Did the Germans hate Hitler

Answer 1

After World War One ended and Germany was defeated, they returned to their country with heavy losses, a 6.6 billion pound reparation cost and a feeling of being let down. The country suffered huge economical losses and the country fell into poverty and starvation. Any government ruling a country like this already would have a very hard time keeping alive. At this point the Emergency

Weimar Republicconstitution was adopted by three parties, the Social Democratic Party, the Catholic Center and the German Democratic Party, in early 1919 they won 76 percent of the vote and began to govern Germany. The Weimar Republic was modelled around the imperial constitution and was written in Weimar. People had to blame someone and they blamed the republic for everything, for loosing the war, to the situation they were in now. One of the main reasons the Weimar republic fell from power was the treaty of Versailles, the

German peoplethought all the bad things that had happened to them and their country were a result of it. In addition to this there were parties from the left and right challenging them. A bi product of the treaty of Versailles was the huge economic lose in their country; this gave the German people more reason to blame and loathe the Weimar republic. The third and final main reason was Hitler's raise to power, he offered the countries people freedom from the Weimar rule and they gradually accepted it.

After world war one ended and the treaty of Versailles was signed, German troops returned home feeling angry. They felt that there was no need to call an end to the war, as it didn't seem as though they had the lower hand and Germany had not been invaded. They were bitter because they couldn't fight on and knew it had all been for nothing and they hadn't gained anything. In fact they lost a lot; during the

peace conferencethey were forced to, most importantly; redefine their Western borders and give over a lot of land (13%), pay for damages amounting to $33 billion us dollars, hugely diminish their army and navy and destroy their air-force, donate some of their coal mines (26%) to France as compensation for destroying theirs and accept full responsibility for the war. The German people found the treaty hugely unfair and unjust. They felt as though they had been pushed into a corner, because they had no choice whether they signed or not. Only two people represented Germany at the treaty, and they were led to the document and forced to sign. The German people also believed that some of the treaty's requirements were completely unfair, for example the clause in which Germany was told to accept full responsibility for the war was highly un fair, in most cases of was there is never just one country to blame, and this was no exception. How could Germany be solely blamed when the war was sparked with a Serbian killing an Austrian? For these reasons the Germans were very irate and needed someone to blame. They looked to the top and found the Weimar republic. They were blamed for everything, from the treaty of Versailles to the economic situation they were in now. The Republic was made the scapegoat of Germany. Since the German army had been greatly diminished, many of its soldiers were left unemployed, many of them set up and joined the ranks of the Freikorps, they were set up to fight against the left wing party's of Germany. In March 1920 they marched against the Weimar republic and were unopposed by the German army or people. This shows how people felt about the republic and how little they wanted them there. The German people began to believe that Bolshevism was the same as Judaism and they began to hate the Jews, and made them the scapegoats. Out of this sourness and discrimination, Nazism was born. Hitler led the first big Nazi party; he had just recovered from gas blindness, and was ready for revenge, he was one of the angriest at the end of WW1. He was a very good leader and his strong and powerful speeches converted people and made them vote for him.

Germany made a pledge to pay the allies reparation costs, but with their economic situation in disarray they couldn't keep up with payments. The cost they had initially been asked to pay was ridiculously high, over $70 billion US dollars, after much argument they managed to bring it down to $33 billion, which was still very difficult to meet and it took a long time. The loss of money hugely damaged the German economy and the country was thrown into poverty and starvation. The country couldn't run itself properly, and when they failed to deliver exports French and German troops seized control of their industrial heartland Ruhr. They also took control of all of Germany's mines, railroads and factories. This angered the German people even more and they blamed The Weimar Republic for being incapable and loosing yet more land. The German Government persuaded the workers of these places to conduct peaceful strikes and refuse to cooperate with the invaders. The government printed more money to help the strikers putting it into an even deeper economical crisis. After 9 months they stopped the striking and began paying the payments again and the French and Belgians moved out. Because of this and the way the Nazis had financed the war the inflation was occurring on a huge scale. The German mark used to be a quarter of a US dollar, by 1919 the mark was worth less then 20% of its pre-war value, it was worth less than the paper it was printed on. Many Germans blamed this on the German banking system and the Allies demands, but in turn found the Weimar republic to blame because they were in power. Not everyone lost out during this hyper inflation, people who had taken out loans found they could pay them back for a tiny fraction of a price, of course the banks and the loaners didn't like it at all. Between 1925 and 1929 Gustav Streseman ruled the Weimar republic, and some consider his rule as the "golden era" of the period. He was well respected over seas as well as within Germany and he used this respect through the Dawes and Young plan to shrink the size of the reparation costs and gain loans to restore the economy. He also managed to get regain Germanys place in the League of Nations during the Locarno treaties. Germany partially began to regain trust in the Weimar republic, but still unemployment rose causing more drops in the economy and other parties were gaining more votes and were being heard. The Government had made quick steps with Streseman in control, to stop the inflation, and introduced a new German mark worth approximately 1 trillion old marks. This succeeded in stopping the terrible inflation, but the whole incident increased the German people's feelings of insecurity and concern in The Weimar Republic. After this golden era the Wall Street crash occurred and the countries economy faltered again. People instantly began to look away from the Weimar Republic and search for other parties to help them.

During the period in which the Weimar republic ruled, other parties were forming, and gradually as people's dislike for the Weimar system grew, they began to be heard. The most important of which was the Nazi party. They began as a small party called the German workers party and were set up to oppose the treaty of Versailles (as most other parties did) and communism. They felt especially angered by the German defeat of the war, and the outrageous terms set for them by the Allies afterwards. Hitler initially joined the party as a spy but soon found he shared many of the same morals and views. He soon made his way up to become leader of the small group with his powerful enthusiasm. Soon afterwards they re-named themselves and became The National and Socialist Workers party (Nazis), they also wrote a 20 point program that fashioned their political views. Hitler called for a revolution and organised a coup in Munich to demonstrate their views. They thought they would be supported by the police, but unluckily were not and fighting broke out. Hitler was thrown in prison and the rest of his party fled. The judge of the court supported Hitler and gave him the shortest sentence possible under the circumstances. During his time in Jail Hitler wrote his book "Mein Kampf", which would later persuade people to believe his views and vote for his party. People thought the Nazi party had been eradicated but amazingly after Hitler's release the made an astonishing recovery and regrouped. However it still remained small and only gained local support, especially throughout the Weimar republics golden era, throughout which he had nothing much to offer Germanys people. Hitler realised after the failure of the coup, he would have to gain support democratically. Seven years after they had formed they were failing miserably and only received 2.68% of the vote at the elections. The wall street crash was the opportunity Hitler needed, the economy crashed, unemployment rose to 5.5 million and just when it seemed it couldn't get any worse five major banks folded causing 20,000 companies to fail. Now the German people felt desperate and had given up on the Weimar republic, they looked towards the Nazis extremist views for help. Hitler was an intelligent man and knew exactly what the people wanted to hear, he offered the unemployed work even though the economy was so bad, he offered everyone better living and working conditions and better wages. But he offered these things to them as true Germans, not 'as members of a vaguely defined international proletariat' (Cowie 1992, p.175.). He also said he would restore the economy and make up for the treaty of Versailles, something he knew the people would want to hear. By offering solutions to these problems he gained support and eventually power. He tried to appeal to every person in Germany by making his proposals very broad, therefore appealing to everyone. He even appealed to ex-military members by promising them he would destroy the treaty of Versailles and return the army back to its original size. With this he gained huge support from the "Frei korps" and won many of their votes. If what he offered wasn't enough he could persuade people with his fantastic speeches. He was inspiring and he spoke with such confidence in what he was saying he would put belief into his masses of listeners. On top of this his party had suddenly become a main player because of the other Party's weaknesses; their Propaganda campaign also began to make an impact. They made powerful and aggressive posters and displays promoting their party, as Kurt Ludecke stated, "Only one thing was managed marvellously from the beginning, the propaganda, Hitler's personal hobby and probably his strongest point". It gave hope to the people and made them believe in the Nazis. He also made a scapegoat for the German people, and blamed the Jews for everything that happened; they began to believe him and therefore sided with him. In the Reichstag elections of July 1932 the Nazis made a sweeping gain and won 230 seats (37.3%), more than any of the other Parties, therefore winning the majority, kicking the Weimar Republic out of Government.

In conclusion, there were many reasons the Weimar Republic failed. The republics survival depended on the German peoples trust, and throughout their rule they gradually lost it. It started with the treaty of Versailles where the Weimar Republic was blamed for everything that happened as a result. This blame caused a lack of trust and the German people began to dislike their government. During the economical crisis and hyper-inflation it seemed their faith in the republic was hugely diminishing and their seemed very little hope for the Weimar Constitution. Streseman managed to save the Weimar republic for a little longer by restoring the economic situation and gaining a little more respect for Germany. But the Wall Street crash was the final straw, and the people lost all their trust in the Weimar Republic, they began searching for other parties to govern their country. They found the Nazis and slowly voted them into Government. Hitler took advantage of Germany while it was vulnerable and he succeeded using clever tactics, good timing and luck. It seems this situation was near inevitable and any government would have the same happen to them. It appears there was no way out of the sequence of events that led to the failure of the Weimar republic.

Answer 2

Because he didn't like democracy. Are there any sources of info for this question?

Answer 3

Because the Weimar republic was obeying the British, and French, and a key fact that made it so bad in Hitlers eyes, was that it didn't resist the treaty of versailles.

Answer 4

Most Germans Loved Hitler at first that's how he became ruler of Germany but after he crucfied the Jews people started to hate him even his own troops

Answer 5

Yes