Rise of Nazi Dictatorship
Account for the imposition of a Nazi Dictatorship in Germany up to 1939 The Nazi dictatorship was described by Ian Kershaw as “a sickness that breaks out in virulent totalitarian form” . ... The imposition of the Nazi dictatorship was an amalgamation of both structuralist and intentionalist approaches. ... Gleichschaltung provided the Nazi state with a form of organisation and synchronisation which escalated into altering legislation. ... The economic situation was utilised to the Nazi advantage in gaining power during the depression and Hitler’s ever-growing role as Fuhrer followed the path mapped out by ideological eccentricities of the Reich. ... The façade of legalism built, in the major part, by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis gave the Nazi dictatorship a basis from which to be launched. ... These were the first outwardly visible symptoms of the Nazi dictatorship. ... Hitler, at this time, held ultimate, exclusive power and the Nazi dictatorship was inevitable. ... Gleichschaltung contributed greatly to the imposition of the Nazi dictatorship. ... By building on the legalistic methods in their revolutionary seizure of power, the Nazis restricted both political and social threats to their increasingly totalitarian dictatorship. ... Terror and repression, in line with Nazification, was to play an integral role in the imposition of the totalitarian Nazi dictatorship. ... The SA, under Rohm was “one of the sharper tools of the Nazi regime” as it served in forcing the population and any possible dissidents into capitulation to the state. The almost military group was initially used to create an image which would permeate through society and serve, in two-fold, as a threat to social non-conformists and a purger of any elements not in line with Nazi ideology. ... After the Nazis had gained complete power, the terror movement concentrated on racial opponents and the maintenance of the Nazi party as a right-wing dictatorship, namely the Night of the Long Knives, in which leaders such as Rohm were purged due to their seemingly proletarian nature. ... Mason argues that “terror and repression acted as mechanism…[by which]…the Nazis could effectively impose their dictatorship” This was accomplished sweepingly as the Nazis managed to consolidate this power once achieved. Propaganda, for the Nazis, successfully disseminated and popularised Hitler’s radical ideology, which was at the basis of Nazi operation. Three common motifs of Nazi propaganda are discernable: anti-Semitism, nationalism and anti-Marxism. ... Prior to achieving political power, Nazi propaganda focussed on vague denunciations of the ‘eternal Jew’ and the Bolshevik threat from the East. ... Such pacification allowed the Nazi State to impose its rule with minimal resistance. The opportunistic utilisation of the economic situation abandoned by the Weimar Republic gave the Nazis a certain popularity which was essential in the imposition of its dictatorship. ... Taylor, played an integral role in the success of the Nazi takeover.