Explain the circumstances under which Nazism became popular in Germany.

The various circumstances under which Nazism became popular in Germany were:

• During World War I, Europe got drained out of its resources due to the continuous war. Alongside, the allies who were fighting with Germany, England, France and Russia became strong with the entry of the US who defeated Germany. This ultimately led to the national assembly to meet at Weimer and form the democratic constitution with the federal structure. This was the Weimer constitution. People didn’t accept it because it forced Germany to accept its terms.

• The Treaty at Versailles with Allies was humiliating and harsh. Germany also lost its colonies, 13 per cent of its territories, 75 per cent of its iron and 26 per cent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania.

• To weaken the power of Germany, they demilitarised them. Germany was held responsible for the war according to the war guilt clause.

• As Germany was facing an economic crisis. The wars that were fought was largely compensated by the loans and had to make payment in gold to fulfil war reparations. This led to the depletion of the gold reserves. When French occupied Ruhr, leading industrial area to take over its coal resources, Germany to show their opposition printed paper currency in large amount. This led to the fall in the value of the German mark.

• As the value of the mark had fallen, the prices of the goods increased. To buy a loaf of bread Germans carried dozens of currency and this image gained worldwide sympathy. This crisis came to be known as hyperinflation, a situation when prices rise phenomenally high.

As Banks were destroyed, businesses were shut down; workers lived a worse life as they lost their jobs and the middle-class population was threatened by the lack of subsistence. Because of this people started hoping that Nazi propaganda will provide them with a better future and it became popular.