Lesson video

Hello.

Welcome to History, here at Oak National Academy.

My name's Mr. Newton, and I'll be your teacher today guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right, let's get started.

In this lessons, we are trying to understand how Adolf Hitler rose to power.

So we'll be tracing Hitler's journey from the leader of a small political party to being appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933.

To retrace that journey, we need to consider an important question, what would make ordinary people feel desperate enough to support a leader or a party demanding extreme changes? Imagine you are a skilled worker, someone who's always done the right thing.

You've saved, worked hard, supported your family.

Then suddenly, through no fault of your own, your factory closes, the banks collapse, your rent is overdue, your stomach is empty.

And your governments, it argues, it delays, it does nothing.

Would you still believe in democracy if the system failed to put food on your table? Today we're going to explore how the economic devastation of the Great Depression didn't just cause hardship, it transformed German politics, opened the door to many dangerous ideas, and pulled the country toward radical change.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain how the Great Depression led to increased support for the Communist Party in Germany.

Before we begin, there is a key word that we need to understand, and that key word is depression.

And in the context that we're using it in today's lesson, depression means a period of economic hardship in which there is very little business activity and not too many jobs.

Today's lesson is split into two parts.

In the first parts, we will establish how the depression led to soaring unemployment and widespread hardship across Germany, before moving on to the second part of the lesson where we'll be focused on how this economic desperation helped the Communist Party to grow.

Right, let's begin with an exploration of the Great Depression and unemployment.

In October, 1929, the world changed overnight.

In the United States, in the heart of New York City, the stock market crashed, an event that became known as the Wall Street Crash, sending shockwaves across the globe.

Take a look at the newspaper on the left.

The headline reads, "Billions lost in stock crash." And in the photo we can see crowds gathered outside the New York Stock Exchange.

This image captures a moment of panic and uncertainty as news of the stock market crash spread.

Many of these people in the photo had just lost their life savings.

By the end of October, 1929, $10 billion had been wiped out, twice the amount of all money in circulation in the United States at the time.

This financial catastrophe caused an economic depression as businesses collapsed and unemployment soared.

The crisis deepened and spread worldwide, leading to a prolonged period of economic hardship known as the Great Depression.

For Germany, the impact was immediate and devastating.

Just as the fragile Weimar Republic was beginning to recover from the turmoil of the early 1920s, it was struck down by an economic disaster beyond its control.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

And what I want you to do here is complete the sentence with the correct missing word.

So the sentence is, the great blank began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 in the US, but it quickly escalated into a global economic crisis, leading to severe economic instability in Germany.

Pause the video, fill in the blank, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew that the sentence should have read, the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 in the US, but it quickly escalated into a global economic crisis leading to severe economic instability in Germany.

Okay, let's continue.

So let's have a look what happened to Germany's economy during the Great Depression.

Germany's economy had been built on a precarious foundation, and it was heavily reliant on American loans.

These loans had been vital for keeping German businesses running, and without them, everything began to fall apart.

So let's quickly remind ourselves why Germany was relying on American loans.

After the German hyperinflation crisis of 1923, Germany secured the Dawes Plan of 1924.

And this international agreement allowed American banks to lend billions to German industries, helping to rebuild the economy and restore stability.

Major companies, such as the steelworks of Krupp and the Opel car factory, operated on borrowed American dollars.

However, these loans were short-term.

And after the Wall Street Crash, American banks were desperate to save themselves.

Therefore, American banks demanded the immediate repayment of the loans given to Germany.

This began a spiral of depression in Germany, which I'll show you with this diagram here.

The already fragile Weimar economy had no way to pay the loans back, and the results were catastrophic.

Factories cut down their production or shut down entirely.

And this wasn't just factories, but many businesses relied on American money to stay open.

And without it, they couldn't afford to pay workers or keep production going.

Next, as factories, banks and businesses closed, workers across Germany lost their jobs.

And this wasn't just a few people, it was millions.

Suddenly families had no income, no stability, and no idea what would come next.

With so many people out of work, the next step in the cycle kicked in.

People spent less money.

If you've lost your job, you stopped spending on anything except the absolute essentials, and that's even if you can afford those at all.

Farmers too were devastated as crop prices plummeted.

And with less money in circulation, food prices dropped so low that many farmers couldn't cover the cost of production.

At the same time, wealthy investors withdrew their money from Germany, sending the financial system into freefall.

Therefore, with lots of people spending less money in Germany, that led to less demand for factory goods.

Shops weren't selling, so they stopped ordering, factories that hadn't already closed now had even fewer reasons to stay open.

And that takes us full circle back to more factories shutting down.

And this is what we call a cycle of depression, a repeating pattern where every problem makes the next one worse.

By 1932, 6 million Germans, nearly one in three workers, were jobless.

The Weimar Republic, already deeply unpopular, seemed powerless to stop the crisis.

In other words, to sum all of that slide up in one sentence, the Wall Street Crash led to American banks to recall their loans, which triggered an economic depression in Germany.

Factories closed, unemployment soared, and the entire economy collapsed.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

How did the withdrawal of American loans impact Germany? A, it's allowed the Weimar Republic to become more independent, B, it caused German businesses to collapse, leading to mass unemployment, C, it led to an increase in German exports and reparations payments.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you gave the correct answer to the withdrawal of American Loans was B, it caused German businesses to collapse, leading to mass unemployment.

The Weimar government already mistrusted by many Germans seemed utterly incapable of handling the crisis.

Chancellor after chancellor tried and failed to control the spiralling unemployment and economic despair.

Heinrich Bruning, who we can see circled in the photo, became chancellor in March, 1930.

And he believed that cutting governments spending and raising taxes would stabilise the economy.

However, his severe cost-cutting policies only deepened the crisis.

With wages slashed and unemployment benefits reduced, millions faced the grim reality, no work, no support, and no hope.

As poverty deepened, trust in society itself began to crumble.

People lost faith in the institutions that were supposed to protect them, the economy, the legal system, the press, et cetera.

In other words, the public lost trust in the Weimar Republic and democracy itself.

And what was happening was that the Reichstag, Germany's parliament, became increasingly paralysed, unable to form stable coalitions or pass effective laws.

In response, Chancellor Bruning resorted to using President Hindenburg's emergency powers under Article 48, allowing him to pass laws without parliamentary approval.

And let's quickly remind ourselves what that meant.

The diagram shows how Article 48 changed the way Germany was being governed.

In normal times, laws would be debated and passed by the Reichstag, and the chancellor would help lead the government, with the president serving as head of state.

This divided power and authority between the president, the chancellor, and the Reichstag.

However, during the Great Depression, the Reichstag was paralysed.

Political parties couldn't agree on how to deal with the crisis.

So Chancellor Bruning, with the agreement of President Hindenburg, began using Article 48, giving them emergency powers to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag.

So the public began to see the Weimar Republic not as a democracy, but as a failing system where power was concentrated in the hands of one man, the president.

This only worsened the crisis, fueling public discontent and further eroding faith in democracy.

Many Germans disillusioned with the system turned instead to radical parties on both the left and the right, seeking decisive solutions to their suffering.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

In what ways did the Weimar Republic fail to handle mass unemployment? Select two correct answers.

A, Chancellor Bruning's policies of cutting wages and welfare worsened the crisis, B, Chancellor Bruning's policies of increasing public spending led to more government debt.

C, the Weimar government resorted to using Article 48, which weakened trust in democracy.

Pause the video, select your two correct answers, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew that the correct two answers were, A, Chancellor Bruning's policies of cutting wages and welfare worsened the crisis, and C, the Weimar government resorted to using Article 48, and this weakened trusted democracy.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is, working with your partner, discuss the following questions.

So question one is, what caused the Great Depression? Then number two, how did the Great Depression impact Germany? And three, how did the Weimar government respond to the Great Depression? So you can have this as a discussion or you could jot down some points on a piece of paper, noting down some answers to those questions.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done for having a go at that task.

So you may have discussed or written down the following.

So let's first look at some answers for question one, what caused the Great Depression? So you might have talked about the fact that the Wall Street Crash in 1929 triggered an economic crisis in America, and this meant that billions of dollars were lost, leading to business failures and soaring unemployment in the US.

And you must have gone on to say that this crisis spread worldwide, causing a prolonged period of economic hardship known as the Great Depression.

Okay, let's look at the answers for question two, how did the Great Depression impact Germany? So you may have discussed that Germany relied on American loans to rebuild its economy after hyperinflation.

And that after the crash, American banks demanded repayments and Germany had no way to pay.

You might have also said that businesses, factories, and banks shut down, and farmers suffered as crop prices plummeted.

And that big overall statistic I gave you was that by 1932, 6 million Germans were unemployed, meaning nearly one in three workers were unemployed.

And then the final question was, how did the Weimar government respond to the Great Depression? You might have said that the Weimar government failed to provide effective solutions to the crisis.

And then you could have gone into more detail to say that Chancellor Bruning's policies made things worse, such as lower wages, unemployment benefits, and higher taxes.

And that the Reichstag struggled to agree on solutions, meaning the government resorted to Article 48 to pass laws.

And this meant the public trust in democracy weakened, leading many people to turn to radical political parties on the left and right, like the Communist and Nazis, who promised strong leadership and decisive action.

Okay, great, now that we've explored how the Great Depression led to soaring unemployment and widespread distrust of the Weimar government and indeed the mainstream political parties in Germany, we can now move on to the second part of today's lesson, the impact of unemployment and communist party growth.

So to start us off here, I now want to read you a story about Heinrich Mueller and the impact of the Great Depression.

So this is a piece of historical fiction informed by source material from the time, reflecting the thoughts of an unemployed German during the Great Depression.

In other words, although Heinrich isn't a real person, the story you're about to hear is based on real historical experiences.

Through Heinrich's eyes, we'll get a sense of what it felt like to live through the Great Depression in Germany.

This story captures the emotional reality of the time, not just the facts and figures, but the human impact.

Heinrich Muller had never begged before.

A year ago, he had been a proud machinist in a Berlin factory, saving for the future, making plans with his fiance.

They had spoken of marriage, of a home, of children, but now as he wandered past the silent, shuttered factories, past men slumped against walls with signs reading "work wanted, any kind," he felt his pride slipping away.

At first, he had believed things would get better.

A slump, nothing more, he told himself.

But as months dragged into years, that belief soured into bitterness.

Friends who once laughed over beer, now wandered the streets, their eyes empty with despair.

Families packed their belongings onto carts, evicted from their homes after failing to pay the rent.

In dim alleyways, gangs of young men, proud, fighting, stealing, surviving.

His fiance spoke of leaving him, of returning to her family.

"How can we marry when we have nothing," she asked.

"How can we start a family when we cannot even feed ourselves?" He had no answer.

She was not alone in her fears.

Throughout Germany, couples postponed marriage, birth rates plummeted, and a generation faced a future that seemed to hold nothing for them.

One evening drawn by hunger and rage, Heinrich found himself at a communist rally.

The speaker's voice thundered over the crowd, demanding revolution, justice, and an end to the rule of the wealthy elite who had abandoned the workers.

Around him, fists rose in the air, men like him, jobless, desperate, all chanting for change.

Bread and work, they cried.

He had never cared for politics.

But now, staring at his empty hands, he realised, he had nothing left to lose.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What were some of the social impacts of the Great Depression on ordinary Germans? Select three correct answers.

A, many people became homeless after being unable to pay rent, B, marriage and birth rates declined as families could no longer afford to start a life together, C, street gangs and crime increased as people struggle to survive, D, the government provided stable jobs for all unemployed workers.

Pause the video, select your three correct answers, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew the correct answers were that, A, many people became homeless during the Great Depression after being unable to pay rent.

And B, marriage and birth rates declined as families could no longer afford to start a life together.

And C, street gangs and crime increased as people struggle to survive.

Okay, let's continue.

So as the depression worsened, the Communist Party, or KPD, gained support by promising to help workers.

In these hard times, people were obviously searching for answers.

For many workers, the Communist Party became a beacon of hope amid mass unemployment and economic collapse.

The communists vowed to destroy the power of wealthy businessmen who they believed had left millions starving.

The Communist promised to seize control of the state, the economy, and its industries, and then redistribute power to the working class.

In other words, take all the wealth and property away from their owners and share it out amongst the workers.

As desperation grew, their message obviously resonated with those who have lost faith in democracy.

The message was offering immediate relief, better welfare, higher wages, and stronger protections for trade unions.

And it's appealed to workers who saw no future under the Weimar government.

Let's take a closer look at this Communist Party election poster.

You'll notice a powerful image, a bold muscular worker dressed in red striding forward with his fist raised as he's about to smash those seated at the table.

The people at the table are the elites of Weimar, Germany, businessmen, politicians, and generals.

The caption reads, an end to this system, referring to democracy, big business and the army.

We can see how posters like this could have stirred emotions such as anger, strength, and unity, and how this muscular man could be used like a meme, to tear down that system and replace it with one where workers were in control.

And in fact, that's exactly what's happened.

During this period, many radical parties, including the communist and the Nazis, used powerful emotional imagery like this to present themselves as the solution to Germany's crisis.

They knew people were tired of weakness, debate, and indecision, so they offered strength, certainty, and action.

In the working class neighbourhoods of Berlin and the industrial heartlands of the rural, communist support surged.

The KPD rivalled the Nazis in organisation and propaganda, flooding the streets with posters and distributing leaflets.

The communist paramilitary wing, the Red Front Fighters, clashed violently with Nazi stormtroopers, both factions battling for dominance in a country spiralling into chaos.

Red banners waved over communist rallies as party leaders denounce the Weimar Republic as a corrupt tool of the wealthy elites.

By 1932, KPD membership had skyrocketed, and their success in the Reichstag elections of 1930 and 1932 reflected the growing rejection of Weimar democracy.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is complete the sentence with the correct missing word.

So let's read the sentence.

During the Great Depression, many unemployed workers turned to the blank party because it promised to take control of industry and redistribute wealth.

Pause the video, fill in the blank, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So the sentence should have read, during the Great Depression, many unemployed workers turned to the Communist Party because it promised to take control of industry and redistribute well.

However, while the KPD, the communists, were gaining strong support from industrial workers, many Germans, especially the middle class, business owners and conservatives, saw them as a mob of dangerous radicals determined to turn Germany into another Soviet Union through a violent revolution.

Fear of communism drove many people to support the Nazi Party instead.

For example, landowners, business leaders and military figures looked for protection in the only alternative they believed could stop the communist threat, Adolf Hitler.

As unemployment worsened, the struggle between the Nazis and the communists escalated into open street warfare.

Paramilitary gangs clashed in broad daylight, turning cities into battle grounds.

Political meetings erupted into riots and entire districts became strongholds of either communist or Nazi control.

If you have a look at the image on the left, this powerful image shows torn election posters from different political parties during the Weimar Republic.

And you can see the overlapping damaged posters of the communists KPD and the Nazis and other parties, each fighting for attention, power, and survival.

And this reflects a broken political system in a country deep in crisis with no clear leadership or direction.

The Weimar Republic lacked the strength to restore order.

The years 1929 to 1932 marked a turning point in German history.

The Great Depression shattered the fragile stability of the Weimar Republic, and its leaders failed to provide a way forward.

In the midst of chaos, desperate Germans searched for solutions.

For some, communism promised salvation, for others, Hitler's vision of national strength seemed like the only path to stability.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

How did fear of communism contribute to Hitler's rise to power? A, many people supported Hitler to prevent a communist revolution.

B, the Communist party helped Hitler win the 1932 election.

C, the Nazis allied with the communists to overthrow the government.

D, the government banned communist rallies, leading people to vote for Hitler.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew the correct answer was that, A, many people supported Hitler to prevent a communist revolution.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to the first part of task B.

What I want you to do here is, study the fictional account of Heinrich Muller, and then answer this question, what do you think the account suggests about the impact of the Great Depression on ordinary Germans? And to help you to structure your answer, your answer should identify an aspect of the account and then go on to explain the historical context it is referring to.

So pick out the detail of Heinrich's account and then explain the background story it's referring to using the knowledge you've gained from today's lesson.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

So there's many things that you may have picked out from that account.

But compare your answer with the one I have here.

One thing we can infer from the account is that mass unemployment caused desperation and poverty.

The source describes Heinrich Muller, a skilled worker, losing his job and struggling to survive in an environment where crime was increasing, and marriage and birth rates were falling due to economic desperation.

This reflects the real experiences of millions of Germans after the Great Depression hit, as unemployment soared and many faced extreme financial hardship.

So we can see there in my answer, I'm referring to details in Heinrich Muller's account and then referring to the historical context, the background details that we know was happening at the time during the Great Depression, such as crime increasing, marriage and birth rates falling, and unemployment.

And just to give you an idea of a different way of answering the question, you could have wrote, another inference from the account is that unemployment led people to support extremist political parties.

Heinrich, who previously did not care for politics, finds himself drawn to a communist rally out of frustration and hopelessness.

This shows how the crisis pushed ordinary Germans towards radical solutions.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to the second part of task B.

And here I want you to explain why support for the Communist Party or the KPD increased between 1929 and 1932.

And to give you an idea of how to structure your answer, you must write a paragraph on each of the following, unemployment and the Weimar Republic's response and the Communist Party's appeal and use of propaganda.

So you use all the knowledge you've gained from today's lesson to write two detailed paragraphs explaining why support for the Communist Party increased.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Well done for having a go at that task.

So there's many ways that you may have answered that question, but compare your answer with the one I have here.

So your answer could have included for the first paragraph, support for the Communist Party, KPD, increased between 1929 and 1932 because of the unemployment caused by the Great Depression.

After the Wall Street Crash, American banks withdrew their loans to Germany, leading to business closures and mass unemployment.

By 1932, around 6 million Germans were out of work, and many faced poverty and starvation.

The Weimar government's response, cutting spending and reducing unemployment benefits, only made the situation worse, making people look for radical alternatives such as the Communist Party.

And for the second paragraph, your answer may continue.

The Communist Party gained support because it promised solutions that appealed to struggling workers.

They offered higher wages, better welfare, and stronger trade unions.

Additionally, the KPD actively campaigned using propaganda and rallies to spread their message.

Their paramilitary wing, the Red Front Fighters, clashed with Nazi stormtroopers, showing their willingness to take action.

However, while many workers supported the communists, the fear of a violent communist revolution pushed middle-class Germans, business owners, and conservatives to support the Nazis instead.

Okay, great, let's summarise today's lesson, the growth of unemployment and rise in support for the Communist Party.

The 1929 Wall Street Crash triggered the Great Depression, causing economic collapse worldwide.

Germany, heavily reliant on US loans, faced mass unemployment as American banks demanded repayments.

The Weimar government failed to provide solutions, and Chancellor Bruning's policies worsened the crisis.

Desperate Germans lost faith in democracy and turned to radical parties.

The Communist Party, KPD, gained support by promising higher wages, better welfare, and workers' control.

However, fear of a communist revolution drove many Germans toward Hitler, seeing the Nazis as the only force capable of restoring order.

Okay, great.

Well done on a brilliant lesson.

Today we've seen how economic collapse doesn't just damage people's jobs and incomes, it can break down trust in an entire political system.

In their desperation, many Germans search for bold solutions, some believe the communist offered hope.

But as we'll soon see, many others placed their faith in the Nazi Party.

See you next time when we'll continue to discover how that growing Nazi support would eventually lead to Adolf Hitler becoming chancellor of Germany.