Ian's World of History

There is a lot of evidence to show that Hitler gained power by only semi legal means. I will look at instances where Hitler may have gained power in a perfectly legal fashion and instances of him using underhand tactics to draw a conclusion.

Firstly the legal ways that Hitler gained power.

Hitler was an expert politician and had great charisma in his expression of his views through speeches which could win over supporters on it’s own and many were enlightened by his opinions and his rallies.

This was a very useful tool when combined with the expert propaganda administration of Joseph Goebbels spreading the views of Hitler far and wide over Germany as well as organising his popular rallies and eventually creating the Hitler myth showing Hitler as God. Goebells’ propaganda was very well targeted to specific groups such as views of nationalism to ex patriotic soldiers or the promise of the protection of Catholics to the centre party and this was very effective.

It can even be argued that Hitler’s beliefs in general were ones that appealed to the right people. His opposition to communism struck a chord with the ex-soldiers, aided by the fact that Hitler Himself was a soldier, and won many supporters including President Hindenburg, a very useful ally!

This was perfectly legal, he just aimed to impress through propaganda and was merely expressing his own views, this was a factor in his success but clearly wasn’t enough on it’s own as the vote only rose due to many other factors.

The other members in Hitler’s cabinet and the useful positions they occupied also helped considerably. Herman Goering Led the SA along with Ernst Rohm, a radical leader but this also meant the party appealed to a wider range of people as the party included the far right all the way to the far left wing potentially appealing to many. Joseph Goebbels, apart from being a wizard with propaganda was also Gauliter of Berlin which placed the Nazis in a strong position in the capital city and with the potential to control large areas. Heinrich Himmler was the very loyal leader of the SS which Hitler could control more closely than the SA (Himmler being more cooperative and sharing Hitler’s views more than Rohm).

The SA and SS are certainly a factor in the rise of Hitler to power. Whether they can be considered a legal or illegal factor is uncertain. This is because, although the SA intimidated and used violence against opposition, Hitler often denied any connection with them and often used Ernst Rohm as an excuse for the violence. Rohm was a radical, almost communist, leader and was also an open homosexual (looked down on by the aristocrats and hierarchy as it was considered improper) which played right into Hitler’s hands as he could just blame any radical action on him. Hitler used this right up until the Night of the Long Knives when Hitler was seen as a hero for killing him! By now no one dared question Hitler anyway.

Whether you see this as deviant depends on your point of view, it might only be considered illegal from a moral point of view, others would call it smart by Hitler or even just fortunate that Rohm was in this position. Rohm was almost certainly a figure that Hitler thought he could manipulate because if he was useless Hitler would probably not take the risk of leaving him in charge of the largest armed force in Germany! After all Rohm did disagree with Hitler on occasion and surely Goering would make a more trusted leader.

Hitler’s manipulative skills helped a lot on the road to becoming Fuhrer and not just his manipulation of Rohm but of the German Hierarchy, especially president Hindenberg and Von Papen who saw Hitler as a hero in the face of a civil war over communism. It is especially crafty of Hitler as he was still under the threat of the axe from Hindenberg who felt he could control him.

   Now I will look at the illegal or underhand factors:

Back to the SA again, though Hitler denied he ordered them to intimidate opposition this doesn’t excuse the fact that they did, and very brutally. It can be argued that Hitler was the Fuhrer of the party which means they answer to him alone so he must have had a hand in it somewhere but Hitler made out that he trusted Ernst Rohm and co to be in charge of them.

The SA intimidated opponents into either allying with Hitler or even just bailing out of the Reichstag altogether and they did it very brutally so much so that they were seen as savages and possibly even did more harm to the Nazi image than winning support through intimidation but the people they intimidated were powerful ones. The SA did scrub up well though and people were often impressed by their displays or marches.

In this light they are almost certainly an illegal way that Hitler gained power but in a crafty move by Goering he drafted thousands of SA soldiers into the police force so they effectively became the law. Going on this their actions were partly legal or if they weren’t nobody argued with them whilst they were police officers.

Part of the intimidation image was that there were millions of them and only 100 000 in the regular army and this image possibly more so than the physical violence was a factor in Hitler’s rise to power.

The common view was that the SA operated violently and illegally so I will go even and say that they were both a legal and an illegal factor as they weren’t all about violence.

The Reichstag fire is a factor which is almost definitely illegal, if you believe that the Nazis arranged it but if you don’t then it is purely circumstantial but in my view the way Hitler reacted speedily to the fire and was quick to blame communists indicates that he either directly or indirectly he had a hand in it. It was a very underhand move but one which, on it’s own, would have made little difference. How Hitler responded was pure genius, he elevated himself to the status of national hero through his opposition to communism and was even claimed to have prevented a civil war. This view was supported by the important people, including Hindenberg, who quickly issued the enabling act “for the protection of the people and state”.

You may see the arrest of thousands of communists and the intimidation and banning of opposition as illegal and underhand, which from a moral point of view and in the interests of fairness may be so but the paperwork said it was perfectly legal. Civil liberties such as the right to a fair trial etc were suspended under article 48 and any communist was a criminal, Hitler was merely doing what was right at the time by arresting criminals. Depending on which way you look at it the bit where Hitler gained a majority through the absence of communist parties was incidental, they were criminals so why should they be allowed to stand?

Hitler’s smart tactics by forming a coalition to gain the two thirds majority were quite legal, even if his image was helped by other deviant factors, under the system of proportional representation and Hitler was in power with the ability to change the constitution and granted dictatorial powers for 4 years.

He was still venerable to the sack from Hindenberg but, with one last legal factor, Hindenberg died of natural causes in 1934 in his eighties and he wasn’t replaced meaning Hitler was the one and only Fuhrer of Germany.

To conclude, Hitler gained power through a mixture of legal and illegal ways, some were merely circumstantial and some required Hitler to react to his advantage, which he did and became Fuhrer as a result..