In the aftermath of the 2nd world war, many historians questions how the Nazis came to power, despite Weimar creating a “perfect democracy”. The traditionalist viewpoint have said that Hitler was at the core that everything the party did, Allan Bullock stresses Hitler’s charismatic abilities which gained the Nazi party so many votes. However Richard Evans argues that that it was not just Hitler that collapsed Weimar. This is the structuralist viewpoint which claims that the foundations of Weimar were rotten and that it was destined to fail from its birth, as well as the Wall Street crash of 1929 contributing to Weimar’s downfall. This essay will assess the viewpoints and examine the role played by Hitler, the economy, flaws within Weimar, legacy of the treaty of Versailles of political intrigue in the rise of the Nazis.
Weimar was created after the Kaiser abdicated his throne. A.J.P Taylor has argued that Germany had no strong democratic traditions and that the nation were used to strong leaders like Bismarck, as well as facing threats from the left and the right of Germany. Also historians claim that key groups within society had little faith in Weimar, this led to one historian claiming “Weimar was born with a hole in his heart.” However many point to the “Golden age” where Weimar flourished under the leadership Stresemann, during the time between 1924-29 Stresemann implanted foreign relations and stopped hyper-inflation while Germany enjoyed the highest standards of living in Europe. This success was short lived though, and this led historians to question whether Weimar had a chance of survival.
To many historians the Nazi’s rise to power as a result of Germany’s economic problems such as the Wall Street crash and the French occupation of the Ruhr. When the French took control of the Ruhr, a very important part of the German economy, that is when hyper inflation started. Stresemann took loans from America to solve the problem, and so the