The reasons for the formation of the birthplace of European wars

The world economic crisis from 1929 to 1933 hit Germany very seriously. During the crisis, German industrial production fell by 40.6%, a decline second only to the United States' 46.2%, ranking second in the capitalist world. Agricultural production dropped by 30%, a large number of small farmers went bankrupt, and the number of tenant farmers increased rapidly. Foreign trade plummeted, with German exports falling from 12.3 billion Reichsmarks in 1928 to 5.7 billion Reichsmarks in 1932. One of Germany's most important banks, the National Bank of Darmstadt, collapsed in July 1931 due to cuts in foreign loans. The most serious social problem brought about by the economic crisis was the massive increase in the number of unemployed people, which increased from 1.32 million in September 1929 to 3 million in September 1930. In the first two months of 1932, the number exceeded 6 million. These are just registered unemployment figures; the actual unemployment situation is much worse. The ruling class has adopted measures such as cutting wages, unemployment benefits, pensions, and raising taxes to pass the heavy burden of the economic crisis onto the working people. On the other hand, the government provided huge loans and subsidies to the monopoly bourgeoisie and Junker landowners. On March 27, 1930, the cabinet headed by Miller held a meeting to discuss the financial difficulties caused by the economic crisis. Due to differences in opinions among the parties participating in the government, they were unable to decide on a fiscal policy acceptable to everyone. The coalition broke down and Miller resigned on March 28. The Miller government was the last parliamentary government of the Weimar Republic. The Brüning government that came to power relied on the legally binding "emergency decree" issued by the president to maintain its rule. The establishment of the "semi-presidential" system in Germany severely weakened the power of parliament and cleared the way for the Nazi Party to seize power.

The Rapid Development of the Nazi Movement In the 1920s, when the political and economic situation in Germany was relatively stable, the development of the Nazi movement was quite slow. In 1928, the Nazi Party had less than 100,000 members and held only 12 of the 491 seats in the Reichstag, making it still insignificant. The outbreak of the economic crisis provided the most rare opportunity for the rapid development of the Nazi movement. Under the impact of the economic crisis, the majority of people in the middle and lower classes have suffered from unemployment and bankruptcy. They are extremely dissatisfied with the current regime and strongly demand changes to the status quo. The Nazi Party took the opportunity to launch a powerful propaganda campaign, attacking the successive governments of the Weimar Republic as cowardly and incompetent, promising that after coming to power, they would revitalize Germany and improve the people's living conditions. The Nazi Party tried its best to win over the urban and rural petty bourgeoisie masses, because they accounted for more than 40% of the entire German population and were an important part of society. On March 6, 1930, the Nazi Party announced the "Peasant Programme", praising farmers as "the purest elements among the entire people and the source of new life for the nation." The "Platform" stipulates the ban on land speculation, prohibits real estate mortgages and auctions, and promises economic assistance to the agricultural population, such as tax exemptions, tax increases, cheap artificial fertilizers and electricity, national credit, etc. On May 10 of the same year, the Nazi Party proposed the "Promptly Providing Employment - Program to Overcome the Crisis", which required "building roads to reduce unemployment"; "supporting the continued survival of small and medium-sized enterprises with state funding"; "using large real estate At the expense of increasing the number of medium and small farmers.” For unemployed young people, they are lured to join the stormtroopers, saying, "Here is everything you need." In short, the Nazi Party carried out cleverly targeted propaganda according to the psychological state of different audiences and various segments of the electorate. It was more successful than other political parties in winning jobs for the urban and rural petty bourgeoisie and youth, and a considerable number of unemployed workers were also won over.

After a powerful propaganda campaign and careful organizational work, in the general election on September 14, 1930, the Nazi Party won 6,409,600 votes and 107 seats, moving from its original position in the Reichstag to The ninth smallest party suddenly became the second largest party. The membership of the Nazi Party also increased rapidly. There were only 80,000 people in September 1928, 150,000 people in September 1929, and 350,000 people in November 1930.

The leaders of the Nazi Party knew very well that demagogic propaganda was to win over voters, but it would not be possible to truly gain power without the support of the Wehrmacht and big capitalists. In the spring of 1930, three young officers of the Ulm garrison were arrested because they promoted Nazi theories in the army and persuaded other officers to promise that in the event of an armed uprising by the Nazi Party, they would not shoot at the rioters. A week after the September 1930 elections, the three officers were tried in the Supreme Court for treason. During the trial, Hitler testified in court and took the opportunity to publicize that the Nazi Party had absolutely no intention of replacing the Army. Not only that, but after the Nazi Party corrected him, the Wehrmacht would be greatly expanded and the Versailles Peace Treaty imposed on the German nation would be shaken off. These words were welcomed by the officers. The number of young officers who sympathized with the Nazi movement began to increase, and the senior officers felt more at ease.

As for the big capitalists, the leaders of the Nazi Party also tried their best to win over them. In the second half of 1931, Hitler traveled across the country and held private meetings with important business figures. On January 27, 1932, Hitler was invited to attend a secret meeting in Dusseldorf attended by 300 monopoly capitalists. He launched into a tirade in which he attacked comments that "actually destroy the true values ??of a nation." It is believed that since personal authority has been established in economic life, personal authority should also be established in the political field.

He advocated the theory of racial excellence and slandered Bolshevism's worldview, which would "turn the entire world into ruins" if not stopped. He loudly advocated the necessity of military expansion, saying that it did not matter whether the German army consisted of "100,000 people, 200,000 people, or 300,000 people." What was important was "whether Germany has 8 million reserve troops." When Hitler finished his speech, the capitalists stood and cheered him wildly. Dietrich, who participated in this meeting and later became the Nazi Information Minister, said: "January 27, 1932 will be a day worth remembering forever in the history of the Democratic Socialist Party." During Bruning's administration, the economic crisis became increasingly serious. After September 1930, foreign capital began to leave Germany. On July 14, 1931, all German banks were closed. In 1932, the number of unemployed people reached 6 million. However, Bruning did not take targeted and strong measures to solve the unemployment problem, but mainly wanted to wait for the economic recovery in the future. He lost popular support and was ridiculed as the "Hungry Prime Minister". The direct cause of the Brüning government's resignation was that Hindenburg lost trust in him. Bruning's cabinet passed a reclamation decree, stipulating that the conditions for subsidies to manors were to provide land to relocated farmers, and that subsidies to manors should be based on the results of a review of their economic status. Manors that no longer have the ability to repay should be forcibly auctioned to acquire land for reclamation and resettle immigrants. This aroused the anger of the eastern large estate owners, who accused Bruning of practicing "agricultural Bolshevism" to Hindenburg, who was also a large estate owner. The enraged president demanded Bruning's resignation, and the latter had to submit his resignation on May 30, 1932. Brüning's fall meant a transition from a presidential system of government tolerated by parliament to a purely presidential system of government.

Papen, who succeeded him, was from a noble family and belonged to the right wing of the Center Party. He established a "cabinet of nobles" composed of nobles, which did not receive majority support in Congress and relied more on "emergency decrees" to rule. Papen and Defense Minister Schleicher tried to tie the Nazis' hands by letting them share some power. "Poachers must become forest managers." On June 15, 1932, the Papen government lifted the ban on SA troops during Bruning's administration in order to please the Nazis. In the new parliamentary election held on July 31, the Nazi Party won 230 seats, becoming the largest party in parliament. The Socialist Party lost 10 seats compared with the previous term, and the Communist Party won 133 seats. The Socialist Party added 12 seats, and the Communist Party won 89 seats, becoming the third largest party.

On August 13, 1932, Hindenburg summoned Hitler and tried to persuade him to join the coalition government. Hitler refused because he demanded "to have full state power." On September 12, members of the Socialist Party proposed in parliament a proposal to distrust the government and demand the cancellation of all "emergency decrees." In order to overthrow the Papen government, the Nazi Party made an exception and voted in favor of the Socialist Party's proposal. The result was passed by 513 votes to 32. Papen had received an order to dissolve Congress from the President in advance, so even though the bill was passed, Congress still recognized the dissolution order. In the general election held on November 6, the Nazi Party lost 2 million votes and lost 34 seats to only 196. The Socialist Party gained 750,000 votes and increased its number of seats from 89 to 100. This was the first major setback the Nazi Party suffered after reaching its peak. The masses were tired of the frequent election campaigns, the Nazi Party's propaganda began to be seen through by some people, and the Socialist Party's influence gradually expanded.

The Nazi Party’s defeat in the general election caused panic among the monopoly bourgeoisie. On November 11, 1932, 20 financiers, industrialists and landowners wrote to Hindenburg demanding the appointment of Hitler as chancellor. Establish a "government independent of the partisan organizations in Congress" because "the frequent dissolution of Congress, leading to re-elections increasingly filled with sharp partisan struggles, will inevitably hinder not only political stability and consolidation, but also any economic stability and consolidation." . They demanded that "the largest group in the national movement," the Nazi Party, join the government and "occupy a leadership position."

After the election, Papen wrote to Hitler on November 13, suggesting that they eliminate their differences and once again tried to win Hitler into the cabinet, but was still rejected. At this time, General Schleicher, who supported Papen's rise to power and had strong political ambitions, believed that the time had come for him to form a cabinet, so he pushed Papen out of office.

On December 2, Schleicher became prime minister. He attempted to split the Nazi party and draw about 60 Nazi MPs to his side, plus the support of middle-class parties, thereby forming a majority in Congress. As soon as he came to power, he invited Strasser, the leader of the "left" wing of the Nazi Party, to serve as deputy prime minister. Strasser himself agreed to cooperate with Schleicher, for which he had a fierce quarrel with Hitler. Hitler defeated Strasser, finally took control of the situation within the party and prevented the Nazi party from splitting. At this time, Papen, who was ousted by Schleicher, was unwilling to fail. After arrangement by the banker Schroeder, they met secretly at Schroeder's Cologne residence on January 4, 1933. The two reached an agreement to organize a Hitler-Papen cabinet, with Hitler as prime minister and Papen and his supporters able to participate in the government as ministers. Papen also agreed to Hitler's request to expel Socialists, Socialists, and Jews from leadership positions after he came to power.

Schleicher was unable to gain majority support in the Reichstag.

On January 23, he went to see Hindenburg and requested that the Reichstag be dissolved and that he be granted emergency powers under Article 48 of the Constitution, but was rejected. On January 28, Schleicher resigned. On January 30, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor. Although the field marshal looked down upon the Austrian corporal, he had no choice but to authorize him to form a cabinet at this time. From then on, the Weimar War ended and Germany entered a period of fascist dictatorship.

The Socialist Party has been a major party with a broad mass base since the founding of the Weimar Republic. However, many of its leaders have become government bureaucrats and trade union bureaucrats, short-sighted and timid. They only seek to protect their vested and immediate interests, but do not dare to engage in tit-for-tat struggles with the Nazis and other reactionary forces, and are so-called For example, it is very important that when Hindenburg issued an order on July 20, 1932, he appointed Papen as the central commissioner of the Prussian state and dismissed the Socialist Socialists, state premier Braun and When Zeverin took over as Minister of the Interior, the Socialist leadership actually decided not to offer any resistance. The leaders of the Socialist Party were also largely responsible for the rise of the Nazi Party to power.

In short, the German Republic is a republic with an imperfect and unconsolidated bourgeois parliamentary party system. It inherited the bitter fruits of defeat, cast a shadow of shame from the beginning, and was a deformity in the minds of both left and right factions. This deformed child with congenital deficiencies cannot withstand the economic crisis. The middle- and lower-class people suffering from unemployment and bankruptcy are extremely dissatisfied with reality and yearn for a "savior". The big bourgeoisie sees the growing power of the proletariat and the crumbling capitalist ruling order, and is also eager for a "savior" to appear. The "savior" finally came, but it was neither an ordinary bourgeois party because they were weak, nor a proletarian party because they consumed their strength in attacking each other, but the Nazi party that no one paid attention to. This party is good at exploiting the nationalist sentiments that hate the Treaty of Versailles, and is good at dressing itself up as a representative of the interests of all social strata. It has also done very successful propaganda and organizational work, so that it has not only expanded its mass ranks, but also achieved success at the last moment. Trusted by the ruling class, he finally seized power in 1933.