The word Nazism is the abbreviated term used to refer to National Socialism. This was an ideology that ruled in Germany from 1933 to 1945, it arose with the rise to power of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) . Nazism summary

The leader of this movement was Adolf Hitler , who self-proclaimed a Third Reich and established a totalitarian state, seeking to control all aspects of life. Nazism played a determining role in World War II . The Nazis would occupy France, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway. The Germany of this time in history is called Nazi Germany .

Learn about this ideology that marked a before and after in history. In this article you will discover how Nazism arose, what its main ideals were and the role it played during World War II.

What was Nazism

Nazi ideology was a type of fascism that rejected the parliamentary system and liberal democracy . It incorporates fervent anti-Semitism, eugenics, and scientific racism into its creed.

The extreme nationalism that Nazism developed came from the Völkisch movement and Pan-Germanism , originated by the German nationalism of that time. It received strong influences from the Freikorps , anti-communist paramilitary groups, which originated after the German defeat in the First World War . Nazism summary

Origin of Nazism

The German population did not understand the outcome of the Great War. Many were not happy with the surrender of Germany and less with the strong measures that were imposed on the country after the war.

The German people attributed the failure that was being experienced to the democratic system . It is precisely in these harsh circumstances of disillusionment and discontent that Nazism was born and strengthened, led by Adolf Hitler who came to power in 1933 in the midst of a great crisis .

Nazi Party emerges

In 1919 , Hitler founded the German Socialist Workers Party in Bavaria, popularly known as the Nazi Party. The party was gaining followers thanks to its violence and authoritarianism in imposing its ideals. It generated a strong fanaticism and became the most powerful political organization in Germany.

On November 9, 1923, Hitler organized a coup in Munich, called the “Munich Putsch”. The intention was to start the national revolution together with other organizations that had the same objective, just as the Fasci of Mussolini had done in Italy with the “March on Rome“. Nazism summary

The insurgent movement was stifled and Hitler was taken to a fortress, sentenced to 5 years in prison, although he was only serving 9 months deprived of liberty. This was the place where the first volume of his book Mein Kampf “My Fight” was born . This work contains all the ideological bases of the Nazi Party. Two years later, in 1925, he reorganized his party after being dismantled by the authorities.

The rise of Hitler as Führer

The Nazi movement was gaining adherents with the passage of time. The “crash of 29” leaves thousands of companies bankrupt , including Germany, which had been economically helped by the United States. This economic crisis once again puts the German state in a disadvantageous situation.

The socio-economic context that arises after this economic recession in October 1929, creates the perfect environment for Hitler to spread his message of anger, hatred, discontent and destruction. The German population was mostly middle class and desperate.

The carefully thought out organization, the propagandism that no party knew how to imitate, the violence, the dynamism, the attacks on the Republican government, the mass mobilization; they were the prelude to success for Hitler. Nazism summary

In the 1930 elections , the Nazi Party emerged as the second most important political force in the country, just two years later it already had 37.6% of the votes . In 1934, when President Hindenburg died, Adolf Hitler was elected as his successor . He holds the title of Führer and unquestionably achieves full control of the country.

Characteristics of Nazism

The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NASDAP) adopts the swastika (swastika) as its representative symbol, located in the center of a white circle that is wrapped in a red field.

The doctrine of Nazism is contained in the work “My Struggle”, which is considered “the bible” of it. The basic ideas in this book are as follows:

Superiority of the Aryan race

According to Hitler’s beliefs, the Germans come from the Aryan race which is superior to the rest. For this reason, they had the right to dominate other races that they considered inferior, among them: Jews, Russians, blacks and Slavs. The German people, according to this ideal, were obliged to conquer the rest of the world. Nazism summary

Antisemitism

Hitler claims that the Semitic race (the Jews) was an inferior race, only corrupting and deteriorating the purity of the German race . Marriage alliances between Germans and Jews should be prohibited, and it was necessary to completely banish and destroy the Jews.

Strengthening Germany

Nazism defended the full submission of individuals to a sovereign authority that represented the State. The Führer or chief was the personification of authority and was the one who would lead the Germans to the place they deserved in history.

When Hitler came to power, Germany was going through a great economic crisis; the Nazi leader sought to overcome it through public works such as the creation of highways and the strengthening of heavy industry. Starting in 1936, he embarked on the path of military rearmament. Nazism summary

Nazism in history: World War II

By the nineteenth century the world was divided between the great empires that dominated the world scene at that time. When Hitler began to build his own empire in Europe, all he thought about was competing for resources with the rest of the powers . For the Nazis it was the only way to turn Germany into an empire.

Nationalist empires were not new, for years this ideology was being formed around the world. France colonized Africa, the United States seized indigenous, Mexican and Spanish territories. Japan massacres China, also convinced that they were superior; so had the Belgians in the Congo and the English in Africa.

But the Germans turned out to be more strict than other nations , they had an exclusive patriotic conception, from the racial and cultural point of view. Although it was not an atypical case of exclusion, at that time it was even almost impossible to obtain British, Portuguese or French citizenship if the person’s skin color was not the “right” one. Nazism summary

Outbreak of World War II

With the firm intention of establishing in Europe a total hegemony of the Third Reich, Hitler promotes the rearmament of the German military forces . Make the Wehrmacht the most powerful army yet. In 1938 Austria and Czechoslovakia were annexed and in 1939 they invaded Poland .

This was the maneuver that disobeys the statutes of the Treaty of Versailles , signed after the First World War, and which also represents the beginning of the Second World War. Britain and France declare war on Germany.

Burnt and camps

What happens during the Second Great War was the expression of the Nazis trying to form an empire in Eastern Europe. His national conception was driven by intense racial concern. They took the racist theories that were already developing to the extreme .

The war allowed the Nazi repression to be more brutal and systematic . The German concentration camps reached 700,000 people by 1945. The extermination camps were the most extreme measures to avoid riots, along with the most cruel repression. Nazism summary

Fall of the Nazi regime

Hitler did not accept the possibility that the Germans would lose the war. However, in early 1945 it became clear that it was impossible to win the conflict . The Allied group had accumulated strength and was attacking the Germans on numerous fronts; the Red Army of the USSR takes the German capital, sentencing the fate of Nazism.

The Führer is secluded in a bunker in Berlin and on April 30 commits suicide with his wife , Eva Braun. The end of Nazi totalitarianism had come by that date, Germany surrenders and the war comes to an end. Nazism summary