The Introduction of Totalitarian Rule

The introduction of democratic rule in Germany World War Iwas short-lived. From its beginning democracy in Germany was contested and had many enemies. In the context of the Great Depression, Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) was able to establish itself as a voice of Germans who were left behind first by the disastrous policies that caused the Hyperinflation of 1923 and then by the inactivity of the German government in the Great Depression. Heinrich Brüning’s decision to cut government spending in the depth of the crisis increased unemployment and sent the German economy into a downward spiral. Such policies helped Hitler in arguing that government and democracy were the biggest enemy of Germans. Hitler’s political success had, however, become possible because of his inclusion into Alfred Hugenberg’s Campaign Against the Young Plan. Hugenberg’s embracement of Hitler made him palatable to German voters and secured the election success of the NSDAP. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933, it took him less than two years to transform German democracy into dictatorship largely using legal and constitutional means instead of a violent revolution.