Establishing the Nazi dictatorship 1933–1934

When Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933, Germany was still a democracy. Within 18 months he had abolished political parties, suspended civil liberties, taken over the courts, removed his rivals inside the Nazi movement and merged the offices of Chancellor and President. This rapid consolidation is sometimes called Gleichschaltung — "co-ordination" — and it relied on a sequence of carefully timed decrees and exploitation of crises.

The Reichstag Fire — 27 February 1933

A young Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, set fire to the Reichstag building. Whether the Nazis helped, hindered or simply seized the moment is debated, but the political result was decisive.

• The next morning, Hindenburg signed the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties (free speech, assembly, free press, secrecy of correspondence) and allowing detention without trial.
• 4,000 communists were arrested overnight; the KPD was effectively banned.
• The decree was justified as defence "against acts of communist violence endangering the State" — and would never be lifted.

The election of 5 March 1933

Despite the campaign of arrests and intimidation, the Nazis still failed to win a Reichstag majority — 43.9% (288 seats) — but with the 52 nationalist DNVP seats they had a slim majority. Hitler now needed two-thirds of the Reichstag to pass an Enabling Act. He achieved this by:

1. Excluding the 81 KPD deputies (under arrest or in hiding).
2. Bribing the Centre Party with promises to protect Catholic interests.
3. Surrounding the Reichstag building with SA and SS men.

The Enabling Act — 23 March 1933

By 441 votes to 94 (only the SPD voted against), the Reichstag passed the Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the State. It allowed the Cabinet — i.e. Hitler — to issue laws without the Reichstag for the next four years. It also bypassed the constitution. Once in force, every other dictatorial step had a legal cover.

Eliminating opposition March–July 1933

• March 1933 — first concentration camp opened at Dachau, used to hold political prisoners.
• April 1933 — the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service removed Jews and political opponents from the civil service.
• May 1933 — trade unions abolished; replaced by the Nazi-run DAF (German Labour Front) under Robert Ley.
• June–July 1933 — every other political party banned or forced to dissolve. 14 July 1933 — Law against the Formation of Parties made the NSDAP the only legal party in Germany.

In just six months, Germany was a one-party state.

The Night of the Long Knives — 30 June 1934

By 1934 the SA under Ernst Röhm had 3 million members — far larger than the army (still capped by Versailles at 100,000). Röhm wanted a "second revolution" — merging the SA with the army under his leadership. This terrified:

• The army — afraid of being absorbed and demoted.
• Industrialists — alarmed by Röhm's "socialist" rhetoric.
• Hitler — needed army loyalty for any future expansion.

On 30 June 1934 — the Night of the Long Knives — Hitler used the SS (under Himmler) and Gestapo (under Göring) to arrest and shoot SA leaders. Röhm was offered a pistol and refused; he was shot the next day. About 200 people were murdered including former Chancellor Schleicher and Hitler's old rival Gregor Strasser. The Reichstag retroactively legalised the murders.

The army was grateful and impressed. The SA was reduced; the SS rose.

Hindenburg's death — 2 August 1934

On 2 August 1934 the 86-year-old President Hindenburg died. Hitler did not appoint a successor. Instead he merged the offices of Chancellor and President into a single new title — Führer (Leader). On the same day, every member of the German armed forces swore a personal oath of loyalty:

"I swear by God this sacred oath that I will render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German Reich and people, supreme commander of the armed forces, and will be ready as a brave soldier to risk my life at any time for this oath."

A plebiscite confirmed the change with 89.9% support.

Why so fast?

Examiners reward analysis of how each step built on the last:

• Reichstag Fire Decree → emergency powers → arrests of opposition.
• Enabling Act → legal dictatorship.
• Banning of parties and unions → no organised resistance.
• Night of the Long Knives → no internal threat.
• Hindenburg's death → Führer title and army oath → total power.

By August 1934 there was no legal way to remove Hitler from office. The dictatorship was secure.