Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in January 1933 for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the Nazis were undoubtedly the most popular party in Germany by this time. As well as this however, several other factors contributed to this significant milestone in his rise to power, such as a lack of confidence and belief in the Weimar Republic after the Wall Street Crash. This was on top of the significant minority of society who had never believed in it or its principles, with over 20% voting against democratic parties upon the Republic's inception in 1919. Added to this is Hitler as an individual. His charisma and cunning cannot be overlooked, which manifested themselves in increased support and several successful tactics, whilst the It is thus clear that many factors influenced Hitler becoming chancellor in 1933.
The fact that Hitler was leader of the most popular party cannot be overlooked as a factor. In the July 1932 election, the Nazi's had won 37.4% of the vote to become the largest party in the Reichstag. This shows that more people supported the Nazis anti-Weimar regime than any of the centrist parties and the widespread support of the party was undoubtedly taken into account by President Hindenburg, despite his personal dislike of Hitler. Added to this is the dramatic growth in Nazi membership, rising from just 180,000 in 1928 to over 2 million by 1932, showing how people had lost trust in the Weimar Republic and were now clamoring for a change. Through following a policy of legality from 1924, with the Nazis prepared to 'hold their noses' alongside their enemies, as well as intense restructuring efforts such as a Gauleiters in every German region, the Nazis had put themselves in a position to exploit any potential chaos. This was duly seen in the 1929 Wall Street Crash, which plunged Germany into recession and led to 6m people being unemployed by 1932. The Nazis simply had to bide their time as they had put themselves in a position to be the go to anti-Weimar party, which save their share of the vote significantly rise.
