Fascist Germany The Result Of Instability Essay

, Research Paper

The 1930s were turbulent times in Germany’s

history. World War I had left the country in shambles and, as if that weren’t

enough, the people of Germany had been humiliated and stripped of their

pride and dignity by the Allies. Germany’s dream of becoming one

of the strongest nations in the world no longer seemed to be a possibility

and this caused resentment among the German people. It was clear

that Germany needed some type of motivation to get itself back on its feet

and this came in the form of a charismatic man, Adolf Hitler. Hitler,

a man who knew what he wanted and would do anything to get it, single-handedly

transformed a weary Germany into a deadly fascist state.

In order to understand why exactly Hitler

was able to make Germany a fascist state, we must study the effects that

the end of World War I had on the country. Germany was left devastated

and vulnerable at the end of the war. The Treaty of Versailles had

left the country without a military and with a large debt that it just

couldn’t pay. Aside from that, it was forced to withdraw from its western

territory where most of its coal and steel were located. This was

a major implication for Germany because without these resources, it had

no industrial growth (steel and coal are the forces behind industry), which

meant that there was no money going into its economy. Without any

economic development there was no way that Germany would be able to get

out of debt. The Allies did not make any effort to help Germany during

this time and left Germany to fend for itself (they seemed to be aware

that this had been a mistake by the end World War II when they helped Japan

out of its economic crisis; this is an example of history influencing future

actions).

The “humiliation imposed by the victors

in the World War I, coupled with the hardship of the stagnant economy,”

created bitterness and anger in Germany (Berlet 1). This is the reason

that, when the Allies tried to establish a new government in Germany, the

German people were less than eager to embrace it.

The French Revolution was a prime example

that without a participant culture, there is no stability. Therefore,

it is no surprise that the Weimar Republic failed so miserably in Germany.

When it was introduced in 1918, it had the potential of molding Germany’s

government into a modern institution. It consisted of regular elections

(this would later be referred to as the Reichstag), a proportional representative

electoral system, and checks and balances. It was almost flawless

as a formula for creating a modern institution but it did not make Germany

stable by any means. Herein lies another lesson that many countries

have learned the hard way: a modern institution does not, in itself, guarantee

that a country will become stable. In Germany’s case, there was no

participant culture and, as a result, no trust in the government and no

efficacy. Germans believed that people within their country were

conspiring against them. They did not trust the government in the

least and because of this suspicious attitude sought a scapegoat to blame

for their suffering (the scapegoat, as we now know, would turn out to be

the Jew).

Germany was slowly falling apart and could

not handle another crisis.

Unfortunately, the Depression of 1929

was inevitable. It was also unfortunate that Keynsionism had not

yet been conceived for, if it had, Germany might not have dug itself into

a bigger hole. Because of its impoverished state and its inability

to pay its reparatory debts, Germany began to produce more and more money

until inflation was so high that its money became almost worthless (had

Keynsionism been developed Germany may not have gone into such a devastating

depression). By 1933 the economy “stood on the brink of collapse,

with an economy which should, realistically, have long since declared itself

bankrupt” (Frei 163). Now Germans felt that the so called “democratic”

system had brought them nothing but trouble and this paved the way for

Hitler and his Nationalist Socialist Party (which would later be referred

to as Hitler’s Nazi party, a party that was centered around ideological

fascism) (Berlet 1).

There is no denying that Hitler took advantage

of Germany’s instability. He appeared at a time when Germany needed

someone to give it a solution to its problems. The first action he

took was to assure the German people that they were not at fault for any

of their dilemmas. According to Hitler, there was an

internal enemy amongst them that had caused all of Germany’s powers and

was to blame. Hitler identified Germans as good and superior while he marked

the enemy as evil and inferior. This served to once again inflame

the Germans so that their nationalism was now at a maximum and als

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