Back to the full dot-point answer
NSWModern HistoryQuick questions
Core Study: Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919-1946
Quick questions on Hitler's rise to power 1919-1933: HSC Modern History Core Study
9short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is long-term Weimar weaknesses?Show answer
The Weimar constitution (August 1919) used proportional representation, producing fragmented parliaments (around 30 parties contested 1928 elections). Article 48 gave the President emergency powers to rule by decree. The Treaty of Versailles (June 1919) supplied the founding grievance, exploited as the Dolchstosslegende (stab in the back) by the nationalist right. Hyperinflation (1923) wiped out middle-class savings.
What is hitler and the early Nazi Party, 1919 to 1928?Show answer
Hitler joined the German Workers' Party (DAP) as its 55th member in September 1919. The Party was renamed the NSDAP in February 1920 with the 25-point programme. Hitler became Party leader in July 1921.
What is the Great Depression and the Nazi breakthrough?Show answer
The Wall Street Crash (29 October 1929) ended American loans under the Dawes Plan. Industrial production fell by 40 per cent. Unemployment rose from 1.3 million (September 1929) to 6.1 million (early 1932). The "grand coalition" of SPD, Centre, and DDP collapsed on 27 March 1930.
What is the Nazi voter base?Show answer
The Nazi vote was disproportionately Protestant, rural, small-town, and middle-class (Mittelstand). The KPD held urban industrial workers; the Catholic Centre Party held the Catholic vote. The Nazis combined a youth movement (the Hitler Youth, founded 1926), a paramilitary (SA, 400,000 by 1932), and a women's organisation.
What is the Backstairs Intrigue?Show answer
Bruning was dismissed in May 1932 and replaced by Franz von Papen, then by Kurt von Schleicher in December 1932. Schleicher's attempt to split the Nazi Party by negotiating with Gregor Strasser failed. Papen, sidelined and resentful, negotiated with Hitler in early January 1933 at the home of banker Kurt von Schroder.
What is overstating the Nazi electoral majority?Show answer
The Nazis never won an absolute majority in a free election. Peak was 37.4 per cent in July 1932; the November 1932 election showed Nazi support falling.
What is misdating the end of parliamentary government?Show answer
It ended in March 1930 with Bruning's presidential decrees, not in 1933.
What is forgetting Papen?Show answer
Papen's January 1933 deal is the proximate cause of Hitler's appointment. Markers expect you to name him.
What is treating Hindenburg as a passive figure?Show answer
Hindenburg disliked Hitler (he called him "the Bohemian corporal") but appointed him. Note the choice.