Effects of Reichstag Fire

The nazis would rig the elections in any way. They might simply forbid the Social Democrats or something like that.
 
They didn't forbid the SPD running, but they threw some of their parliamentaries into prison, and later forbad them too.

The Communist party was forbidden a few days before the election, but still gained 12% of the votes (and thus, mandates). Their people were sacked first.

Don't forget: Hitler was already chancellor and head of Germany's strongest party (unfortunately :()
 
They didn't forbid the SPD running, but they threw some of their parliamentaries into prison, and later forbad them too.

The Communist party was forbidden a few days before the election, but still gained 12% of the votes (and thus, mandates). Their people were sacked first.

Don't forget: Hitler was already chancellor and head of Germany's strongest party (unfortunately :()

Yes, but that didn't give him the strength to do whatever he chose. Depending on how the fire could be seen as affecting the election, one would at least presume the KPD would have a greater share, the Nazis a lesser share, and maybe a slightly greater SDP share. If the Nazis suffered a reverse big enough, Hitler might be removed as Reichskanzler.

I don't see that happening, but if the Nazis appeared to be getting nowhere fast in terms of a total seizure of government (remember Hitler had no interest in sharing power with anyone), they might have been forced to execute a coup. It would probably succeed, but with what consequences? His legitimacy in Germany and abroad would be damaged, at the very least.
 
Had the Nazis seized power, you might very well have seen the SPD, KPD, and labor unions resist. Civil war, I think, would be a likely outcome.
 
Had the Nazis seized power, you might very well have seen the SPD, KPD, and labor unions resist. Civil war, I think, would be a likely outcome.

Or at least some violence, followed by a greater willingness of neighbouring countries to confront Hitler....
 
They wouldn't resist too much. The labor unions couldn't do much - Germany had six million unemployed, a general strike would be too risky. The Communists were soon decapitated, for their decentralized structure. And the SPD, I don't know either.
 
They wouldn't resist too much. The labor unions couldn't do much - Germany had six million unemployed, a general strike would be too risky. The Communists were soon decapitated, for their decentralized structure. And the SPD, I don't know either.

Well that's why I doubt there would be a full-scale civil war. Probably some rioting, and some street fighting between communists and the SA (or the army if Hitler could trust them). But the main problem would be with the effect it would have on his international image. Remarkably as it seems to us now, he was treated with a fair amount of respect, especially seen as a statesman, having gained power by "democratic" means. Even with a tarnished reputation, they would still have dealt with him (as they did with Mussolini), but I wonder if he would have been trusted by the French and particularly the British all the way to Munich.
 
Had the Nazis seized power, you might very well have seen the SPD, KPD, and labor unions resist. Civil war, I think, would be a likely outcome.

Not together, though. The Popular Front idea had not taken off at this point, and would not until the Spanish Civil War. No, in the early 1930s the Communists were convinced that Fascism was the last gasp of capitalism. This is why the KPD did not join forces with the SPD before then, or even after, until it was too late.
The SPD was, strange as it sounds, regarded as the real enemy: 'social fascists', the KPD called them, since they were regarded as traitors to the people, and capitalist lackeys.
 

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If the Reichtag fire hadn't happened I think it would take the Nazis some more time to get complete controll of Germany. They would eventually be able to remove all their political rivals, it would just take some more time.
 
I guess Germany might have found itself in a similar situation to Zimbabwe today. By that I mean disputed elections and political violence/interference from the Nazis in those elections leading to a barely-legitimate Nazi win.
 
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