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"Was the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler inevitable?"



Hey everyone,

Doing an academic piece on this question, and because of the enormity of the question and the clashes of theory, I was wanting to know what the general opinion of the AH.com community is. Obviously on one side you could say that Hitler was a revolutionary visionary who manipulated and controlled his environment and completely engineered his rise to power. I think that most historically aware people couldn't agree with that assumption that he totally created his own rise to power.

This leads to the contrasting theory that, with the geopolitical climate seen in Germany at the time, the rise of political extremism and authoritarian support was always going to happen, and therefore is inevitable.

I personally sit on the fence, however closer to the latter theory. I think the Weimar was a failed state that was formed on presumed defeatism and hurt the pride of the German populace. This lead to political indifference and 'revolution' - either to the left/or right wing. This, when coupled with the Great Depression, ToV and many other issues makes the fall of the Weimar, in general, guaranteed from the outset.

As I mentioned, the populace moved towards either the right or left wing for their voice against the Weimar. As there were no other viable right-wing parties, the Nazis had a 'control of the market' so to speak of the fascist fans. This, when coupled with the fact that communism was against the proud 'Teutonic Knight' dream of the proud German, this lead to the rise of Hitler and his Nazi Party.

I consider myself to have a relatively good knowledge and understanding of this period, however there are definitely aspects that I may have missed or not known about. There really aren't any incorrect theories, and revisionists are also welcome to show their opinion (AJP Taylor would be proud of you). Thanks in advance, I want to know if I'm on track.

TL;DR - I think the Weimar was destined to fail, and the Nazis were destined for power, although they were helped by the character of Hitler and the Nazi leaders. IS THIS IDEA CORRECT?


PS: I tried to use the search function, and found a lack of content on my exact theory, and this warranted this thread. I would love if you could point me to previous discussions however.
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