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Okay, I don't understand why Hindenburg decided to appoint Hitler as Chancellor.
My textbook says it would help Hindenburg and Papen to win support by making use of Hitler.
What does that mean? I can't make sense out of it.
Thank you.
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Hitler Becoming Chancellor
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Posted 25 October 2008 - 08:14 AM
It's all to about getting your laws passed through the Reichstag (the German parliament).
Background
The Weimar constitution had two flaws:
1. proportional representation - a system of voting that produced lots of tiny parties (rather than, as in Britain today, two big ones). This meant that no one party EVER got a majority - the Weimar government was always a coalition of a group of parties. This makes the government very unstable; you only need to upset a couple of allies and - wham - you lose your majority.
Under the pressure of the Depression, German politics further fragmented, not coalesced! The governments found it almost impossible to build a coalition which would survive.
And, of course, in a democracy, when you don't have a majority, you can't pass any laws!
By 1932, the German government was basically defunct.
2. Article 48 - this gave the President the right to make decrees in an emergency.
By 1932, however, Hindenburg was not using decrees every blue moon in a crisis - the collapse of majority rule in the Reichstag meant that he was basically ruling by decree as the normal way of governing.
Now this mean that life went on, but it was entirely against the spirit of the Weimar democracy - de facto, Weimar by default had become a dictatorship run by Hindenburg, not a democracy run by the Reichstag.
Now Hindenburg hated democracy, but even he realised that this state of affair could not carry on.
The Dilemma
Hindenburg and Papen knew that - if they could rope in the Nazi Party - the biggest party in the Reichstag - they could form a government with a majority.
perhaps that could get the Reichstag government working again.
But the Nazis were nasty - in every sense of the word.
After twisting and turning - and you can find out th details for yourself - Papen and Hindenburg finally approached Hitler.
But what would he need to be given to persuade him to join the government - the Nazi's aren't going to support the government coalition for nothing!
At first they offered Hitler the post of the Vice-Chancellor, in a government le by Papen.
Hitler refused - he demanded to be Chancellor - and for a while it looked as though the deal would fail.
The Deal
Then Hindenburg and Papen took a gamble.
They reckoned they could control Hitler.
They offered him the Chancellorship, provided that Papen was Vice-Chancellor and there was only one other Nazi in the Cabinet.
This, they reckoned, was safe enough...
And the rest, as they say, is history
Background
The Weimar constitution had two flaws:
1. proportional representation - a system of voting that produced lots of tiny parties (rather than, as in Britain today, two big ones). This meant that no one party EVER got a majority - the Weimar government was always a coalition of a group of parties. This makes the government very unstable; you only need to upset a couple of allies and - wham - you lose your majority.
Under the pressure of the Depression, German politics further fragmented, not coalesced! The governments found it almost impossible to build a coalition which would survive.
And, of course, in a democracy, when you don't have a majority, you can't pass any laws!
By 1932, the German government was basically defunct.
2. Article 48 - this gave the President the right to make decrees in an emergency.
By 1932, however, Hindenburg was not using decrees every blue moon in a crisis - the collapse of majority rule in the Reichstag meant that he was basically ruling by decree as the normal way of governing.
Now this mean that life went on, but it was entirely against the spirit of the Weimar democracy - de facto, Weimar by default had become a dictatorship run by Hindenburg, not a democracy run by the Reichstag.
Now Hindenburg hated democracy, but even he realised that this state of affair could not carry on.
The Dilemma
Hindenburg and Papen knew that - if they could rope in the Nazi Party - the biggest party in the Reichstag - they could form a government with a majority.
perhaps that could get the Reichstag government working again.
But the Nazis were nasty - in every sense of the word.
After twisting and turning - and you can find out th details for yourself - Papen and Hindenburg finally approached Hitler.
But what would he need to be given to persuade him to join the government - the Nazi's aren't going to support the government coalition for nothing!
At first they offered Hitler the post of the Vice-Chancellor, in a government le by Papen.
Hitler refused - he demanded to be Chancellor - and for a while it looked as though the deal would fail.
The Deal
Then Hindenburg and Papen took a gamble.
They reckoned they could control Hitler.
They offered him the Chancellorship, provided that Papen was Vice-Chancellor and there was only one other Nazi in the Cabinet.
This, they reckoned, was safe enough...
And the rest, as they say, is history
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