Explain how Hitler and the Nazis were able to achieve control over Germany through a combination of popular appeal and force.

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Explain how Hitler and the Nazis were able to achieve control over Germany through a combination of popular appeal and force.

In the first half of the 20th century one man, Adolf Hitler, gained total control of Germany. To get this power he, and his party the Nazis, used a combination of popular appeal and force.

In 1919 WWI drew to a close when Germany, the loser of the war, signed the 'Treaty of Versailles'. It was a peace treaty written by the winners Britain and France. Under the treaty, Germany was blamed for the war and had to pay huge amounts of reparations to the victorious Allies. It also took away Germany's overseas colonies, gave away some of her land to surrounding countries and greatly reduced her army. Many Germans felt the treaty was unfair and added further humiliation after losing the war. As a result of this, many Germans started to become very nationalistic.

They resented the winners of the war and wanted Germany to become great again.

In 1921 the amount of reparations owed by Germany was officially announced to be £6,600,000,000. The German economy was weak at the time and this announcement made matters worse. Germany could no longer keep up with the huge reparation payments. France decided to force them and to do so invaded the industrial Ruhr Valley, which furthered German hatred of the French. The Ruhr workers stopped work. As a result of the strikes the German economy became worse and the German people suffered massive inflation known as hyperinflation. In January 1923 $1 US was worth 17,972 German marks and by November that year $1 US was worth 4,200,000 million marks. As a result of hyperinflation, all savings became worthless and people on fixed incomes soon found themselves poverty stricken.

In 1919...