German Governmental Unrest

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.