How Did Hitler Come Into Power Essay

How Did Hitler Come Into Power. Essay, Research Paper

Cause and Effect:

How did Hitler Come into Power.

A dichotomy is a division of two entities into mutually exclusive or contradictory groups. In Viva Zapata, it was mentioned that it.s not the laws that govern men, but men that govern men. There is no dichotomy present here because the two aren.t mutually exclusive at all. A country is only as strong as those who lead it, and the laws that govern it. Without strong and enforced laws, man wouldn.t have power. And without man, the laws wouldn.t have power. But, the people govern the land, and they are by far more powerful than the laws. They can create and destroy laws. They are the ones who enforce the laws. People don.t live their lives by the word of the law, but by the will of the people who make and enforce it.

When the Weimar constitution was enacted, there were several flaws. These flaws eventually led to the rise of Hitler, and the downfall of Germany. After World War II, the constitutions of West Germany, and France were more successful. They had very strong points and allowed for stable governments

The Weimar constitution was written under the guidance of Max Weber. He was a socialist, and tried to give the constitution all of the best aspects of the American constitution(*1). In the Weimar constitution, the president wasn.t named as the head of the government(*2). This task was given to the chancellor, who was a party member. Because the German government was in its infancy, and often deadlocked, parliament didn.t meet that often (*3).

Weber had planned for this, and under Article 48, the president had emergency powers when parliament was not in session. These powers also wound up coming into effect whenever parliament was deadlocked. Some of these powers included in Article 48 were temporary dictatorial powers, defense minister or the chief of the army. The president had the right to interfere with the legislation of parliament, and dismiss the chancellor (*4).

There were a few reasons as to why parliament was never in session. Weber had wanted proportional party representation, and every party had a place, no matter how small they were. Together, there were 28 parties in the German parliament(*5). This prevented clear majorities and the two-party system never formed(*6). And since the Germans wanted to model their constitution after the best qualities in the American constitution, this element should have been present in theirs.

Also many Germans weren.t used to the idea of peacefully resolving conflicts. They relied on the old ways, which involved the president making the decisions. To them, parliament was just .the game of the parties.. They believed all of the power was in the president and Article 48(*7).

Realizing the benefits of not keeping parliament in session, the presidents would use their power to settle disputes rather than parliament. Article 48 allowed the president to manipulate the system and achieve power. Friedrich Ebert was the first president under the Weimar constitution. He preferred to use his power rather than force parliament to settle their differences(*8). When Hindenburg came along, he used presidential prerogative to appoint and dismiss chancellors. In his last years, there was an almost virtual suspension to parliamentary government(*9). This led to Hitler, who used the process to become a dictator.

But, it wasn.t solely the miswriting of the constitution that caused Hitler to come to power. It had a lot to do with a division of East and West Germany. The Easterners had created war-anxiety (*10), but the Westerners accepted peace (*11). The East, filled with a caste system, hated the West for being so liberal. Uniting these two opposites under such tension was bound to cause disaster.

The ruling class in the East hated the West for being liberal and lacking spirituality (*12). Civilization pulled Germany towards the West, but culture to the East. As Germany pulled to he West, it failed, but it prospered as it went to the East (*13). The Easterners had always ruled Germany, and they were responsible for the war anxiety. But they blamed the Westerners for accepting peace. So, in the eyes of the Easterners, the Westerners became responsible for all the post WW I misfortunes (*15).

Also, the people never believed that Hitler would gain such popularity. Both the Left and the Right completely underestimated Hitler (*16). They believed that his only strength was as a great orator. They wanted to exploit this as much possible in order to increase their own party.s strength (*17).

But Hitler had other plans. As stated in Mein Kampf, he believed that he would become a popular politician (*18). In the fourth chapter, he stated that it was time to take over the East (*19).

But Hitler.s popularity grew. As the left began to surge, the Nazi Party began getting more votes. At first, his support from the student academic population grew, but it was followed by an overall increase (*20). By 1929, it was obvious that the party system was failing (*21). Heinrich Bruning tried to rule by presidential decree based on Article 48, and when parliament disagreed, he disbanded them. As a result, the Nazis and Communists became the 2 largest parties in parliament (*22).

We should examine the events right before Hitler came to power