Interesting posts so far, another couple of historical aspects. There was no such thing as a "NAZI" That term was a convoluted term coined during the war. The actual name was the Nationalist Socialist Deutsche Arbeiter Partei - Nationalist Socialist German Worker's Party. Germany was a disconnected conglomeration of 144 city/states until Napoleon created the sixteen states there are now. The German federal military system was organized on this state system.
Each region/state had its own military organization. This was because of regional and dialect preferences which in 1900 were very strong. Each state had its own military structure. It was a three phase system of recruits, soldiers, and reservists. Recruits were drafted into the local unit, they did all their training there, went into active service with the federal military system but stayed intact as a unit, when their obligation was over went into the reserves - all with the same local unit. It was not uncommon to have three generations serving in the units plus all kinds of relatives. When a solder was wounded he was sent back to his unit for recuperation and trained the new recruits until he went back on active duty. There was a very strong family attachment to the unit plus they watched out for each other.
When WWI ended the German units were not defeated. They simply stopped fighting, turned east and went back home. They went back to the same home in the same military structure they had been in during five years of war. They were experienced and seasoned killers. The political situation at home was bad under the weak Weimar Republic. The economic situation was very bad as previously mentioned due to war reparations. The Communist Revolution had just destroyed Russia and was spreading - it was a very real threat.
When all established systems/structures are failing the only option is to create a new one. Using the military organization already in place Hitler created and put into motion a political movement. The SA - Sturm Abteilung aka Brown Shirts was created to provide a resistance to the RF - Red Front Communist faction. The NSDAP grew stronger both politically and in numbers. They eventually were able to gain seats in the Reichstag/congress as a legitimate party. The Weimar Republic was weak. In 1923 Hitler tried to overthrow the government in the Beer hall Putsch. They failed, he went to prison but was released after about a year.
He now had political creds, had written his political treatise Mein Kampf defining his positions, had fought in the War (he was awarded the Iron Cross) and been imprisoned for his political stance for Germany. The NSDAP grew stronger, became more politically acceptable as a political entity, but now the Brown Shirts were becoming a problem. They were too radical for the main stream political powers. On June 30 1934 Hitler staged what was called "The Night of Long Knives" and had the leadership of the Brown Shirts killed. The number of those killed was kept hidden but estimates are between 700 and 1,000. This removed the political pressure from the Brown Shirts for power, solidified his control, and set him up to be Chancellor of Germany.
Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, President Hindenberg died in 1934, Hitler used the Reichstag Fire (Capital building) to declare a state of emergency, and takes full power of the entire government. He used the power to shut down political opposition and consolidated his power becoming dictator.
