HISTORY 2025-2026
UNIT 3C GERMANY UNITED DIVIDED REUNITED 1870-1990
ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES AO1 AND AO2
1️⃣ HITLER’S RISE TO POWER (1919–1933)
Key Issues
● WWI Legacy: Defeat → humiliation → “stab-in-the-back” myth → political
instability.
● Versailles Treaty (1919): Loss of land, army limited to 100,000, reparations,
“war guilt clause” — deep resentment.
● Weimar Weaknesses:
○ Proportional representation = weak coalitions.
○ Article 48 = presidential emergency powers.
○ “Republic without Republicans” – elites distrusted democracy.
● Economic Crises:
○ Hyperinflation (1923).
○ Great Depression (1929) → 6 million unemployed.
● Role of Elites:
○ Conservative elites (Hindenburg, von Papen, von Schleicher)
underestimated Hitler, thought they could control him.
● Nazi Strengths:
○ Propaganda (Goebbels), rallies, symbolism, scapegoats.
○ Promises of unity and national revival (Volksgemeinschaft).
○ Dynamic image compared to dull Weimar politics.
Timeline Highlights
● 1919: Joins DAP (later NSDAP).
● 1923: Beer Hall Putsch fails.
● 1929: Wall Street Crash.
● 1930: NSDAP wins 18.3% vote.
● 1932: 37.8% of vote; becomes largest party.
● 30 Jan 1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor.
● Feb–Mar 1933: Reichstag Fire → Enabling Act → dictatorship.
Key Historians
● Ian Kershaw: “Without the war, Hitler would have been unthinkable.”
“Working towards the Führer.”
● Henry Turner: Elites’ political miscalculations key.
● Richard Bessel: Post-war dislocation created fertile ground for extremism.
2️⃣ WAS HITLER A WEAK OR STRONG DICTATOR?
Key Concepts
● Intentionalists: (Jaeckel, Hildebrand) → Hitler’s ideological goals explain
policy.
● Functionalists/Structuralists: (Broszat, Mommsen) → chaotic, competing
structures drove policy (“polycratic state”).
● Kershaw’s Synthesis:
○ Hitler provided vision, others “worked towards the Führer.”
○ Strong in ideology, weak in administration.
Key Features
● Gleichschaltung (1933–34): Coordination of all institutions.
● Enabling Act (1933): Legal dictatorship.
● Night of the Long Knives (1934): Eliminated SA and rivals.
● Führer Principle: Loyalty to Hitler personally.
● Dual State: Bureaucratic + Nazi power centres (Fraenkel).
● Charisma + Chaos: Encouraged rivalry among subordinates (Goering,
Himmler, Goebbels).
Verdict
Hitler’s leadership was charismatic and ideological, but administratively
weak. His strength lay in vision and manipulation, not day-to-day governance.
3️⃣ WAS THERE A NAZI SOCIAL REVOLUTION?
Social & Economic Change
● Economy:
○ Public works + rearmament cut unemployment.
○ Industry stayed privately owned → no real class revolution.
● Society:
○ Race > Class: Racial purity replaced class equality.
○ Jews, Roma, disabled persecuted under racial laws.
● Women:
○ Promoted as mothers (Kinder, Küche, Kirche - Children, Kitchen,
Church).
○ Employment rose again during war.
● Youth: Indoctrinated via Hitlerjugend & Bund deutscher Mädel.
● Culture & Propaganda:
○ Goebbels controlled media, film, art.
○ Book burnings, censorship, anti-Semitic propaganda.
● Religion: Churches pressured to conform (1933 Concordat with Vatican).
Historiographical Views
● David Schoenbaum: “Social revolution without changing ownership or
power.”
● Tim Mason: Structural and economic changes reshaped society.
● Jill Stephenson: Women’s experiences were contradictory; shaped more by
war.
● David Welch: Propaganda created unity through fear and myth.
4️⃣ KEY CONCEPTS & TERMS
Concept
Meaning
Totalitarianism
One-party, one-leader dictatorship; repression +
indoctrination.
Fascism
Authoritarian nationalism (shared traits with Mussolini’s
Italy).
Polycratic State
Competing power centres under a weak coordinating leader.
Lebensraum
Expansionist drive for “living space.”
Blut und Boden
“Blood and Soil” – link between race and land.
Social Darwinism
“Survival of the fittest” ideology applied to race.
Gleichschaltung
Nazi “coordination” of all aspects of life.
5️⃣ KEY INDIVIDUALS
Person
Role
Adolf Hitler
Führer; visionary ideologue, manipulative but
disorganised leader.
Joseph Goebbels
Propaganda Minister; control of media & culture.
Hermann Goering
Four-Year Plan; air force; economic power.
Heinrich Himmler /
Reinhard Heydrich
SS & Gestapo; implemented racial policy & Holocaust.
Paul von Hindenburg
President who appointed Hitler (1933).
Gustav Stresemann
Weimar stabiliser (1924–29).
Von Papen / Von Schleicher
Conservative elites who helped Hitler to power.
✍️
EXAM HINTS
● Balance individual and structural factors.
● Use historians’ names and debates for high-level marks.
● Link economic crises to political decisions.
● Show awareness of long-term and short-term causes.
● Always consider whether Hitler shaped events or rode on circumstances.
Citation for the Original Source
Fulbrook, Mary. Hitler. Flagship Historymakers series, edited by Derrick Murphy,
HarperCollinsPublishers, 2004. ISBN 9780007173198.
Citation for This Handout (ChatGPT)
OpenAI. “Hitler: Revision Handout (Based on Mary Fulbrook, Hitler – Flagship
Historymakers).” Generated by ChatGPT (GPT-5), October 2025.
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