The Germans had a massive amount of governmental unrest
following WWI. It became so extreme that if the party in power had any sort of
misstep, the voters would change their decision and vote for another party to
be in power, and this occurred so often that there would be a new party in
power every 8.5 months (p207). Because Germany had many different parties in
power very quickly, it was hard for Germany to gain much of an identity of
their own, and that put the people under stress and uncertainty, not really
having pride in themselves or their country.
The Weimar Republic was in power for the longest time, of 14
years, but they were under the constant stress of possibly being replaced for a
more authoritative government. This was a problem for the Weimar Republic
because that meant they were unable actually govern, and only do things that
the people would be happy with, or else they would be voted out. Since no one
was actually able to govern the country, nothing got better, and most things
got worse, which brought the country morale down even further.
Because the country was so low on morale, high in poor
leadership, and high in involvement from other countries, it was hard to keep
the economic system balanced. During the 10 years after the war, French armies
were in German towns to keep political unrest to a minimum, and because of
their involvement, it pushed the value of the Mark down, driving prices up. In
1923, the exchange rate of the Mark to US Dollars was 240 million Marks for 1
dollar (p.210). In comparison, the price of bread at the end of WW1 was 2.80
Marks, and in December 1923 it was 399,000,000,000 Marks. Once the French left
the country, the price then dropped back down to 30 Marks.
German Inflation after WWI
Gustav Stresemann, one of the greatest leaders after WWI
Once their leader, Stresemann, died of a heart attack, it
was hard to bring another person into power. There were many fights over what goals
the country had, and where they should go with their new government. Because
goals were not known, many of the people chose to follow Hitler, as he had plans
on where to go for the future. He described his future as the “national
socialism” (p231). He used it so that everyone would enjoy the term, and think
of it as the best way to turn the economy around in the country.
The first of Hitler’s plans was to get rid of the treaty of
Versailles, as it was a suffocating plan to keep German forces low and
powerless; getting rid of the treaty was strongly influenced by the public in
both social classes and political parties (p231). His next goal was to create
an all-powerful race, which he considered his own as the most successful race.
He planned to move into eastern countries and rid them of the inferior races.
Hitler is very well known for his powerful speaking skills, speaking the minds of the people
Hitler was a powerful leader due to his speaking skills; he
was able to communicate straight to the people, often bringing up topics that
the people had not thought about directly, but was a worry all the same. He
listened to peoples’ fears, and promised to face them to make their lives
better. Hitler played the emotional card with the people, and using this, he
gathered more people in to follow his leadership.
Hitler’s party was exactly what Germany was wanting: a party
of the people, for the people, listening to the people. The party welcomed
everyone and anyone as long as they were of the Aryan race; the party even
pushed for the young people to take part in the government. Because Hitler was
for the people, he put Germany back on its feet to become a strong political
power.
Hitler had a very strong influence over the young people, pushing for them to take part in their future.
