Hitler consolidated power in Germany between 1933 and 1934, becoming both chancellor and president. He established a one-party Nazi state, suppressed dissent, and increased rearmament in preparation for war. After initial successes in expanding German territory, Germany began to lose ground after 1941 and was eventually invaded and defeated in 1945, with the Nazi party destroyed.

1. Year 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
President Hindenburg Hitler
Summary Hitler secures his position Hitler prepares Germany for war WW2
Details Hitler in a weak position
Feb 1933- Reichstag Fire
= Communists blamed
= Emergency Decree- SA arrest
Communists(concentration camps)
March Elections- Nazis only have 44%
March 1933- Enabling Act
= Hitler wants powers to pass laws
without Reichstag
= Trade Unions closed and political
parties banned- Germany = 1 Party State
June 1934- Night of Long Knives
= Hitler and Army worried about SA so
makes a deal with them
= SS arrest SA leaders
= Army leaders promise their support
August 1934- Hindenburg dies
= Hitler makes himself Chancellor and
President (aka Fuhrer)
= Army swear oath to Hitler
Hitler has total power and Germany is
now a police state
Hitler needs to
• reduce unemployment
• rearm the German Army
• take back lands taken in ToV
• make Germany racially pure
Starts very well for the Nazis as the
German Army conquers most of
Europe. After 1941 things start going
wrong and Germany is invaded at the
end of the war. Nazis destroyed.
How the Nazis reduced unemployment
• Female and Jewish civil servants sacked
• RAD- Labour Front for young unemployed men
• Rearmament- more factory jobs to make weapons
• Army increased in size
•Building projects (i.e. motorways)
Resistance
Increases as the war turns against
Germany. Punishments for resistance
become more brutal as the war starts
to go wrong.
Jews
Life gradually gets worse. 1935 Nuremburg
Laws rob Jews of citizenship and Nov 1938
Kristallnacht sees first mass arrests.
Jews/minorities
Gets worse over time. Starved in
ghettos, shot or gassed/worked to
death. Similar for other undesirables.
Unemployed
Unemployment disappears, but workers have
no rights and suffer from a fall in wages.
Unemployed
Expected to work longer hours.
Factories bombed near end of war.
Women
Encouraged to stay at home and have large
families- rewarded with medals and loans.
Women
Expected to do the work of men and
still have large families. Shortages.
Young
Non-Nazi Youth organisations are closed
down so Hitler Youth membership rises.
Young
80% of young people in Hitler Youth
groups. Some fight at end of war.
Nazi Germany 1933-45