How did Hitler turn the post of Chancellor into a total dictatorship?
The creation of the Nazi dictatorship through the Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives, and the police state of the SS, Gestapo and propaganda.
A focused answer to how the Nazis built and held a dictatorship, covering the Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives and the Fuhrer title, and the machinery of the police state: the SS, Gestapo, courts, concentration camps and propaganda.
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What this dot point is asking
This section of the Germany period study covers the steps by which Hitler turned the office of Chancellor into a one-party dictatorship in 1933 and 1934, and how the Nazis then controlled Germany through terror, the law and propaganda. The narrative and "importance" questions here often ask you to sequence or rank these steps.
Creating the dictatorship
Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933 with only limited power. He destroyed German democracy through a rapid, connected sequence of moves.
With these powers Hitler moved quickly. Through 1933 the Nazis banned all other political parties and trade unions, making Germany a one-party state, and brought the regional governments under central Nazi control (Gleichschaltung, or "coordination").
The Night of the Long Knives and the Fuhrer
By 1934 the main remaining threat to Hitler came from within his own movement: the SA, now numbering millions, whose leader Ernst Rohm wanted a "second revolution" and a merger with the regular army. This alarmed the army generals, whose support Hitler needed.
The police state
Once in power, the Nazis ruled through a combination of terror and persuasion.
Terror was delivered by the SS (led by Himmler), an elite, fanatically loyal force, and the secret police, the Gestapo, who relied heavily on ordinary citizens informing on one another. Nazi-controlled courts and the People's Court removed legal protection, and concentration camps held political prisoners and other opponents without trial.
This combination explains why opposition (from some churchmen, youth groups like the Edelweiss Pirates, and later the July 1944 army plotters) remained limited and easily crushed.
Try this
Q1. What did the Enabling Act allow Hitler to do? [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Make laws without the Reichstag for four years, the legal basis of the dictatorship.
Q2. Explain why the Night of the Long Knives helped secure Hitler's power. [Short explanation]
- Cue. It removed the threat from the SA and its leader Rohm, reassured the army, and led the army to swear loyalty to Hitler as Fuhrer.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20208 marksExplain the importance of the Enabling Act of March 1933 for the creation of the Nazi dictatorship.Show worked answer →
The Paper 1 period study "importance" question (8 marks, AO1 and AO2). Reward explained consequences.
Develop two or three points. The Enabling Act let Hitler make laws for four years without the Reichstag, which gave the dictatorship a legal basis and meant he no longer needed Parliament or the President's decrees. This "allowed" him to ban other parties and trade unions, making Germany a one-party state, and to reshape government without legal challenge.
Top band. Explain how the Act underpinned every later step (one-party state, control of the regions), ending with a judgement that it was the legal foundation of the dictatorship.
AQA 20218 marksWrite an account of the ways in which Hitler established a dictatorship between January 1933 and August 1934.Show worked answer →
The Paper 1 narrative account question (8 marks). Reward a linked, analytical sequence.
Possible sequence. After becoming Chancellor in January 1933, Hitler used the Reichstag Fire (February 1933) to pass an emergency decree crushing the communists, which "led to" the Enabling Act (March 1933) giving him power to rule by decree. "As a result" he banned other parties and unions, then purged the SA in the Night of the Long Knives (June 1934) to reassure the army. "Finally", when Hindenburg died in August 1934, he merged President and Chancellor to become Fuhrer, with the army swearing loyalty to him.
Top band. Link each step to the next, ending on the Fuhrer title.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA GCSE History (8145) specification — AQA (2016)