Formation of the Nazi Party and Hitler's Rise to Leadership, 1919-1921 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

9 original exam-style questions - 5 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

Download PDF Jump to mark scheme (page 6)Formation of the Nazi Party and Hitler's Rise to Leadership, 1919-1921 revision guide

This topic is chapter 2 of GCSE History: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39 Practice Book 2.

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5.8 Formation of the Nazi Party and Hitler's Rise to Leadership, 1919-1921

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 60 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Write in full sentences for Questions 18. You are advised to spend about 70 minutes on this pack.

State two roles Hitler held or was described as holding in the party during 1919-21.

(Total for Question 1 is 2 marks)

Name the Munich beer-hall where early DAP meetings and Hitler's early speeches took place.

(Total for Question 2 is 1 mark)

Name one rival within the party or associated groups whom Hitler outmanoeuvred in this early period.

(Total for Question 3 is 1 mark)

Give one reason why the 1920 name change to National Socialist German Workers' Party was significant for the party's image.

(Total for Question 4 is 2 marks)

Study Interpretations 1 and 2. They give different views about the reasons for Hitler's rise to leadership in the early party. What is the main difference between these views?

Interpretation 1: From a modern historian's book. 'Interpretation by Klaus Reiner, The Making of a Leader, 2017: Adolf Hitler, a gifted speaker and performer, transformed a tiny Munich group into a mass movement. His exceptional capacity to move audiences and to dominate meetings made him the natural leader. Without his oratory and showmanship the party would have remained marginal.'

Interpretation 2: From another modern historian. 'Interpretation by Marta Vogel, Party, Programme and Timing, 2019: The DAP became the NSDAP through careful reorganisation and a clearer programme in 1920, creating the conditions for rapid growth. These structural changes and the chaotic political environment gave an ambitious organiser the chance to take control; the person who filled that role could have been someone other than Hitler.'

(Total for Question 5 is 4 marks)

Suggest one reason why Interpretations 1 and 2 give different views about the causes of Hitler's rise to leadership.

(Total for Question 6 is 4 marks)

Explain why Adolf Hitler rose to become the leader of the DAP/NSDAP between 1919 and 1921.

You may use the following in your answer:
- his oratory and public speaking
- the party's reorganisation and renaming in 1920

You must also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 7 is 12 marks)

How useful are Sources B and C for an enquiry into whether Hitler's oratory was the main reason for his rapid advancement in the party by 1921?

Source B: Extract from a Munich local newspaper, February 1920, reporting on a NSDAP rally. "Hitler spoke for nearly an hour. The audience, initially sceptical, were soon on their feet; cheers and shouts followed each violent paragraph. Those present said his words stirred them more than any before. Observers noted men pressed forward to greet him after the meeting."

Source C: Army memo, January 1920, from the officer responsible for monitoring political groups in Bavaria: "The corporal who observed the DAP has proved useful. He draws crowds, organises meetings and commands attention. Recommend we keep contact while he gains influence; he may be useful as a controlled intermediary."

(Total for Question 8 is 8 marks)

'Interpretation 1 is correct: Hitler's personal qualities were the main reason for his takeover of the party by 1921.' How far do you agree with this interpretation? Explain your answer. (4 marks are available for spelling, punctuation, grammar and use of specialist terminology.)

(Total for Question 9 is 20 marks)

Mark scheme · 5.8 Formation of the Nazi Party and Hitler's Rise to Leadership, 1919-1921

Question 1

B1 army informant sent to observe the DAP
B1 public speaker and party organiser who became its leader (Fuhrer) by 1921
Answer: He served as an army informant sent to observe the DAP, and then as its public speaker and organiser, becoming leader by 1921.

Question 2

B1 the Hofbrauhaus (or a beer-hall)
Answer: The Hofbrauhaus (a Munich beer-hall)

Question 3

B1 Anton Drexler (or another named early DAP figure)
Answer: Anton Drexler

Question 4

B1 it linked nationalism and socialism in the name, broadening appeal to different social groups
B1 supporting detail, e.g. made the party sound both patriotic and concerned with workers' issues
Answer: It combined nationalism and socialism in the name, making the party appear both patriotic and concerned with workers' interests, thus broadening its appeal.

Question 5

Level 1 (1-2): Identifies a basic difference between the interpretations with limited supporting detail.
Level 2 (3-4): Clearly explains the main difference between the two interpretations, using accurate reference to both texts.
Indicative content:
- Interpretation 1 stresses Hitler's personal qualities, especially oratory and charisma, as the decisive reason for his rise.
- Interpretation 2 emphasises structural and organisational changes within the party and broader political opportunity, downplaying individual charisma as the main cause.
- A full answer will state that the main difference is emphasis on individual agency versus emphasis on organisation and context.

Question 6

Level 1 (1-2): Gives a simple plausible reason with little explanation.
Level 2 (3-4): Offers a clearly explained reason why the interpretations differ, supported by appropriate reference to differences in emphasis or source use.
Indicative content:
- They may use different sources: one may rely on eyewitness accounts and contemporary press describing speeches, while the other uses party records and internal memos showing organisational change.
- They may emphasise different second-order concepts: one focuses on significance of individual agency, the other on structure and contingency.
- They may have different historiographical aims, one writing a biography-style account, the other a study of party development and institutions.

Question 7

Level 1 (1-3): Identifies one or two simple reasons, with little or no supporting detail.
Level 2 (4-6): Identifies and begins to explain reasons, with some relevant factual detail.
Level 3 (7-9): Explains several reasons clearly, supported by accurate and relevant detail, showing some links between factors.
Level 4 (10-12): Provides a well-developed, balanced explanation of why Hitler rose to leadership, supported throughout by precise and accurate detail and analysis of connections between factors.
Indicative content:
- Hitler's exceptional oratory, energy and drama as a speaker won him rapid popularity at DAP meetings and made him the obvious choice to give the party a public face.
- As an army informant he had the chance to meet party members and to be noticed by leaders who could give him speaking opportunities, helping his early rise.
- The party's renaming to NSDAP and adoption of the 25-point programme in 1920 aimed to broaden appeal; Hitler seized this moment to present himself as the party's leader and organiser.
- Hitler's willingness to outmanoeuvre rivals, sideline founders such as Anton Drexler and centralise control helped him take decisive positions inside the party leadership.
- His sense of timing, using public meetings and mass rallies in Munich's beer-halls, and the use of propaganda, badges and organised membership drives, turned popularity into organisational control.
- Structural factors, such as the small size of the party in 1919-20 and the flexibility of its organisation, made it possible for a forceful individual to gain dominance quickly; detail and examples should be used.

Question 8

Level 1 (1-2): Makes a simple judgement about the usefulness of one or both sources, with little supporting reasoning.
Level 2 (3-5): Begins to assess usefulness, addressing content and provenance of the sources with some relevant contextual knowledge.
Level 3 (6-8): Provides a balanced, well-supported judgement about the relative usefulness of both sources for the enquiry, analysing content, provenance and context in detail.
Indicative content:
- Source B is a contemporaneous Munich newspaper report of a 1920 rally describing the crowd's response to Hitler's speech; it provides direct evidence of the immediate effect of his oratory on audiences, which is useful for assessing public impact.
- However, a newspaper may be partisan or aimed at a particular readership; its report may exaggerate or downplay effect depending on political leanings, so provenance must be considered.
- Source C is an internal army memo from Hitler's time as an informant, noting that he was effective at gaining attention and organising meetings; as official correspondence it is useful for showing how army and party insiders perceived him.
- But the army memo may focus on political reliability or security concerns rather than purely on oratory, so its usefulness for proving oratory was the main reason has limits; it may instead point to organisational competence or connections.
- A balanced answer weighs the direct, eyewitness content of B against the official, possibly detached view of C and uses contextual knowledge about party reorganisation and internal rivalries to judge how much oratory alone explains his rapid rise.

Question 9

Level 1 (1-4): Shows limited relevant knowledge, and offers only a basic judgement about the interpretation.
Level 2 (5-8): Uses some relevant knowledge to support a judgement, but analysis is limited or one-sided.
Level 3 (9-12): Shows good knowledge and analysis, weighing the interpretation against other valid factors and reaching a supported judgement.
Level 4 (13-16): Shows precise, well-selected knowledge and argument, evaluates Interpretation 1 in a balanced way against alternative explanations, and reaches a sustained, well-supported judgement about how far the interpretation is accurate.
Indicative content:
- Arguments supporting Interpretation 1: Hitler's speaking style, dramatic gestures and rhetoric rapidly attracted attention at meetings; eyewitness reports record audiences responding strongly to his speeches, which helped him gain a public profile inside the party and among Munich nationalists.
- Evidence that personal qualities mattered includes contemporaries noting his charisma and the accounts of party members who sought him out after meetings; his single-minded ruthlessness in manoeuvring rivals also demonstrates personal agency.
- Arguments against the interpretation: organisational changes such as the renaming to NSDAP, the publication of a 25-point programme, and membership drives created a context where someone could rapidly convert popularity into control; structural factors mattered.
- The army's decision to keep contact with Hitler, and the small, flexible nature of the early party, meant that organisational opportunity and external backing played a major role alongside personal qualities.
- A balanced judgement draws on both sets of factors: personal qualities were crucial in making Hitler the focal point, but without the party's reorganisation, opportunities to become leader and a permissive environment for a forceful organiser, those qualities might not have translated into leadership so quickly.
- Students can conclude that Interpretation 1 is partly correct but incomplete, because it underplays structural and contextual factors that also explain Hitler's takeover by 1921.

Formation of the Nazi Party and Hitler's Rise to Leadership, 1919-1921 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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