To what extent did Hitler consolidate his power in 1933 and 1934 by legal means?

          In 1933, 30th January, Hitler was appointed chancellor, by Hindenburg, the German president, so that the Nazi-supporting public would follow him. Hindenburg new not appointing Hitler would mean Hitler would use his private army to take control. However Hitler wanted full control of Germany so that he was the sole leader and could not be opposed.

          Hitler would need the Enabling Act to take control of Germany after Hindenburg. The enabling act allowed Hitler to pass decrees without involving the president or anyone else, this meant he was a legal dictator and could change Germany to what he wanted.

          Hitler used his position to legally achieve his goal; his high position meant he had a strong influence on everything that happened in the Reichstag and the constitution.

          On the very day Hitler was appointed he managed to get Goering, a friend and ally, appointed as the minister of interior. This was the first step to corrupting Weimar as Goering would help and support Hitler.

          Goering then used his power to order the police to co-operate with the SS and SA on 17th February. This change was forced upon them and so made them unhappy but it was legal. This gave Hitler more control over who was arrested and who was not so he could ignore Nazi crime and focus on his political rivals. This weakened the support towards the other parties in the Reichstag and so made it unfair in the Reichstag due to proportional representation.

          Just over a week later the Reichstag was burnt to the ground, which makes historians very suspicious because it gave the Nazi party a brilliant opportunity. The next day he blamed the fire on the communist parties and Hitler used this event to greatly reduce his opponents. Hindenburg was persuaded to use article 48 to allow Hitler’s army to arrest and hold any suspects without trial. It also allowed Hitler to take control of regional governments. The police and Hitler’s armies then arrested every suspected communist, broke up all communist meetings and made the public think that communism was the enemy. This proved to the public that Hitler was trying to save Germany from the apparent threats. Over 4000 opponents of the Nazi party were arrested and held without trial. This was harsh but legal

          On the 5th March the Reichstag elections were held. After the recent attack on the Reichstag the Nazi party used slogans like “the war against Marxism”. The public saw Hitler as a protector and saviour. The storm troopers(SA) lined the voting booths and were watching who each person voted for. This intimidated the voters and they knew if they did not vote for the Nazi party they would be beaten by the brutal SA. The Nazi part got 52% of the votes and had 288 seats in the Reichstag; however the communist parties still got 81 seats. The majority of the communist and other Reichstag members were arrested so the Reichstag was mostly Nazi.

          On the 13th march Joseph Goebbels was appointed as the head of the ministry of propaganda. This was legal but then Goebbels went on to take control over the media and he banned all newspapers that did not support for the Nazi party. This was harsh but was vital to Nazi domination; this stopped the public seeing that the Nazis could be blamed for the fire which would have lost them many votes.

          On the 24th march the enabling act was agreed, due mostly to the Nazi opponents being held without trial. This was legal but it went totally against the democracy. Hitler now could change Germany and become a dictator.

          On the 7th April all courts, administration and education were purged of their Nazi opponents and mainly the foreigners and Jews. This meant he could change the history of what happened to make the public follow Hitler. This was not legal I think because they were innocent but Hitler could because he solely controlled Germany.

          On the 1st May all workers were given the day off, but then the next day Hitler banned all trade unions and forced the workers to work for the new German Labour Front (DAF). Again this was legal due to Hitler’s power but was very harsh because the workers were happy with their unions. They were now forced to work for the Nazis.

          Hitler then fulfilled his promise to make jobs by creating a major programme of works. This was legal and helpful for the public were so many were unemployed.

          In July Hitler passed a law which stopped new parties forming which meant there was no longer any type of democracy because the former parties had been wiped out and everything was controlled by the Nazis.

          He then also made an agreement between the government and the church to protect religious freedom but the catholic church were forced out of politics. This was harsh but was the last step for the Nazi party to have control.

          In 1934 the Nazis took over everything including the state governments. This meant there no chance of losing power. Now Hitler was forced to wait for Hindenburg’s death to become sole leader of Germany.

          The army were not convinced the Nazi party were helping Germany and were cautious of the SA who were very powerful and a threat if they were to rival Hitler. On the 30th June he had all the SA leaders executed along with other remaining rivals like Von Schleicher. This has come to be known as “the night of long knives”. The military were then satisfied and willing to follow Hitler and the SA broke up and joined the SS or the army.

          In August Hindenburg died and Hitler was named the Führer. The military swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler and he was then a dictator of Germany.

          Hitler was mainly legal in how he consolidated his power; he used the president’s emergency powers and his own position to change Germany, for example when he appointed Goebbels. However many of his changes were carried out harshly and although it made him less popular he could not be overthrown because the Nazis controlled everything. His main consolidation of his power was when he eliminated all his opposition; it was not the popular act but he disguised it as a criminal arrest which hid its true nature from the public. He was a strong powerful chancellor but was not the most popular at stages.