Rise of the Nazi Party and the Path to World War II

The Rise of the National Socialist Party

Not believing Germany lost the war, he joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Their core ideology was based on three pillars:

• 1. Society has to be united to make Germany a great nation.
• 2. A totalitarian state: prioritizing the interest and the good of the state.
• 3. Aryans (the master race) vs. non-Aryans.

Their ideas were racist, anti-Semitic, nationalist, anti-communist, and anti-democratic. In November 1923, the Nazis launched the Beer Hall Putsch, and Hitler was arrested.

Consolidation of Power and the Enabling Acts

Later, the party was reorganized as a fanatical mass movement. The Nazis became the biggest party. In 1933, Hitler was named Chancellor. The first act was to use the burning of the Reichstag building for general elections, and the Nazi Hermann Göring suppressed the party's opposition. Hitler took absolute power through the Enabling Acts.

Life Under the Totalitarian State

1. Remove any opposition: A totalitarian state was established where life was controlled by the government using a secret police force. Political parties and trade unions were banned. Opposition was controlled by the police, and enemies were sent to concentration camps.
2. Everyone had a place: Women were expected to stay at home, support their husbands, and have children to increase Germany's population. Education was controlled to implement systems with Nazi opinions, and children were forced to join Nazi youth movements. Media was controlled by propaganda under Joseph Goebbels.
3. Make Germany strong: They aimed to reduce unemployment by investing public money in public works. They rearmed Germany, made the nation more self-sufficient, and expanded their territories.

Racial Purity and the Road to Global Conflict

4. Make Germany racially pure: Jews were blamed for every negative aspect of Germany; the objective was to exterminate the Jewish population. The assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish student was used as an excuse to attack during the Night of Broken Glass.

To make Germany strong, he started a programme of rearmament. He abandoned the League of Nations and started an aggressive foreign policy. He allied with Mussolini and established the Rome-Berlin Axis agreement and the Anti-Comintern Pact. In 1939, he annexed Austria and occupied the Sudetenland. In March 1939, he invaded Czechoslovakia, and in April, he sent troops to Albania. He signed a non-aggression pact with the USSR and invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany (WW2), which consisted of two sides: the Axis powers and the Allies.