In the early 1930 Germany was in a permanent political and constitutional crisis. This was caused by rising unemployment during the great depression, combined with frustration about the perceived injustice imposed on Germany by the Versailles treaty, street violence between various pro and anti-democratic militias, and an inability of the democratic parties to cooperate. This resulted in a rise of both ends of the political spectrum; [[communists]] on one side and [[Nazi| national socialist]] on the other. The national socialist were also simply known as ''Hitler movement''.
In the first election of 1932 communists and national socialist together won the majority of seats in the ReichtagtReichstag. This means that the anti-democratic forces outnumbered the democratic forces. In a second election that year, the national socialists lost ground, but the democratic forces were still unable to form a functioning government. After a series of minority cabinets former Chancellor van Papen convinced President Hindenburg to appoint Hitler to Chancellor in a coalition government with the national conservative party. Van Papen expected the nation would recognize Hitler to be a fraud within a few months in government. The national socialist celebrated the ''Machtergreifung'' (''seizure of power'' in German) on January 30, 1933, with massive marches through Berlin. Two days later new elections for parliament were announced for March.
== Consolidation of Power ==