hi there and welcome to the history teacher this revision video covers weimar and nazi germany from the edexcel nine to one course hopefully you'll also find it useful if you're studying any of the other exam boards or if like me you just love history you can now become a member to support me to continue making this content for as little as 1 pound a month plus you'll get exclusive access to resources and be able to vote on forthcoming episodes the link is on your screen right now hi there guys we're into topic two now and we're going to be looking at the early years of the nazi party up to 1923 and the munich perch lots of you will know some information about hitler's life before 1918 but this doesn't come up on the spec however if you'd like to know more about this there is a card on screen right now which will take you to biographics great video on the personal life of hitler we however are interested in passing our exam so let's look at the information we need to know adolf hitler was 29 years old when the first world war ended he was in hospital after temporarily losing his sight when the news of the armistice broke unsure what to do with himself hitler joined the local army working as a spy watching local activist groups which is how hitler first came into contact with the dap or the german workers party the group had been formed by anton drexler in march 1919 and was tiny at their first meeting only 23 people attended however hitler likes the attitude of the party particularly their anger at the armistice and the treaty of versailles so in september 1919 he joined the party hitler began to give speeches to the members and quickly became a leading member by 1922 he had total control of the party and he achieved this in five ways the first was the development of party policy hitler published his 25-point program in february 1920. the key points of this were he was strongly opposed to the weimar government especially those who were seen as the november criminals those who had signed the armistice and those who accepted the treaty of versailles which he saw as an insult to germany it was also anti-democracy hitler believed democracy to be weak and too open to indecision he wanted to see a single strong ruler in charge of germany the 25 points were also deeply anti-semitic blaming the jews for the economic problems of germany the program stated that only those of german blood are members of the nation and that no jew may be a member of the nation you will remember there had been a lot of anti-semitic feeling following the armistice and the treaty of versailles another way hitler achieved the leadership of the party was through his own personal appeal he practiced his speeches carefully and used lots of persuasive devices including drawing the audience in showing passion using shouts and hand gestures and escalating his speech volume and language his speeches were very persuasive and by the end of 1920 around 3 000 people would come to hear him speak hitler was aware of how powerful his speeches were and had photographs and paintings made showing him as a great orator the next step for hitler was to reorganize the party in 1920 a permanent office was set up from which to run their party as a result of this the party's meetings became more organized and better advertised hitler then went on to rename the party the national socialist german workers party the nsdap or nazi for short this was to spread the appeal of the party more widely to more people hitler then began working on a logo for the party and settled on the swastika and began to use the straight arm salute this branding was clear and set the party apart from others of a similar nature the increased membership and better organization have led to the creation of the nsda peace newspaper the volkischer biavacta or people's observer this allowed the nsdap to spread the message of the nazi party more widely and it quickly reached the readership of 17 000 people now that the message of the nazi party was reaching more and more people hitler began to think about the leadership of the party it was important for him to get the right people into the right jobs to further the party's aims he also needed to ensure that the people who surrounded him would be loyal to him several people who became important leaders of the nazi party were chosen they included rudolf hess who became hitler's deputy leader hermann goering a young fighter pilot who would go on to become the leader of the luftwaffe the german air force and ernstrom who led the essay and was known for his violence hitler also developed links with important business and military leaders including general ludendorff who was a wealthy army leader who had been influential in developing the stab in the back myth finally although hitler had shaped the policies structure and leadership of the party he used one last tactic to ensure discipline within the party and to undermine the other parties of the weimar republic in august 1921 hitler formed the stamabtilum or essay this was a private army made up of the unemployed and ex-army soldiers they were expected to be completely loyal to hitler however many of the essay were a law unto themselves so hitler formed the ss to act as his personal body card the essay were given uniforms of brown shirts and so became known as the brown shirts all of these measures were successful in allowing hitler to gain complete control of the nsdap at the party conference in january 1922 hitler gave a two and a half hour speech in which he persuaded the members to give up their rights to elect a leader and he immediately took on the role by now hitler had total and dictatorial control of a party which numbered 50 000 members okay that is everything you need to know about the early years of the nsdap to the 1920s now for a quick word from my other half and i will see you next time history teaches so here she's given up work and is living off her savings to 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