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Unlock This CourseAdolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889. He fought in the German army all through the First World War and won the Iron Cross for bravery. He was in hospital, recovering from a gas attack, when he heard about the armistice. Like many soldiers, he could not accept that Germany had lost. He blamed the 'November criminals' and believed the army had been stabbed in the back.
In 1919 Hitler was still in the army, in Munich, the capital of Bavaria. His job was to report on the many small political groups in the city. On 12 September 1919 he was sent to a meeting of the German Workers' Party (DAP). It had been founded in January 1919 by Anton Drexler, a railway locksmith, and it had only a few dozen members.
Hitler found that he agreed with the party. It was nationalist, it hated the Treaty of Versailles, it blamed Jews for Germany's problems and it wanted to win workers away from communism. At the meeting he made an angry speech against another speaker. Drexler was impressed and invited him to join. Within days Hitler was a member, and by early 1920 he was in charge of the party's propaganda.
Key terms:
Hitler wanted the party to stop being a talking shop and start winning mass support. On 24 February 1920 it held its first big public meeting, in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich. About 2,000 people came. There Hitler announced the Twenty-Five Point Programme, which he had written with Drexler.
All German-speaking people to be united in one Greater Germany. The Treaty of Versailles to be scrapped. More land and colonies to feed the German people. Only people of 'German blood' could be citizens, so no Jew could be a citizen. A strong central government.
Large businesses to be taken over by the state. Workers to share in the profits of big industries. Better old-age pensions. Help for small shopkeepers against the big department stores.
The programme was a mixture on purpose. The nationalist points appealed to ex-soldiers and to anyone angry about Versailles. The socialist points were aimed at workers, who might otherwise vote for the SPD or the communists. Antisemitism ran right through it. Jews were to lose their rights as citizens, and this hatred stayed at the centre of Nazi ideas from then on.
In the same year the party added two words to its name. It became the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or NSDAP. Opponents shortened this to 'Nazi'. The new name did the same job as the programme: 'National' was for nationalists, 'Socialist' and 'Workers' were for the working class.
Hitler also gave the party things that made it stand out:
The results were clear. A party of a few dozen members in 1919 had about 20,000 by the end of 1922. But most of them were in Bavaria, and the party was still centred on Munich. In much of Germany, few people had heard of Hitler.
By 1921 Hitler was the reason people joined, and he knew it. In July 1921, while he was away in Berlin, other members of the party committee discussed joining up with another small party. Hitler was furious. On 11 July he resigned from the party.
It was a gamble, but it worked. The party could not afford to lose its best speaker. Hitler said he would return only if he was made chairman with complete control. On 29 July 1921 a meeting of members voted for this, with only one vote against. Drexler was pushed aside with the empty title of honorary president.
From now on the party was run on the Führerprinzip. There would be no more votes on policy and no committee to overrule Hitler. He was the Führer (leader), and members were expected to obey. He also gathered loyal followers around him, including Rudolf Hess, Hermann Göring and Ernst Röhm.
Political meetings in Munich were rough. Rival parties sent men to shout speakers down, and fights were common. In 1921 Hitler set up the party's own force to deal with this. It was named the Sturmabteilung, or SA. Its members were called stormtroopers and later became known as the Brownshirts because of their uniform.
Many SA men were former soldiers and Freikorps members who had no work and missed army life. Ernst Röhm, an army officer, helped to recruit them. The SA had three main uses:
The SA mattered because it gave Hitler a force that could be used against the state itself. It also showed what kind of party this was. The Nazis did not mean to win arguments only with words.
Don't say that Hitler founded the Nazi Party. Drexler founded the German Workers' Party, and Hitler joined it and then took it over. Don't mix up the SA with the SS, which came later. And get the order right: Hitler joined in 1919, the programme and new name came in 1920, and he became leader and set up the SA in 1921.
(b) Explain two effects of Hitler joining the German Workers' Party on the party in the years 1919-22. [8 marks]
One effect was that the party grew from a tiny group into a movement with mass support in Bavaria. When Hitler joined in September 1919 it had only a few dozen members. He took charge of propaganda and, in February 1920, announced the Twenty-Five Point Programme to about 2,000 people at the Hofbräuhaus. Its nationalist points, such as scrapping the Treaty of Versailles, attracted ex-soldiers, while its socialist points, such as profit-sharing, were aimed at workers. Because the programme, the new name NSDAP and Hitler's speeches appealed to several groups at once, membership rose to about 20,000 by the end of 1922.
A second effect was that the party came under the control of one man and began to use force. In July 1921 Hitler resigned and refused to return unless he was made chairman with complete control, and on 29 July members voted for this with only one vote against. This meant the committee led by Drexler lost its power and the party was run on the Führerprinzip. Hitler then used his new power to set up the SA in 1921, which guarded Nazi meetings and broke up those of the communists. As a result, the party changed from a discussion group into a disciplined movement that obeyed one leader.
What lifts this to the top level: it gives two separate effects, backs each with precise facts (dates, names and figures) and shows step by step how Hitler's actions led to each one.
One effect alone cannot score more than 4 of the 8 marks, however well you explain it, so always write two clear paragraphs. Here, 'the party grew' and 'the party came under one leader' are different effects. Don't spend both paragraphs describing growth, and don't just tell the story of 1919-22: use linking phrases such as 'this meant that' and 'as a result'.