A-Level History: Nazi Germany

A-Level History: Nazi Germany

1. How and why Hitler came to power

   • Explain the factors that made Nazis appealing
     • Strong Nationalist currents among some of the German population
     • injustices of the Treaty of Versailles
     • Weakness of the Weimar political system
     • German economy was shattered
     • Ideas of a greater Germany

2. How Hitler increased his power and became chancellor

   • 1930/1932 elections
     • increased Nazi popularity
       • Led to Hitler being offered Chancellor
   • Steps taken after becoming chancellor
     • Reichstag Fire Arrests
     • Enabling Act
   • Weakness of Weimar system
   • Intimidation
     • SS and the Gestapo

3. Economic and Social Reforms implemented by the Nazis

   • Impact on Germany
     • Fall in unemployment
     • Industrial growth
   • Economic goals of autarky
     • Failure
   • Nazi education systems
     • Hitler Youth

4. Nazi Germany at war

   • Impact on German people
     • 1939-'41
       • Going in Hitler's favour
     • 1941-'45
       • Change from winning to loss
   • Operation Barbarossa
     • Era of Total War
   • Sacrifices put on normal German people
   • Increasing economic strain
   • State in which Germany was at the end of the war
     • Destroyed
     • Defeated

5. Sample Questions

   • How successful were the Nazis in moulding the German population in line with Nazi ideology? ‘The Nazis were only able to consolidate power through their use of propaganda.’ Discuss. ‘Hitler was able to become Führer entirely through legal methods.’ Discuss. How important was the use of terror in preventing opposition to the Nazi regime? Why did no real opposition to the Nazis emerge during the 1930s? To what extent could it be said that Germany was prepared for Total War? Could it be said that the Nazis brought prosperity to ordinary Germans?
   • * How and why Hitler was able to come to power in 1933, and the factors that made the Nazis more appealing to the electorate. * How Hitler was able to consolidate his power once he became chancellor. * The economic and social reforms implemented by the Nazis and their impact on Germany as European power and on different groups within German society. * Nazi Germany at war, especially in relation to the impact of ‘total war’ on the German population.

6. The Nazi Propaganda Machine

   • Foreign policy
   • Racial ideas
   • The role of women
   • Josef Goebells
     • Hitler's head of propaganda
   • Hitler was personally glorified
     • 'Hitler Myth'
   • Groups were demonised
     • Jews
     • Communists

Bilder und Dateien der Mindmap