The conditions after World War One left Germany in a vulnerable state. The Great Depression and the Treaty of Versailles proved to weaken the once world super power immensely. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party offered a new direction for Germany. This vulnerable state helped aid Hitler in his grasp for power. However, Hitler and the Nazis had mass appeal on their side. Lastly, there were many problems within the Weimar Republic that eventually paved the road for the Nazi regime. This essay will discuss how Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power prior to World War Two. .
The collapse of the Weimar Republic opened the door for the Nazi takeover in January 1933. There were too many enemies that were arrayed against the Republic. Everywhere in Europe liberal democracies faced problems both left and right after World War One. The decline of laissez-faire liberalism had been sparked in the nineteenth century but really reached its biggest decline in the span of time between the two great wars. Liberal governments, at least from society's view, seemed unable to meet the continuous strains of the industrial society. Among these strains were uncontrollable economic problems, mass unemployment and many conflicts between different classes and interest groups. In the final days of its collapse a new president was elected, Paul Von Hindenburg. It would be his decision in the later years to give Hitler power. Hindenburg personally did not agree with Republic, nor was he a Nazi, nor did he like Hitler.
After the first world war, a new battle arose, the battle between left and right. The main focal point was "how the benefits and burdens of modern industrial society would be distributed" (Stackelberg, p. 64). The life that was taken in this battle was liberal democracy in Central Europe. Communist parties were pushing their labour movement on to the people that inevitably made a large portion of the middle classes shift further to the right.
