Like many of the countries involved in World War I, Germany had fallen into a deep economic depression. The Versailles Peace Treaty forced Germany to distribute large amounts of land, money, and commodities to the victors of World War I (Blainey 124). During this time political violence was at an all-time high, and the power struggle between Germany’s new political parties had begun (Blainey 125). Germany was suffering from a lack of leadership and political indecisiveness reigned with no clear government direction. The German people wanted a new leader that could save them from this political upheaval and economic chaos (Blainey 126). It was Adolf Hitler’s promise to make Germany great which set the stage for Hitler’s Nazi movement and his ruthless military dictatorship (Blainey 127).
Hitler rose to become incredibly popular with the German people. He was described as charismatic and decisive, traits people look for in a leader. His political campaigning was brilliant, he used the new radio, loudspeakers, torchlight processions, banners, slogans, and mass amounts of propaganda (Blainey 129).
After Hitler had been elected chancellor he quickly developed Germany and created economic prosperity (Blainey 129-130). He was able to achieve full employment of the German work force within 3 years by heavily investing in infrastructure development including railroads, canals and the AutoBahnen (The History Channel). Hitler infiltrated into all of German society decisively; this included, the church, schools, military, and private sector businesses. Before Germans knew it Hitler was in complete control of all of Germany. Once he came to power he immediately began to release propaganda and laws that lowered Jewish standing in German society. He started off with minor discrimination and laws, and gradually worked the idea into German mindset that the Jewish people were the reason their nation was