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Start of NSDAP
The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), is known today as the Nazis. This group was a small political party that wanted nationalism and used anti-Jewish ways to push for this. This small group started to change when Adolf Hitler came to a meeting, originally as a spy for the army, but he ended up joining -
Hitler Gains Control of the Nazis
Hitler became the leader of the Nazis and he created a group, called the Brownshirts, which took care of the enemies. He made speeches about how many groups were tarnishing the German name. Then, when Hitler tried to overthrow the government and got caught, the Nazis got lots of publicity and their numbers grew. -
Nazis Gain Support
Groups who felt ignored by the government, those like the farmers and small business owners, began to favor the Nazi party. While they were steadily gaining support, their message did not appeal to German citizens because the economy was doing so well at the time. -
The Impact of the Great Depression on the Nazis
The Great Depression made many of the German voters to look at groups such as the Nazis. This caused the Nazi party to win about 230 seats in the election of 1932. -
The Chancellor Deal
President Paul von Hindenburg would not allow Hitler to be chancellor, but Hitler would not take no for an answer. He would not see anyone else, that was not him, be crowned as chancellor. One of Hitler's supporters. Papen, convinced the president to allow Hitler to be the chancellor and gave him the power he wanted. -
Reichstag Fire and Aftermath
Hitler had powerful supporters in the military, the media as well as big businesses. His critics however. The fire in the Reichstag building gave Hitler the opportunity to declare an emergency warning and ask the president to invoke a decree that stated that This emergency power authorized the president to rule by decree, to ensure public safety and order was allowed by Hitler. This broad range of rule allowed the Nazis to assume control legal limits of the citizens. -
The Enabling Act
The Enabling Act allowed Hitler to rule by decree and also they could impose taxes on the citizens and bypass the constitution without legislation or Reichstag approval. The passing of this act was rigged because Hitler arrested many of the voters so they voting would be uneven. -
Concentration Camps Opening
The creation of concentration was intended to keep those who disagreed with the Nazi ideas in a contained facility. -
Hindenburg’s Death and the Aftermath
After Hindenburg died, Hitler gained control of German government so he was in charge of the armed forces. Most of the Germans supported him as leader, but some believed that the voting was rigged in favor of the Nazi party. -
Rearmament
Hitler then reintroduced the draft and he began to prepare the military for war. Over four years the German army included "more than 900,000 soldiers, 8,000 aircraft and 95 warships" -
Anschluss-Austrian Takeover
Austria now had their own Nazi group and they wanted to vote on independence. Hitler claimed that the vote was rigged for the Austrian Nazis to win, so he either said to submit to them or to face invasion from them. Germany crossed the Austrian border and the next day, Germany and Austria were under one government. -
Czechoslovakia and the Munich Agreement
Sudetenland, a western region of Czechoslovakia, is mostly inhabited by German speakers and Hitler began to say that they were being killed by the Czechs. He requested immediate access to the Sudeten region, which was agreed to, only as long as Hitler did not go further in Czechoslovakia.
