Why Was Hitler Able To Dominate Germany By 1934?

In 1928 the Nazi Party was a fringe group with only a dozen seats in the Reichstag and a leader who had recently been in prison. Just six years later that same man, Adolf Hitler, was the unchallenged dictator of Germany, his rivals dead or silenced and his power written into law. How did a failed beer-hall revolutionary travel so far so fast? The answer mixes deep economic crisis, clever propaganda, ruthless scheming and the fatal miscalculations of others.

This lesson traces that rise from the early Nazi Party of the 1920s, through the Munich Putsch and the wilderness years, to the moment the Depression turned millions of frightened voters toward extremism. You will see how Hitler was handed the Chancellorship in January 1933 and then dismantled democracy step by step, ending with the Night of the Long Knives and the death of Hindenburg in 1934.