his second round increased the Nazi vote but it was not enough for victory. Hindenburg received a 53% vote and was re-elected for another seven years. By the end of 1932 three chancellors- Bruning, Papen and Schleicher had all failed to achieve any kind of stability in government. A group of men close to the president, including former chancellor Papen, and some powerful industrialists, now believed that Hitler and the Nazis would have to be brought into the government. Hindenburg finally appointed Hitler chancellor on the 30th of January 1933, after refusing him in August 1932. In the cabinet only three of the eleven posts were given to Nazis, and Papen was appointed vice cancellor.Hitler’s New GermanyHitler’s first step of being chancellor was to call for elections to be held in the March of 1933. Before the elections were held, however, on the 27th of February a week before the election the Reichstag burnt down. A Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was caught inside the burning building with firelighters and matches on him. Hitler used this event to arrest many communists and to request Hindenburg to issue an emergency decree, For the Protection of the People and State. The Nazis won 288 seatsHitler now persuaded the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act, which would alter the constitution and give him the ability to pass laws without the consent of the Reichstag. By a vote of 441 to 94, the Enabling Act was passed. He was now the legal dictator of Germany. Hitler’s plans for Germany were three points: *Rearmament *Employment *ExpansionAlmost as soon as the Nazis came to power, Germany began to rearm. In October 1934 Hitler authorised an increase in the size of the German Army, and in two months it had grown to 280 000 soldiers. In March 1935 he announced the reintroduction of conscription, with...
