Western Civ. V The Philosophes Research Paper

) and towards the more practical needs for Aryan survival.

c. Why did a growing number of Germans support Hitler and the Nazi Party in the years leading up to his appointment as chancellor?

There are many arguments to this question, but one that surfaces more often than others focuses on economics and self-preservation. The German people were humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles -- their military and economic system had been stripped away, their debt unbearable, and their economy was being controlled by other countries. The ideas of National Socialism were attractive to many: unification of the German Volk, reestablishing the German lands as a country dedicated to certain ideals, focusing on ethnic and linguistic similarities, the overthrow of Versailles, the idea of German self-determination, lebensraum (room for Germans to live, grow and prosper), and an improvement over the crippling inflation and economic woes of the Weimar Government, seen by many as simply a tool for the English and French. Many middle-class Germans were also worried about the communist revolution in Russia and the idea of exporting that revolution to Germany, which was frankly popular at the time. As the economy continued to spiral downward in the 1920s, more and more support was given to the National Socialists who, it seemed at the time, had a cogent plan for reorganizing Germany.Indeed, despite the anti-Semitic rhetoric, once Hitler's Party came to power, from roughly 1930-39 the economy boomed, the middle and upper middle classes flourished, and Germany once again became a world power.

Works Cited

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Primary Source

Documents, History 100.

Hitler, a. Mein Kampf. Primary Source Documents, History 100.

Marx, Karl and F. Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Primary Source

Documents, History 100.

Pearson, K. National Life From the Standpoint of Science. Primary Source

Documents, History 100.

Sartre, J.P. Existentialism is a Humanism. Primary Source Documents, History 100.

William Wordsworth, "The Tables Turned." Cited in http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/poems/wordsworth3.htm

Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, Primary Source Readings, p.40.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the Communist Manifesto, 1848, Primary Source Readings, pp. 26-7.

Ibid; Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Primary Source Readings, pp.23-4.

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Primary Source Readings, p.38.

Karl Pearson, National Life From the Standpoint of Science. Primary Source Readings, p. 32.

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf.….....