How Did Hitler Consolidate His Power in 1933–34? (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History)

Hitler's Path to Dictatorship - Timeline & Summary

Hitler’s appointment as chancellor on 30th January 1933 was the first step in his taking power and complete control of Germany.

The Reichstag Fire provided the Nazi Party with the legal means to limit and restrict the power of the KPD.

With a two-thirds majority following the March 1933 election, Hitler was able to pass the Enabling Act - a law that transformed Germany into a one-party state. Opposition was silenced, trade unions banned and local governments ruled by pro-Nazi leaders.

With external opposition to Hitler and the Nazi Party greatly reduced, attention was turned to dissent within the Nazi Party. Ernst Röhm - head of the SA - had distanced himself from Hitler. The SA were becoming more and more unsettled, frustrated by unemployment like the Freikorps before the Kapp Putsch of 1920. Hitler struck during the Night of the Long Knives, when leading members of the SA were purged.

The death of President Hindenberg in August 1934 allowed the rise of Hitler to Führer. The Weimar Republic had ended and the era of Nazi Germany had begun.

The Reichstag Fire

• Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30th January 1933, but still did not have complete control of Germany:

  • The Nazi Party only controlled one-third of the Reichstag

  • Hindenburg was President of Germany

  • The Weimar Constitution limited the power of the chancellor

• A fire destroyed the Reichstag building on 27th February 1933

  • The police arrested a Dutch Communist named Marinus van der Lubbe at the scene

    • He was later executed for the crime

  • The fire resulted in the arrests of around 4,000 Communists

• Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree

  • The Reichstag Fire gave Hitler the opportunity to scapegoat the KPD

  • Hitler imprisoned political opponents and shut down Communist newspapers

  • The SA used the decree to justify using violence and intimidation towards political opponents

The Election of 1933

• On 5th March 1933, the government held Reichstag elections

  • The Reichstag Fire allowed Hitler to control the radio

  • Hitler used the SA and SS to intimidate opponents

• The election results were important

  • The Nazis received nearly 44% of the votes

    • This was short of the two-thirds majority to change the constitution

    • Hitler forced a coalition with Nationalists and the Centre Party using promises and threats

The Enabling Act

• The Enabling Act became law on 24th March 1933 by 444 votes to 94

  • All 81 members of the Communist Party were absent

  • Only the SPD opposed the vote

  • The SA intimidated other members of the Reichstag before the vote took place

• The Act gave the Nazi Party several powers

  • As chancellor, Hitler could propose new laws

  • Hitler’s cabinet could pass these laws without the Reichstag’s approval

  • These laws could overrule the Weimar Constitution

• The Enabling Act was only valid for four years, but it was renewed again in 1937

• Parties in the Reichstag could no longer oppose new laws, marking an end to democratic rule in Germany

Removing Public Opposition

• The Enabling Act provided Hitler and the Nazi Party the power to pass laws without the consent of the Reichstag

• Hitler used the powers of the Enabling Act to remove forms of public opposition:

The Night of the Long Knives

• The Enabling Act allowed Hitler to remove external opposition to the Nazi Party

• Hitler was concerned about internal opposition, particularly from the head of the SA - Ernst Röhm:

  • Röhm was a suspected homosexual, which did not align with Nazi Party values

  • Röhm led around three million SA members, around 60% of which were unemployed by 1933

  • Röhm believed in merging the SA with the army

  • Röhm wanted a ‘second revolution’ with a greater focus on supporting the working class

    • This contrasted with Hitler’s desire to win the support of the rich

    • It sounded like a Communist strategy

  • Röhm’s SA clashed with the SS, led by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich

• The SA had a poor reputation

  • Hindenburg threatened to impose martial law if Hitler could not bring the SA under control

• Hitler arranged a meeting with Röhm and other SA leaders at a hotel in the town of Bad Wiessee on 30th June 1934:

  • Röhm and around 400 SA members were arrested and later shot

  • Other opponents such as von Schleicher, Gregor Strassor and von Kahr were also arrested and killed

  • The Nazi Party told the public that

    • Röhm had been planning to replace Hitler

    • Röhm’s death served the interests of the country

The Death of Hindenburg

• Paul von Hindenburg had been President of Germany since 1925

• On 2nd August 1934, he died of lung cancer aged 86

• Hitler combined the positions of president and chancellor to make himself Führer

  • 90% of the public voted in favour of Hitler becoming Führer

• Hitler forced every soldier to swear an oath of loyalty to him

• This marked the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of Hitler’s Nazi Germany