Failure of Parliamentary Democracy in Germany and Hitler’s Rise to Powe

Failure of Parliamentary Democracy in Germany and Hitler’s Rise to Power German history is seen as a ‘painful issue for thousands of Germans and other Europeans’ . However it has interested many historians over the years into inquiring how and why Hitler came to power and how much of this was to do with the failure of parliamentary democracy in Germany. To fully ascertain to what extent these events have in common and what reasons led to the fall of democracy and rise of the Nazis, each have to be looked at individually. Also it seems beneficial, to be able to evaluate these in the relevant context, to look at the situation in Germany was in prior to 1920. In 1919, the treaty of Versailles was signed marking the end of World War One. Soon after, the Weimar republic was established. It was hoped that this democratic constitution would mark a turning point for Germany. Turning the people of Germany away from the authoritarian style of government they were used to, towards a more stable democracy. Since the German nation was used to being ruled, rather than ruling itself, it was a hard transition to accomplish. Democracy was a new concept within Germany and many people were willing to look to the left and right wings for political leadership. Also World War One had created an unsettling influence on the people of Germany and the establishment of Weimar, with its wish for freedom and democracy hoped to settle this. In essence Weimar faced many problems from the outset; it had to cope with not only political challenges, but economic problems, structural weaknesses and the legacy of World War One. Weimar had also inherited the ruins of a con quered autocracy, a ruined economy and two ruthlessly anti-democratic political extremes The Weimar Republic did not start on a good footing, since the first president was not democratically elected; instead Friedrich Ebert took the first oath of constitution on Prince Max’s command. Some believe that the structure of Weimar was the main reason for its failure. There were many flaws in the constitution, which prohibited it from becoming a western style of democracy. The first thing to look at is how the constitution was established. After World War One, the German people were divided, those to the left believed that they had been lied to and deceived into fighting a war for the upper class. The Right believed th... ...2. Between the July and November elections the Nazi party lost 34 seats. However the implementation of Schleicher, to attract trade unionists and members of the NSDAP, only succeeded in making Hitler’s position in the Nazi party stronger. This was because Schleicher’s ‘policy of diagonal’ only attracted Strasser, for which he was ousted from the Nazi party. This was Hitler’s main opponent in the quest for leadership of the nazi party. The Weimar Republic's demise and Hitler’s rise to power are very inter-linked. This can be shown by the static enrolment for the Nazi party when Stresseman brought Germany into the era of the ‘golden years’. It could be said that opposition to democracy rose and fell in harmony with movements in prosperity.’ Hitler exploited this with his political astuteness of knowing what and when to promise things in the ‘new’ Germany. Many reasons for the fall of democracy also link to Hitler’s rise of power. It could be argued that if Weimar had been a stronger constitution then Hitler would not have come to power. However Hitler was an opportunist and I believe that if Weimar had survived Hitler would have found another way to rise to Germany’s dictator.