After World War 1, Germany were left in a terrible state. They had huge debts that they needed to pay off to France and Belgium for reparations, and at the Treaty of Versailles it had been decided that Germany should take full responsibility and except all blame for the war. This affected the morale of the German people greatly. They felt ashamed as a nation and they were angry and bitter, ready to get revenge on Britain and France and show the world that united they were a great nation.
In order to pay their debts, the government started to print out mass amounts of money that they didn't have. As a result of this, the German economy crashed, the German deutschmark became worthless. One man was seen carrying a wheelbarrow full of notes to buy a loaf of bread.
As Germany couldn't afford to pay for the reparations, they came up with the 'Dawes Plan'.
Mussolini (left) and Hitler sent their armies to N...
According to Bullock, Hitler was an opportunistic ...
Firemen work on the burning ReichstagAmerica had agreed to lend Germany money to pay back their debts. This seemed like a good idea until the 'Wall Street Crash' took place. America's economy fell apart just as Germany's had. Consequently, America couldn't lend Germany any of the money they had promised them so the Germans still had no means of paying back their debts.
Since the conditions in Germany were so poor at the time, Hitler didn't have a great deal of trouble convincing the citizens of Germany to listen to his ideas. They were ready for any alternative to the life they were living at that time.
Another reason that Hitler achieved power in Germany was the fact that he appealed to all classes. He offered the lower classes jobs to stop unemployment (these jobs were taken form the Jews), he promised to stamp out all communism which appealed...