Ap Euro Dbq
Adolf Hitler rose through the ranks quickly to gain absolute power but in the end lost it all. He rose to power through the Nazi party and once he gained power he soon started World War II. Throughout the war Hitler made many decisions that led to him gaining even more support and power. As the war came to a close, bad decision finally led to the downfall of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler rose to power quickly, maintained his empire through the actions taken, and soon fell through the decisions made at the closing of World War II. Through the weakness of Germany following the preceding war and signing the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler was able to rise to power. From the book Adolf Hitler by Liz Gogerly, Gogerly stated that due to the Treaty of Versailles, millions of Germans were unemployed and crime rate rose significantly (Doc D). Hitler saw this as an opportunity for him and his Nazi party to raise awareness and gain seats in the Reichstag. In Document E, Gogerly stated that Hitler was offered a position the Germans Worker’s Party to organize recruitment and propaganda and after gathering his first audience, he knew he was a talented speaker. He used his talent with words to hold many rallies which helped him gain support of the German people to become the Fuehrer. The propaganda poster from Document H, shows Hitler holding the Nazi flag in front of his fellow Nazi party members. The artist depicts Hitler as being the savior of the German people by shows how powerful he is followed by the support of the Nazi Party. The many actions taken by Hitler and the Nazi Party led to the successful control of Hitler over Germany. Cited in “The Western Heritage”, Since 1300 AP Edition; the Nazis attacked unemployment that by 1936 while the rest of Europe’s economy struggled, Germany no longer was haunted by it (Doc A). This describes how the Nazi party took steps toward making Germany a powerful country. In Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919, it stated that the
Cited: in “The Western Heritage”, Since 1300 AP Edition; the Nazis attacked unemployment that by 1936 while the rest of Europe’s economy struggled, Germany no longer was haunted by it (Doc A). This describes how the Nazi party took steps toward making Germany a powerful country. In Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919, it stated that the Reich President had power over the state and if the state did not oblige, the Reich President was allowed to use armed force (Doc F). Through this article, Hitler was able to use brute force and his Storm Troopers to bring order and maintain his power in Germany during the war. The map shown in Document I shows the administration of the Axis power and the countries it occupied during the time. The map shows how much power Hitler and the axis power has gained throughout the war. Mussolini’s letter to Hitler replying to Hitler’s previous letter talks about the agreement between German and Russia, avoiding a break of relations with Japan, and of the case with Poland and military collision with Russia, Italy, and Germany (Doc J). Mussolini sees their agreement as a way to prevent encirclement with the democracies and shows how many ties Hitler had with leaders against democracy. Hitler’s downfall began towards the end of the war when bad decisions led to another and finally caused his demise. An excerpt from Pg. 950 of “The Western Heritage”, Since 1300 AP Edition; states “Mussolini attacked Egypt... [and] invaded Greece . The British counterattacked... The Greeks pushed into Albania... Hitler was forced to divert his attention to the Balkans and Africa... The price, however, was a delay of six weeks [in Operation Barbarossa]” and this was one of many faulty decisions made that soon led to his last days in the bunker in Berlin (Doc B). A German woman summed up the final days of the war for Germany as being spiritually and emotionally drained and having to survive (Doc G). The women saw the war as being useless because Hitler and the Nazi Party had done so much to in the end being nothing. Hitler’s rise to power, his maintaining of power and fall of his empire were caused by making the right or wrong decision. His rise to power began with the Treaty of Versailles and by the help of the Nazi party. His maintaining of power was held by ending the Great Depression before the rest of Europe. His ultimate downfall was caused by making the wrong decisions and inn the end the German people saw the war as a cause that led them to nothing.