Why did Hitler and the Nazis become so powerful?

Answer 1

The masses were swayed and mesmerized by the rhetoric, the industrialists were bamboozled and the General Staff was greedily looking at rebuilding their army. By the time everyone woke up, it was too late, a police state had its firm grip on the country.

Answer 2

Because Germany was suffering badly after ww1. High unemployment, payments to the allies were draining the treasury and the democratic gov't was performing terribly. All gov't efforts to recover the economy failed.

Hitler gave the people hope and was an excellent orator, who capivated the audience and made promises the people wanted.

Once in power Hitler lived upto his promises. He created jobs, threw out the treaties that limited Germanys power and ability to do things, financed construction, the armed forces, new science projects, research and development projects and more (things like synthetic oil is a biggie).

So when the Nazis invoked dictatorship rules and got rid of their rivals, no one complained as everyone was doing better (except those being blamed for problems).

For the first 6 years the Nazis and Hitler did wonders for Germany. They invested in industry and science etc and made things happen. Which is what the people wanted. They instilled national pride bigger and better than before and made the nation a priority.

Answer 3

Germany's economy was suffering. After WWI, they were required to pay back the countries that fought them, so called "war reparations". Hitler said "If I am elected, we're not going to pay anymore". That was very popular.

There was also a big communist uprising, particularly in Munich. They almost took over the city. It got very violent with guns and bombs, etc. People were very scared of them, and Hitler was very anti-communist.

The man who would later be Pope during WWII (forget his name off the top of my head) was the Vatican's ambassador to Germany (Papal Nuncio). He was in Munich, and was assaulted by some communists.

Germany has always had religion classes that were required (like history and math). The Lutheran church had always been allowed to write the curriculum. The future pope wanted the Catholic church to write the curriculum. He also did not want the communists to get any more power - they said the religion was the opiate of the masses.

Hitler wanted power. He didn't care who wrote the curriculum of these religion classes. There was not the separation of church and state in Germany that we have in America. One of the big political parties was the Catholic party. The way that parliamentary governments work, smaller parties can band together and form a "coalition" (temporarily become one party, for purposes of determining who has the majority). There was a coalition that was bigger than the Nazi lead one, and they had power. One of their big parties was the Catholic party.

Hilter and this future pope made a deal. He would tell the Catholics to disband their party, and in return, when the Nazi's came to power, the Catholic church would be allowed to write the curriculum. Both gave up something they thought was unimportant, both gained something they thought was very important.

Unfortunately the disbanding of the Catholic party did put the Nazi coalition into the majority and they took power. Let me be clear - I am not blaming the Catholic church. I do not think that the man who would be pope knew the ramifications his actions would have. And maybe the Nazi's would have taken power anyway, as people's fear of the communists grew and their dissatsifaction with the way war repairations crippled their economy.

Answer 4

Hitler was a very good speaker
he could make speeches and people would beleive him and follow him. People always seem to want to follow anyone who preomises a better life will have followers. With all the Nazis outnumbering, they were hard to defeat. So Hitler and the Nazis became powerful

Answer 5

A combination of reasons.

The horrors of WWI were still fresh on most of the worlds mind. The war had erased one whole generation of young men, therefore nobody was in a hurry to, nor had the means to wage a war.

Germany was unfairly treated by the allies after surrendering, not being defeated. It was announced that Germany had to pay back the expenses of the war, and cover the losses of allied soldiers monetarily. This effectively decimated what was left of the German economy, as well as arguably set the stage for the second world war, 2 decades later.

With so many Germans living so poor, the mood in Germany post WWI was less than hopeful.Discontentment was deeply felt, desperation was the norm. Conditions were ripe for a self serving dictator to restore the German economy and most importantly,national pride.

Hitler actually did put the people back to work and restored a sense of national pride. The economy flourished in many sectors, and the average German had steady, decent paying employment.The terms of allied reparations were slowly repealed by Hitler...he basically said to the world:: "We aren't doing this **** anymore", and didn't.He restored the military, often in secret to the allies, to be the most modern and deadly in history.

Hitler was charismatic and driven, most of all ruthless.Hitler by all acounts, was a powerful figure on a personal level, if not elequent. He was aware of his personal charm and wit ,and could captivate most,... and did. His absolute willingness to use extreme violence, shocked even his most ruthless opponents, rendering them somewhat reluctant if not pacified.

Once installed in power, Hitler moved quickly to establish laws that gave him exclusive power over all the land, and surrounded himself with only those that were tried and true...to himself.

Those are the very basics, I'm sure left out alot. Hope it helps...

Answer 6

As Hitler's people walk down the streets, people are lined up out of the blue. Each time a person is passed they say "Heil Hitler!" ensuthiastically. Eventually one person resists with "Verdammen Hitler!" and they are dragged away. Seconds later a shot can be heard and that person never returns. Needless to say, there is no further dissention that day.

Swiftly killing dissidents and the use of fear, kidnapping, torture and more is another of the many ways Hitler kept his regime intact - there were no public detractors to his policies, and when there were, it was far too late to do anything.

Answer 7

Germany was impoverished, unemployment was high, and armistice agreements after WWI were very unfavorable for Germany in that the treaty had humiliating conditions. This all created many willing ears to which a demagogue could preach... That's no excuse for many Germans to turn a blind eye...

Answer 8

because germany was in poverty and inflation and when hitler comes along he blames the jews and every1 was lookin for someone to blame also he led the country out of poverty and created a strong army. in fact he would probably be considered 1 of the greatest germanic statesman if not for the hatred of the jews

Answer 9

Simple: no one wanted to stand up to him (first his own country men, then other countries). By the time the "leaders of nations" realized they SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING, it was already too late; Hitler was bent on world domination and extinction of "inferiour races".

Answer 10

The allies especially the french were afraid to stop him and start a war which allowed him to build power.