Why Did the Nazis have Little Success Before 1930? (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History)
Revision Note
Author
Zoe WadeExpertise
History
Why did the Nazi Party Lose Support Between 1924 and 1928? - Summary
Historians call the support for the Nazi Party 1924-1928 ‘The Lean Years’. This means that the German people considered the NSDAP a small, extremist group after the Munich Putsch. There is a clear link between the ‘Golden Age’ of the Weimar Republic and ‘The Lean Years’ of the Nazi Party. For extremist parties to succeed, a country’s economy or political leadership needs to be failing. The public is more likely to look for alternative solutions offered by extremism if moderate government is ineffective. The recovery of the Weimar Republic through Stresemann’s policies limited the need for the NSDAP. This resulted in a decline in support for Hitler’s party. Although the Nazi Party lost support, Hitler used 1924-1928 as a period to restructure the party. Hitler had learnt much from the Munich Putsch. He wanted to ensure the NSDAP was ready to benefit if Germany experienced political or economic turmoil again. Without ‘The Lean Years’, the Nazi Party would not have been able to benefit from the subsequent impacts of the Wall Street Crash on Germany from 1930. |
The Munich Putsch
By November 1923, Hitler decided that the NSDAP was ready to take control of Germany
Support for the Nazi Party had increased due to the Weimar government’s failure to deal with the hyperinflation crisis
Many people were looking to extremist parties for economic and political solutions
Hitler had studied the failed putsches launched by the Freikorps and the Spartacists
He had learnt that a putsch needed the support of the military and the police to succeed
The inclusion of General Ludendorff, a respected military veteran, in the putsch aimed to rally the support of the army
Hitler also needed the backing of the police
Members behind the Munich Putsch | Bavarian government officials |
|---|---|
Adolf Hitler - Leader of the NSDAP and key organiser of the Munich Putsch | Gustav von Kahr - Leader of the State Government of Bavaria |
General Ludendorff - First World War hero and conspirator of the putsch | Colonel von Seisser - Head of the Bavarian Police |
Ernst Röhm - Leader of the SA. Responsible for securing the local army and police headquarters in Munich | General von Lossow - Head of the German Army in Bavaria |
Hermann Goering - Key member of the NSDAP and participated in the putsch |
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Julius Streicher - Key member of the NSDAP and participated in the putsch |
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Learn more about the causes and the events of the Munich Putsch
Why Did the Munich Putsch Fail?
Hitler left the beer hall placing Ludendorff in charge of watching the Bavarian officials
Ludendorff failed in this role by being persuaded to let Kahr, Seisser and Lossow go
Without their support, the putsch had no official backing and the army suppressed the SA with ease
Hitler continued with the putsch after learning he had lost the support of the Bavarian officials
Hitler and the SA only had 2,000 guns. This meant the NSDAP and their supporters could not fight the German army when they attacked
The army remained loyal to the government despite the inclusion of General Ludendorff in the putsch
Hitler rushed the execution of the Munich Putsch in an attempt to benefit from the hyperinflation crisis
If Hitler had delayed the putsch, this would have allowed for better preparation and a bigger chance of success
Hitler needed to gain more support from the Bavarian people. Most citizens in Munich did not stop the uprising but also did not actively support it
Outcomes of the Munich Putsch
After his arrest, Hitler and General Ludendorff went on trial for committing high treason
Treason is one of the most serious crimes a person can commit
In February 1924, Hitler represented himself in court
Usually, a person would hire a lawyer to represent their case in court and persuade the judge of their innocence
Hitler wanted to use his oration skills to defend himself
Although Hitler was found guilty, his approach to the trial rewarded him with successes
Positive consequences for Hitler | Negative consequences for Hitler |
|---|---|
As an Austrian citizen, Hitler’s punishment could have been deportation. He avoided this by impressing the right-wing judges. Hitler received a prison sentence of five years at Landsberg Prison | Hitler was convicted of high treason. His putsch was unsuccessful in achieving its aims |
Multiple newspapers across Germany reported on Hitler's trial. Hitler became a national celebrity | The Munich authorities decided to ban the NSDAP. Support for the party dropped. They briefly changed their name and won 32 seats in the Reichstag at the May 1924 election |
In prison, Hitler wrote a book called Mein Kampf (‘My Struggle’), which formalised his ideas and a new approach to how to govern Germany | Many Germans believed Hitler had missed his opportunity to govern Germany. The appointment of Stresemann marked the improvement of Germany’s economy and government |
Hitler had learnt that violent putsches did not work. After being released from prison, he considered how to use the Weimar legal system to gain ultimate power in Germany |
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The Lean Years of the Nazi Party, 1924-1928
In Landsberg Prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (‘My Struggle’)
He considered what the core values of the Nazi Party should be
He dictated the piece for Rudolph Hess, who later became a deputy in the party, to write
He published Mein Kampf in July 1925
Key Beliefs in Mein Kampf
A key belief in | Summary of the belief | Nationalist or Socialist? |
|---|---|---|
The superiority of the Aryan race | Hitler believed the German race was the best in the world. He was against Germans marrying Jewish people as he stated this weakened the Aryan race | Nationalist |
Social Darwinism | The pseudo-science that some races are better than others. He believed the Aryan race was the best and the Jewish race was the worst. He stated that the Jewish people conspired to take down the Aryan race. Hitler believed Jewish people dominated industry and infiltrated politics through parties such as the SPD | Nationalist |
Lebensraum | This means ‘living space’ in German. Hitler theorised that the Aryan race needed more territory so that the population could grow. He believed this space should come from Eastern Europe by taking over parts of the Russian empire | Nationalist |
Führerprinzip | The concept was that Germany needed an autocratic leader with ultimate power. He believed that democracy was weak and totalitarianism could keep the people happy | Nationalist |
The restoration of traditional values | Hitler saw the ‘Golden Age’ of Weimar Germany as a corruption of traditional values. He wanted to reintroduce strong family values, Christianity and realism in art and culture | Nationalist |
Redistributing the wealth from industry and land | Hitler believed that landowners and factory owners should have their profits taken from them. The German workers would benefit from this money | Socialism |
Exam Tip
When comparing Mein Kampf to the Twenty-Five Point Programme, it is clear that Hitler had moved the party firmly towards nationalism. While there were still elements of socialism, this was more in name rather than in policy. This move to the extreme right-wing created a clearer political identity. It also shrunk its potential support base as Mein Kampf made NSDAP’s policies more extreme.
Reorganising the Nazi Party, 1924-1928
Hitler left prison after serving nine months of his five-year sentence
Judges were much more lenient on right-wing offenders
The government lifted the ban on the NSDAP in February 1925
Hitler relaunched the party on 27th February 1925
The failure of the Munich Putsch made Hitler rethink the organisation of the party
To make the Nazi Party electable, its systems needed to be a lot clearer
Hitler divided Germany into 35 regions (called gaue)
These corresponded to the regions created by the Weimar government
Each gau (single region) had a local Nazi Party leader called a gauleiter
Hitler left it to the Nazi members in the gaue to fight over who became the gauleiter
Hitler strongly believed in the survival of the fittest mentality. Whoever wanted the position more would win it by any means necessary
Strasser became a powerful gauleiter in North Germany
Goebbels established his power in the Rhineland
To fund a national party, Hitler persuaded business owners who shared his nationalist vision for Germany to contribute:
Big corporations such as Thyssen, Krupp and Bosch funded the Nazi Party
The business owners believed Hitler’s influence over the workers would limit the power of trade unions
Business owners feared trade unions because they could make unreasonable demands for increased pay and benefits
Trade unions had strong links to Communism. If Communism became powerful, business owners would lose their ability to make lots of profit
The Creation of the SS
By 1925, Hitler was losing trust in the SA
The SA had 400,000 members
Ernst Röhm had increased his control over the SA during Hitler’s time in prison
The SA were hard to control
Many middle- and upper-class Germans considered the SA to be violent thugs
If Hitler wanted to make the NSDAP electable, he had to change the image of the party
Hitler took two steps to improve his paramilitary forces:
Hitler sent Ernst Röhm abroad. He returned to the Nazi Party in 1930
Hitler created a new private army called the Schutzstaffel (‘Protection Squad’), or SS
The SS was a much smaller group than the SA
They wore black uniforms from 1932
Many members of society found them intimidating
They conducted themselves better and less violently than the SA
Hitler selected and trusted members of the SS. They became Hitler’s personal bodyguards
Heinrich Himmler, one of Hitler’s most trusted party members, became head of the SS
Under Himmler, by 1930, there were 3,000 SS members
The Bamberg Conference, 1926
Hitler began to realise that the Nazi Party was splitting into ‘nationalist’ and ‘socialist’ sides
In North Germany, where Strasser and Goebbels were gauleiters, they were winning the support of the workers by emphasising the socialist aspects of the NSDAP. They verbally attacked local businessmen
In South Germany, where Hitler was based, Nazi leaders emphasised the nationalist aspects of the NSDAP. They campaigned for a strong state and anti-semitism
In 1926, Hitler called a party conference in Bamberg, Bavaria
Due to the conference’s location in the south, the majority of attendees were southern gauleiters
Key outcomes of the Bamberg Conference were:
Hitler called the ‘socialist’ side of the NSDAP “Communists” who were the enemy of the Nazi Party
Hitler’s statement weakened the socialist aspects of the NSDAP, bringing the party’s policies in line with Hitler’s beliefs in Mein Kampf
Hitler persuaded Goebbels to switch to the ‘nationalist’ side of the Party
Strasser believed Goebbels had betrayed him. After this, Strasser lost Hitler’s trust. In 1934, a cull of the Nazi leadership structure resulted in Strasser’s murder
Hitler promoted Goebbels to gauleiter of Berlin
The Bamberg Conference allowed Hitler to develop new policies. Hitler placed more emphasis on nationalist aspects such as:
Reminding Germans of the ‘dolchstoss’ committed by the Weimar government in 1919. He campaigned for revenge on the ‘November Criminals’ for ending the First World War and signing the Treaty of Versailles
Accusing the Jewish people of being ‘enemies of Germany’. He argued that the Jewish people were responsible for all of Germany’s issues
Promoting the return to traditional values
Why was There Limited Support for the Nazi Party?
By 1929, the NSDAP had 100,000 members
Despite this success, historians call this period ‘The Lean Years’
In the May 1928 election, the Nazi Party only won 12 seats (roughly 3% of the overall votes). They were the seventh biggest party in the Reichstag
Worked Example
Why did the Nazis fail to win much support between 1924 and 1929?
6 marks
Partial answer:
One reason why the Nazis had limited support was because of the failure of the Munich Putsch (1). In November 1923, Hitler attempted to seize power in Munich to allow a takeover of the whole of Germany. The plan failed due to the mistakes made in the planning process and General Ludendorff’s actions (1). This caused a lack of support for the Nazi Party because Hitler was arrested and the party was banned. This meant that the gains that the party had made in 1923 were taken away. When Hitler was released from prison in 1924, he had to rebuild the party (1).
Exam Tip
In Paper One, ‘explain why’ questions are worth either six or ten marks. To achieve all marks for this question, an examiner is looking for two fully explained reasons why the Nazi Party failed to win support. Use the PEE structure in your answer:
P - Make a point about the question
E - Use evidence that supports the point that you have made
E - Explain why this evidence caused a lack of support for the Nazi Party. Avoid repeating the point again. Explain how this factor caused the Nazi Party to be weak or unpopular with the people.
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