Hitler used laws and violence to stop opponents challenging him. By August 1934, parliament, rival parties and independent organisations could no longer check his power effectively.
Consolidating power means making control more secure after gaining office. Hitler did this in stages. On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building burned. The Nazis blamed a Communist threat and used it to justify the next day's emergency decree. The decree suspended civil liberties, including important protections for free speech and freedom from arbitrary arrest. It made it easier to arrest opponents and close opposition publications. Responsibility for planning the fire remains disputed; its use by the Nazis is a separate, well-established point.
The March election took place amid arrests and intimidation, yet the Nazi Party still did not win a majority on its own. The Enabling Act was passed on 23 March and formally issued on 24 March. It let Hitler's government make laws without the normal approval of parliament. Communist deputies were prevented from taking their seats, other opponents faced repression, and other parties chose to support the Act. A parliamentary vote held under those conditions does not show that opposition was free.
Independent trade unions, organisations through which workers could defend their interests, were crushed in May 1933. Other political parties were forced out or dissolved, and in July the Nazis became the only legal party. Workers and political opponents lost organisations through which they could act together.
The Night of the Long Knives began on 30 June 1934. Hitler's regime murdered SA leaders, including Ernst Rohm, and other perceived rivals. Army leaders feared the SA's ambitions, so the purge helped reassure them and secure their support. It also showed that even powerful figures within Hitler's own movement were not safe.
Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934. Hitler combined the offices of president and chancellor, and the army swore loyalty to him personally. No single event explains the dictatorship: arrests weakened opponents, laws enlarged government power, and the destruction of rival organisations made resistance harder.
Worked example: How force helped a law remove limits on power
The Enabling Act was approved by a large majority in parliament in March 1933.
- Before the vote, arrests and intimidation had already weakened opposition. Some elected opponents could not take their seats.
- The Act then allowed the government to pass laws without seeking the usual parliamentary approval.
- Force helped the government secure the law; the law gave it more power to act without opposition. Calling the vote a legal procedure does not make it a free democratic decision.
Watch out for this
The Night of the Long Knives targeted only opponents outside the Nazi Party.
Beginning on 30 June 1934, the purge killed leaders of the Nazi SA as well as other perceived rivals. Hitler used violence against figures within his own movement too.
Check your understanding
How did the fire decree and the Enabling Act differ?
- The decree weakened civil liberties; the Act transferred lawmaking power to the government.
- Both were free elections for president.
- The Act appointed Hitler chancellor for the first time.