Rise Of National Socialism In Germany

The rapid rise of National Socialism in Germany by 1933 came on like a storm, and there a lot of things that we can pick out from the ideas of National Socialism and how the public came to accept these ideals and why they accepted them with open arms. The main ones that this essay will go over are the National Socialists’ standpoint on governmental authority, the military, national power/glory/expansion, and race/Anti-Semitism. This essay will go in-depth on these concepts throughout the Second Reich, all the way up to 1933. It will also discuss how Adolf Hitler and the NSDAPs’ message reflected upon these concepts. During the Second Reich, the concepts previously mentioned were a huge part of society, and there were a lot of strong opinions …show more content…
The Treaty of Versailles enacted so many restrictions and many other things against Germany, and really was Hitler’s foundation that let him spring into power. He took advantage of all the discourse and hate that the Treaty of Versailles created amongst the public. The biggest thing that came out of the Treaty of Versailles was Article 231, otherwise known as the War Guilt Clause. Basically, it stated that Germany is the only thing to blame for the war, and that they will accept any punishments. So, Germany was forced into signing the Treaty of Versailles. Another one of the biggest things that came from the Treaty of Versailles were the people who came to be known as the “November Criminals.” These were the people who were “responsible” for the downfall of Germany. They range from pacifists, to Commies, defeatists, and most of all, the Jews. With the already present anti-Semitism, it was easily predicted that the Jews would be the scapegoat for all of the blame and hate. This really played into the idea of anti-Semitism. Also, the Treaty of Versailles made Germany pay reparations, and although there is no definite number, it’s estimated to be about $35 billion dollars. Now, this caused a lot of waves to ripple through Germany. Basically, Germany ended up printing too much money, which caused the value of the money to fall, and thus they couldn’t pay …show more content…
He played off of the things that the German people were already very passionate about and used those things to his advantage, such as anti-Semitism, the idea of a strong central leader, and basically everything that the people wanted. Hitler was seen as a man of the people, and it most definitely worked in his favor. Now, on to the two points of governmental authority and race/anti-Semitism. These two go hand-in-hand a little bit, with Hitler basing a lot of his political and governmental views on anti-Semitism, anti-communism, anti-parliamentarianism, and so on. One of Hitler’s quotes goes as follows, “Above all I pledge the leadership of the nation and its followers to the scrupulous observation of the racial laws and to an implacable opposition against the universal poisoner of all peoples, international Jewry.” This really played well with the German people, since there already had a hatred of the Jews, and basically anything that wasn’t German. This led into the nationalism, glory, and expansion ideals of the Nazi party. The NSDAP was full-on Aryan master race. If you were not German, then leave or we will make you leave. Or they will just kill you, plain and simple. With the majority of the public swaying in the same direction, the NSDAP was a perfect fit. Regarding the expansion of Germany and national power/glory, almost every German