Germany 1918–1945

Keep the four phases distinct — don't conflate rise with consolidation — Weimar Germany (1919–33), the Nazi rise to power (1919–33, especially 1929–33), consolidation of power (1933–34), and the Nazi state (1934–45) are four distinct phases with different dynamics. Mixing events across phases — for example, treating the Night of the Long Knives (June 1934) as part of Weimar history, or citing the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch as evidence of electoral success — indicates a fundamental misunderstanding that cannot score above Level 2.

Explain mechanisms, not just events — for questions on Hitler's rise or consolidation, the mark scheme rewards the mechanism, not the sequence. WHY did the Depression benefit the Nazis specifically? (Economic misery discredited mainstream parties; NSDAP vote share rose from 2.6% in 1928 to 37.4% in July 1932.) WHY was the Enabling Act (March 1933) so significant? (It gave Hitler the legal power to rule by decree, bypassing the Reichstag entirely.) Answers that narrate events without explaining their significance cannot reach Level 3.

Weigh support against opposition — avoid overgeneralising — claiming all Germans enthusiastically supported the regime, or that resistance was impossible, limits answers to Level 3. Level 5 requires weighing genuine support (37.4% vote July 1932, economic recovery after 1933) against evidence of coercion and opposition: the White Rose group (1942–43), the July 1944 plot, church resistance from Niemöller and the Confessing Church, and the role of the Gestapo and SS in suppressing dissent.