Wednesday, February 27, 2013
OK, we have a dictatorship, now what?
After the Enabling Act, after the Night of the Long Knives, when Hitler moves from Chancellor to Fuhrer, how does his vision for a greater Germany manifest itself? Consider his economic and foreign policies as well as his controversial Nurenburg laws? Which policies seemed plausible? How are other countries regarding Germany at this point?
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The Germen economy was struggling and his foreign policy was ridiculously radical. Any leader of a civil country would agree, but Germany was not by any stretch of the imagination, civil. The Nazi regime was given an incredible amount of power. The Orpo officers were allowed to do anything so long as the Fuhrer deemed it OK. This dictatorship quickly turned into another religious massacre, but thats for another arguement. What confuses me is the idea that because of the weakened economy (especially after WW1), Hitler would try to implement this genocide and global conquest. A lot of money had to be pumped into this adventure, so obviously Hitler didn't have his priorities set on the economic value of his country.
ReplyDeleteBy this time I think many countries were most likely still angry with Germany for the first world war, and probably waiting to get their money back. Hitler's ideas were quite radical and while i think other countries were wary of what was going on they probably did not know the full extent of what was really going on and were probably simply waiting to see what would happen. Germany started to have self confidence again, people were volunteering left and right to join the Nazi regime which made it a bit of a threat. Hitler's move from chancellor to fuhrer probably didn't go unnoticed and despite his appearance of obtaining this role legally I'm sure there were those who saw through it and saw him as more of a dictator than a democratic leader which definitely changes the way a country is viewed in most cases.
ReplyDeleteAfter consolidating his power with the Enabling Act, Hitler sought to spread his dictatorial powers throughout much of Europe. HIs intent was to manifest the Nazi ideologies throughout all lands and eventually create a "greater Germany". The policies regarding Lebensraum sought to expand german territory to accommodate the 250,000,000 Germans that "deserved" more space to live in. In order to accomplish this, a great number of foreign policies rooted in aggression was set forth by the Nazis. For some countries, such as France, this aggression and thirst for more space was very threatening, so they took a very serious approach to the problem by building up their strength in army, government, etc just in case Germany armed for battle. Other countries such as Great Britain felt that perhaps this would be resolved via a "peaceful adjustment."
ReplyDeleteHitler moved very quickly as soon as he became Fuhrer. He passed many laws which strengthened this cause. These include the Enabling Act and the act which banned all other political parties. He still allowed multiple people running for the elections, but of course they were all Nazi candidates. Some German people believed that this was fair because they did not know. Others, however, knew exactly what was going on, and they were very angry. They could do nothing, though, as Hitler and the Nazi party were so powerful. The Enabling Act allowed Hitler to pass laws by himself without consulting anyone else first. This let Hitler do whatever he wanted to do, and very quickly indeed.
ReplyDeleteHitler immediately began passing laws. He wanred German to be as poweful as he was. His mission was to spread the power of Germany and spread the Nazi party. In order to create a "Greater Germany", Hitler wanted Germany to be larger. This is used as a threat to other countries: the larger Germany is, the more powerful it will be, or at least that is what other countries would assume. Also, if Hitler expanded Germany, other countries would probably gain more respect for Germany, or begin to be nice to Germans.
ReplyDeleteMuch to the effect of what Mitch said, i find it rather illogical to fund such a massive project as WWII became, (although morbid, and a great displeasure to think about it) it takes massive amounts of resources to put such a large scale genocide into action. And since genocide tends to disagree with almost every human value MOST civil countries did not exactly hold Germany in high esteem at this point. Even from a purely political standpoint having such a polarized fascist system in which one man was given so much power would be, and should frightening to any democratic nation. But to counter Mitch's point about Hitler's concerns with the economy, War can either hurt or help the economy a great example is how WWII played a major role in pulling the U.S. out of the great depression. While on the flip side the 'war' with Iraq and later Afghanistan has coast the U.S. trillions and thousands of U.S. Soldier deaths with little to no reward. I believe Hitler may have planned on using his grand scheme to pull Germany out of its depression by riding on the back of Nazi Germany to success.
ReplyDeleteI think that the problems that Hitler faced when going into office were mostly caused by the treaty of Versailles. The most important of these burdens was the financial payments Germany had to make to the various countries of the world. Many people are bringing up the fact that Hitlers regime was going over the deep end in spending when Germany had no money, but some people in America are pumping money into projects that they dont have. Hitler saw Germany as the greatest nation on the planet and he thought his plan would work and he would create the wealthiest country on earth. He pumped vast amounts of money into projects in order to 1. make people invest in them, 2. try and get ahead/ sneak up on the rest of the world, and 3. Hitler didn't see an end to the third reich, he saw it gaining money and becoming the greatest country.
ReplyDeleteHitler had a vision for Germany called "Lebensraum" which basically meant the same as manifest destiny: That the Germany had a natuarl right of extending its borders all over Europe to provide territorial for its people. I think that the other countries in Germany knew about that idea, but didn't take it serious enough in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteAs we already talked about it, it is not excactly known why Hitler concentrated all the countries hate on jews. But the point when he established the Nurenberger Laws was definetly the moment where jews, already discriminated, were now officially banned from society. It seemed to be the one step that should erased any doubts left in the people: if the government even established laws against the jews they had to be bad
As soon as hitler was appointed at the fuhrer, he began to pass and enact new laws which only helped himself, and give subliminally giving himself as much power as possible. The reason behind the subliminal power is because if it becomes too obvious, people will begin to take note of it and after a while people might revolt. Like what rob said, he still allowed people to run in office but they were nazi. And a lot of people didnt know about it, hence the subliminal.
ReplyDeleteWhen Hitler gained complete control Germany he immediately began to put laws in place that marginalized the Jews and gave him more and more power. He allowed people to run for office, but they had to be Nazis. He made sure that people followed his laws and started public awareness campaigns for many things he agreed and disagreed with. At this point other countries were slowly becoming more wary of Hitler as time passed, but did nothing because they thought that it was time for them to get going anyway.
ReplyDeleteHitler knew that swift action had to be taken, because Germany was under such close watch after WWI. He was able to use his charisma to woo some countries with his personality, making it seem like he was creating a one - party system, for the recovery of Germany alone. He was able to disguise the one party system, with justification that the one party system would allow quicker passing of acts that would return Germany to an economic and world power. Hitler's foreign policy was geared toward the expansion of Germany, far beyond the borders established pre-WWI.
ReplyDeleteHitler restored pride in the German identity and the people's active involvement in his cause reflected it. The Germans embraced him as the savior, the one who would restore Germany to it's former glory. Countries are viewing German warily and passively, for the most part opting not to interfere with the politics of a country who they have much leverage over. But the manner in which he acquired was completely legal so it is very difficult for countries to justify any outcry they would have over the whole process.
ReplyDeleteAfter the world war one, Germany had given so much to pay off the price for the fact they lost the war, both the economy and the national confidence were bloodily damaged. Hitler used the Enabling Act to reinforce his scheme to strengthen the Imperial Germany by making aggressive and radical laws to expend its territory. I sense the true power of the plan is to let people embrace their own race and identity, to solute be willing to sacrifice themselves to fight for a cause.
ReplyDeleteThe vision for a greater Germany manifested itself via the belief that Jews controlled commerce, trade, industry, education, banking, press, and the professions of medicine and law. The Nurennburg Laws denied the Jews' civil and political rights "for the protection of the German blood and the German honor." Campaigns such as the "Jewish shops" and "Germany Jewry" ultimately destroyed all forms of money-earning work for the Jews. A plausible policy seems to be the Four Year Plan, which basically was set forth to raise Germany out of its post-war state. As Germany became so powerful, other countries such as Hungary and Bulgaria felt threatened; "there was almost nowhere Germany could turn for sympathy and support, for nearly everyone was threatened."
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