History 101

History 101: How did Hitler become a dictator? Part 2 In this next part of this mini series we will be investigating how Hitler solidified his role as an absolute dictator: MPs voting on Enabling act in the Reichstag, 1933 To actually becom e dictator, Hitler had to pass a law that would give him complete power to him. So Hitler, on the 23rd of March 1933, did exactly this by passing a law (amendment to the Weimar constitution) called the Enabling Act. This gave him the power to create laws without having to pass it through the Reichstag. During the vote the SA and SS were standing at the doors trying to persuade MPs , with violence, to vote for the Nazis Enabling Act. Hitler passed the vote 444 to 94. From this point onwards Hitlers emergency powers were made redundant and he now assumed permanent control over Germany. However this by no means meant that Hitler was literally unstoppable, he still had plenty of enemies! Hitlers first move came in July 1933 and ,...

History 101: How did Hitler become a dictator? Part 1 In this mini series, I will be investigating the path Hitler took to create an authoritarian rule over Germany: Firstly, for readers who may be confused, Hitler becoming chancellor in January 1933 but this didn't actually give him much power or make him a dictator. President Hindenburg had the most power and could fire Hitler at any point. Hitler still had to pass laws democratically through the Reichstag*, which Hitler couldn't do because he didn't have a majority (only 33%, 51% was needed). Hitler also only had three Nazis in the cabinet. This meant that all laws proposed by Hitler could be easily vetoed by the rest of the cabinet. Hitler came into chancellorship in a very weak position with little power, far from a dictatorship. If Hitler wanted to become a dictator and assert totalitarian rule on Germany he'd have to work for it, which he did. Reichstag fire; Feb 27th 1933 ...

History 101: Treaty of Versailles 1919: What the hell is it? Part 2 In the second part of this mainly informative background knowledge series, we will be looking at the final terms of the treaty agreed by the Allied powers: Germanys loss of land Highlighted The first main clause of the Treaty of Versailles was about Germanys land. The treaty stripped Germany of 25 thousand miles of land which left 7 million German nationals in foreign territory, most notably the sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Germany had to return the once French owned territory Alsace-Lorraine back too France. Germany also had to hand over territory to the east known as the polish corridor, which split East Prussia and mainland Germany in two. Germany had too hand parts of territory to Czechoslovakia and recognise their independence. France was also allowed to mine in the Saar land, which was now owned by the League of Nations (once Germanys pre-treaty). German...

History 101: Treaty of Versailles 1919: What the hell is it? Part 1 The Treaty Of Versailles   In this blog i will be informing you of what actually is the Treaty of Versailles and this should form some background knowledge, for you my readers, on future blogs: The Treaty of Versailles was the official peace deal for World War one. It was signed on the 28th June 1919 at the palace of Versailles in France. The fact that it was signed in land that was once owned by Germany/Prussia and taken back by the French is humiliating in itself. The deal was setup up and agreed on by the Allied powers. It was mainly aimed at Germany however did include Austria and other countries of the axis in some terms. There were three big Allied powers who got the overall say on most of the treaty and they were; France- led by Georges Clemenceau, Britain- led by Lloyd Gorge and the USA- led by Woodrow Wilson. Each country wanted different things out of the treaty because eac...

History 101: Why did Hitler become chancellor in January 1933? Part 3 This is the third and final part of my first big question. In this blog we will be exploring how other historians interpret Hitlers rise to power: I conducted further research into this topic to see what other renown historians had to say about Hitlers rise to chancellorship in 1933. Sir Ian Kershaw stated in his 700 page biography of Hitler called 'Nemesis' that: Kershaws' Book: Nemesis  "without changed conditions, the product of a lost war, a revolution and a pervasive sense of national humility, Hitler would have been a nobody" Kershaw focuses in on how the anger of the Treaty Of Versailles* and the "changed conditions" (The Depression), this gave a perfect platform for Hitlers' rise to power because people were constantly turning to radicals who promised to fix Germany. Kershaw also goes on to say:    "He could inspire an audience who shared his basic polit...

History 101: Why did Hitler become chancellor in January 1933? Part 2 This is the second part of the big question where we explore how the mistakes of the Weimar contributed to Hitlers rise: Unemployed line up for "Free coffee and Doughnuts" The Weimar government eventually became a Key factor of why Hitler became Chancellor. Weimar's first mistake was how it relied too much on America. The Weimar had taken huge loans (Dawes plan 1924 of 800 million marks) which tied Germany's economy to Americas'. Although there were no immediate negatives at the time because America was thriving, it was seen as risky. If Americas' economy was to crash, Germanys' would have followed however ten times as worse because it relied on America so much. In 1929 the wall street crash came and plunged America into poverty and unemployment. Germany followed but the impact was ten times as worse. Weimars second mistake was how its handled the depression. Instead of pumpi...

History 101: Why did Hitler become chancellor in January 1933? Part 1 This is the first of many of histories "Big questions" and we're answering it right here, right now on History 101: Hitler speech in Dortmund 1933 One reason why Hitler became chancellor in January 1933 was down to the Nazi parties brilliant organisational skills. Firstly the Nazis instrumented many parades, marches and most notably Hitlers' speeches. These events were always brandished with Nazi propaganda and flags. The audience were always bulked out by the SA to make it seem like there were lots of supporters. Organisation in the Nazi party didn't only create a strong image of Hitler through events but also in their propaganda. Joseph Goebbels, The Nazi propagandist, always depicted Hitler as a strong leader and his enemies ( mainly SDP and communists) as weak and chaotic. These factors contributed to the Nazi parties bid for power and generally made the Nazi party ...

History 101: Remembrance Day 2017 Every year all across the UK many people take part in remembrance events but what actually is it and why? Signing of the Armistice 1918 Remembrance always falls on the 11th of November. Its originally supposed to comemorate the soldiers who lost their lives in WW1 and the reason why it falls on 11/11 is because its meant to signify the signing of the WW1 armistice (11th month of the 11th day of the 11th hour of the 11th minute of the 11th second). The Armistice was signed in a Train carriage and it brought a controversial end to WW1.WW1 had been by far the worst war in Europe at the time, taking the lives of 32 million people including civilians. Remembrance was mostly set up for remembering the huge sacrifice on both sides in WW1 however since that day many worser wars have plagued the Earth. WW2 accounts for the most atrocious loss of life (around 60 million) however we must not rank wars in terms of...