Germany 1918 to 1945: WACE Year 12 Modern History
“The collapse of Weimar democracy, the Nazi rise to power, the consolidation of the dictatorship, and life and persecution under the Third Reich”
The Weimar Republic, founded in 1918 to 1919, was weakened by the Treaty of Versailles, hyperinflation in 1923 and the Depression after 1929. Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933 and used the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act of March 1933 and the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 to build a totalitarian dictatorship that pursued rearmament, racial persecution and ultimately total war.
What this dot point is asking
SCSA wants you to trace Germany's path from the establishment of the Weimar Republic in 1918 to the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945. You need to explain why Weimar democracy failed, how the Nazi Party (NSDAP) came to power legally, how Hitler consolidated a dictatorship, and the nature of life, control and persecution under Nazi rule. The option is examined through source analysis and extended essays in the external paper.
The Weimar Republic was proclaimed in November 1918 after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and Germany sought an armistice ending World War I. The new democracy was born in crisis: the army's "stab in the back" myth (Dolchstosslegende) blamed civilian politicians, the "November Criminals", for a defeat the generals had actually conceded. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in June 1919, imposed the war-guilt clause (Article 231), reparations later fixed at 132 billion gold marks in 1921, loss of territory and a 100,000-man army cap. Many Germans viewed the treaty as a humiliating Diktat, and resentment of it became a permanent feature of right-wing politics.
The Weimar Constitution was democratic but flawed. Proportional representation produced fragmented coalitions, and Article 48 allowed the President to rule by emergency decree, a provision later exploited to bypass the Reichstag. The Republic survived early threats including the Spartacist uprising of January 1919 (crushed with Freikorps help, with Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht murdered), the right-wing Kapp Putsch of 1920, and Hitler's failed Munich (Beer Hall) Putsch of November 1923. The crisis of 1923, when the French occupied the Ruhr and hyperinflation destroyed savings, was the low point.
A period of relative stability followed under Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann. The Rentenmark stabilised the currency in late 1923, the Dawes Plan of 1924 restructured reparations with American loans, and the Locarno Treaties of 1925 and entry into the League of Nations in 1926 restored Germany's international standing. Yet this recovery rested on short-term American credit, leaving Germany dangerously exposed.
The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 ended the recovery. American loans were recalled, unemployment soared past six million by 1932, and the grand coalition collapsed in 1930. From March 1930, Chancellor Heinrich Bruning governed by Article 48 decree, normalising authoritarian rule. The Nazi vote surged: from 12 seats in 1928 to 107 in September 1930 and 230 in July 1932, making the NSDAP the largest party. Nazi success rested on propaganda directed by Joseph Goebbels, the paramilitary SA intimidating opponents, Hitler's charismatic oratory, and a message blaming Versailles, the Republic, communists and Jews for Germany's suffering while promising national renewal.
Hitler did not seize power by coup. President Hindenburg appointed him Chancellor on 30 January 1933 in a backroom deal engineered by Franz von Papen, who believed the conservatives could control him. This "legal revolution" is central to explaining how a democracy was dismantled from within.
Consolidation was rapid. The Reichstag Fire of 27 February 1933 was blamed on communists; the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended civil liberties the next day. After the March 1933 election, the Enabling Act (23 March 1933) let Hitler's cabinet legislate without the Reichstag, the legal foundation of the dictatorship. Trade unions were banned in May 1933, other parties dissolved by July, and the states (Lander) brought under central control through Gleichschaltung (coordination). The Night of the Long Knives (30 June 1934) eliminated SA leader Ernst Rohm and other rivals, reassuring the army. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler merged the offices of President and Chancellor as Fuhrer, and the army swore a personal oath to him.
The Nazi state combined terror and consent. The SS under Heinrich Himmler and the Gestapo enforced control; the first concentration camp opened at Dachau in March 1933. Propaganda, the Hitler Youth and control of education shaped a generation. Antisemitism was institutionalised through the boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripping Jews of citizenship, and the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938. Rearmament and public works such as the Autobahnen reduced unemployment and built support, though wages and consumer goods were constrained.
War from 1939 radicalised persecution into genocide. The invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 unleashed the Einsatzgruppen, and the Wannsee Conference of January 1942 coordinated the "Final Solution", the systematic murder of around six million Jews in the Holocaust. The regime collapsed only with military defeat; Hitler killed himself on 30 April 1945 and Germany surrendered unconditionally in May 1945.
Historiographically, the "intentionalist" school (Lucy Dawidowicz) stresses Hitler's long-held plan to destroy the Jews, while "functionalists" or "structuralists" (Hans Mommsen, Martin Broszat) emphasise improvisation and competing agencies within a chaotic state. Ian Kershaw's concept of "working towards the Fuhrer" bridges the two: officials radicalised policy in anticipation of Hitler's wishes. On Weimar's collapse, historians debate whether the Republic was doomed from birth by structural flaws or destroyed by the contingent shock of the Depression.
A common essay or extended-response task asks you to trace consolidation as a sequence of legal and illegal steps. Work through it chronologically with analysis at each stage.
Step 1: Start from the legal appointment
Establish the starting point: Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933 in a backroom deal, not by coup. He led a coalition and did not yet have dictatorial power, so consolidation was needed.
Step 2: Use crisis to suspend liberties
Explain the Reichstag Fire of 27 February 1933 and the Reichstag Fire Decree the next day, which suspended civil liberties and allowed mass arrests of communists, tilting the March election.
Step 3: Secure legal dictatorship
Identify the Enabling Act of 23 March 1933 as the legal foundation: it let the cabinet legislate without the Reichstag. Then trace Gleichschaltung: unions banned in May, other parties gone by July, the Lander brought under central control.
Step 4: Remove rivals and merge offices
Explain the Night of the Long Knives on 30 June 1934, eliminating Rohm and the SA leadership to reassure the army. On Hindenburg's death in August 1934, Hitler merged Chancellor and President as Fuhrer and took the army's personal oath.
Step 5: Reach a judgement
Conclude that consolidation combined legal forms with terror and intimidation, dismantling democracy from within in eighteen months.
Hitler did not seize power in a coup; the 1923 Munich Putsch failed, and in 1933 he was legally appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg. The dictatorship was built afterwards through the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act and Gleichschaltung. Calling 1933 a violent seizure misses the central point that a democracy was dismantled from within.
Exam-style questions
Questions in the style of SCSA exam questions on this dot point, each with a worked answer. They are written by ExamExplained unless tagged "Past paper"; the year shows the paper a question is modelled on.
WACE 2021-style8 marksWith reference to its origin and purpose, evaluate the usefulness of Source 1 (a 1932 Nazi election poster) for a historian investigating why Germans voted for the NSDAP.Show worked answer →
An 8 mark source-usefulness question wants origin and purpose tied to a judgement against the stated inquiry, not a description.
Origin and purpose. State that the source is an official NSDAP campaign poster from 1932, produced under Goebbels to win votes during the Depression crisis. Its purpose is persuasion, so it is selective and emotive by design.
Usefulness. Argue it is highly useful as evidence of the Nazi message and electoral appeal: it reveals how the party blamed Versailles, the Republic and named enemies while promising work, bread and national renewal. It is less useful as a guide to why people actually voted, because it shows what the party offered, not how voters received it.
Make the analytical move: a propaganda source is unreliable as a neutral record but very useful as evidence of intent and method. Tie every point back to the inquiry.
Markers reward the origin-purpose link, a judgement relative to the question, and the recognition that a biased source is still useful for revealing perspective.
WACE 2022-style16 marksTo what extent was the Great Depression responsible for the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi rise to power?Show worked answer →
A 16 mark essay needs a clear thesis weighing the Depression against other causes, sustained across structured paragraphs.
Thesis. Argue that the Depression was the decisive trigger, but that it worked on a Republic already weakened by structural flaws and the legacy of Versailles, so it is best seen as the catalyst rather than the sole cause.
For the Depression. Show that after 1929 American loans were recalled, unemployment passed six million by 1932, and the Nazi vote surged from 12 seats in 1928 to 230 in July 1932. Government by Article 48 decree from 1930 normalised authoritarian rule.
Other causes. Weigh long-term factors: the Dolchstosslegende, the Versailles Diktat and reparations, proportional representation producing weak coalitions, and the Article 48 emergency power. Then the contingent factor: Hindenburg appointing Hitler in January 1933 in von Papen's backroom deal.
Judgement. Conclude that the Depression was necessary but not sufficient, the shock that let pre-existing weaknesses be exploited. Reference the structuralist-versus-contingency debate over whether Weimar was doomed from birth.
Markers reward a weighed thesis, precise evidence, and a reasoned judgement that addresses "to what extent".