popularity from the people. He insisted on nationalism, pan-Germanism, and Anti-Semitism. He chose party members who did not mind using violence to further the party’s agenda. They would, later on, assist him in his dictatorial rule to accomplish his aims. Hitler was able to use the law that made acts of political violence capital offenses. The law demanded for severe punishment of those who had committed such acts which included a lifetime behind bars accompanied by hard labor which did not last for less than twenty years or even facing death. Hitler later used this Act while in power on his opponents ruthlessly. This managed his ability to implement his policies dictatively and stay in power for as long as he wanted to (Stachura 2015). He was later granted the plenary powers that enabled him to act without the consent of the parliament restricting him or imposing any limitations (Gendler & Hazard 2016). This is after he had vowed not to threaten the president's power, the churches or the state. This later made it easy for Hitler and his government to rule by the decree but could not get further powers, at least not until later after when the president died. This power enabled him to abolish the state powers and non-Nazi parties giving him one voice and ability to implement his policies even if they did not favor the people. Propaganda led by Goebbels gained popularity and support for the Nazi party. They targeted specific members of the society using their captivating slogans which attracted many. His party members led the Germans into believing that their hope lay with Hitler and that the Jews were to blame for bad governance. This created a euphoria, and thereafter, overwhelming support for Hitler, and a further rise in political power. (Stachura 2015). Hitler received financial support to run his election campaign from the industrialists. This helped him in spreading awareness about his strategies and spearheading his propaganda in the primaries and general election thus cementing his powers and multiplying his supporters. Moderate political parties were also not united. It was easier for Hitler to defeat these parties by taking advantage of their own weakness, disunity. If the parties had decided to work together, they would possibly have had more support from Germans than the Nazi party. Hitler, working with his Nazi party, was able to rule German since he had strong policies which favored the Germans thereby gaining him more supporters. The timing of his rise to power was to his advantage, after the World War I, as many people had lost their trust with the government. He was able to cunningly implement policies and use them in combination with his violence to rule dictatively and stay in power for long.

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