Nazi rise to power

• Hitler was a very persuasive man and a brilliant public speaker
• Hitler was able to convince the people of Germany that he was the only one who could save them
• Hitler had to be very patient and wait for the correct moment to strike
• Hitler went to prison in 1924 for the Munich Putsch
• Hitler was released from prison after 5 years in 1924
• Hitler decided to try to get into power democratically
• Hindenburg (German President 1932) despised Hitler, so did his advisers, Von Papen and Von Schleicher
• Hindenburg appointed Von Papen as Chancellor in 1932. They had hoped to make a coalition government with the Nazis after they gained the majority of the seats in the Reichstag, Hitler refused to cooperate.
• In November 1932, the Nazis lost 34 seats in the Reichstag. Despite being the largest party, they were running out of money
• von Schleicher stopped supporting von Papen and decided he wanted to be chancellor
• In December 1932, Hindenburg reluctantly made von Schleicher chancellor
• However on January 4th 1933, von Papen could see that von Schleicher was having difficulty. He privately agreed to work with Hitler
• However, on January 22nd, Hindenburg still refused to make Hitler chancellor
• On January 28th von Schleicher admitted defeat and resigned
• Hindenburg wanted to reinstate Von Papen as chancellor, but he was warned that doing so could trigger a movement against Hindenburg. Von Papen persuaded him to appoint Hitler as chancellor with Von Papen as his vice-chancellor on January 30th 1933
• Hitler was very underestimated. Von Papen believed that if Hitler failed, it would be easy for him to become Chancellor again. They thought they had Hitler right where they wanted, however it was always Hitler who was in control.