German history is seen as a 'painful issue for thousands of Germans and other Europeans' . However it has interested many historians over the years into inquiring how and why Hitler came to power and how much of this was to do with the failure of parliamentary democracy in Germany. To fully ascertain to what extent these events have in common and what reasons led to the fall of democracy and rise of the Nazis, each have to be looked at individually. Also it seems beneficial, to be able evaluate these in the relevant context, to look at the situation in Germany was in prior to 1920.

In 1919, the treaty of Versailles was signed marking the end of World War One. Soon after, the Weimar republic was established. It was hoped that this democratic constitution would mark a turning point for Germany. Turning the people of Germany away from the authoritarian style of government they were used to, towards a more stable democracy. Since the German nation was used to being ruled, rather than ruling itself, it was a hard transition to accomplish. Democracy was a new concept within Germany and many people

The Weimar Republic's demise and Hitler's rise to power are very inter-linked. This can be shown by the static enrolment for the Nazi party when Stresseman brought Germany into the era of the 'golden years'. It could be said that opposition to democracy rose and fell in harmony with movements in prosperity.' Hitler exploited this with his political astuteness of knowing what and when to promise things in the 'new' Germany. Many reasons for the fall of democracy also link to Hitler's rise of power. It could be argued that if Weimar had been a stronger constitution then Hitler would not have come to power. However Hitler was an opportunist and I believe that if Weimar had survived Hitler would have found another way to rise to Germany's dictator.

Hitler's public presence and nazi ideology wasn't enough for the German people to fully accept him at the start, especially before 1923. Hitler's violent and anti-democratic views were easily ignored by some. When Hitler was imprisoned for a short time after the failure of the Munich Putsch, the nazi party remained stagnant, with election votes declining in 1924. Hitler was released a far more menacing figure, since his aim now was to destroy Weimar from within and 'work through the constitution he detested' . Hitler not only had a loyal nazi party behind him and his own private army, the SA, but also the backing of Alfred Hugenberg, a millionaire with 53 papers, all of which were backing the nazi party. This meant that Hitler could get his messages across to a far more reaching audience than before.

Since the Weimar Republic was established in the aftermath of World War One, it was almost inevitable that it would be blamed for Germanys surrender and the Treaty of Versailles. The supposed surrender was even harder to accept since in 1918 Germany had signed an armistice with Russia. Weimar was in essence 'brought about by defeat' . The 'November Criminals' who signed the armistice were always associated with Weimar, thus making it difficult for Weimar to be associated with anything but defeat and humiliation. The war guilt clause was also difficult to accept because it lay all the blame on Germany for starting the First World War. This along with reparations were crippling not only the economy but German society itself

The Weimar Republic had a system of proportional representation in elections. This is a method of voting by which political parties are given legislative representation in proportion to their popular vote. This would allow all parties to be represented, including extremist parties such as the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or Nazis) and the KPD (communists). It would also produce weak coalition government. Since all parties had to support the constitution and democracy in order for Weimar to succeed a huge problem was established since in many parties' eyes, the Republic was an 'unfortunate compromise between representative and plebiscitary ideas' . Proportional representation also produced a degree of political instability and since strength, and image, were considered more important by some than policy and pragmatism, Weimar didn't appeal to some. Weimar had three main parties NSDAP, KPD and the Z Party (otherwise known as the Centre party mainly supported by the catholic population of Germany). The Centre party was crucial for Weimar to resist extremist parties. This was because neither the Communists or the Nazis had a majority in the Reichstag, however if either party gained the support of the Z party then a majority would be formed. This was especially dangerous due to Article 48.

Political intrigues of the time (as outlined above) meant there were more calls for elections. In 1930 the nazi party gained 107 seats and in 1932, 230 seats. Hitler's aim to use the weaknesses of Weimar to his advantage had paid off. The Nazi party did not have enough votes for a majority in the Reichstag, however Hindenburg real

Some common words found in the essay are:
Weimar Republic, World War, Communists Nazis, Treaty Versailles, Munich Hitler, Weimar Republic's, Mark German, Alfred Hugenberg, War German, Nazis KPD, nazi party, german people, world war, weimar republic, treaty versailles, article 48, hitler's rise power, people germany, rise power, majority reichstag, hitler's rise, weimar republic established, authoritarian style government, proportional representation produced, served world war,
Approximate Word count = 3078
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)