Schleicher's Gamble

POD

On January 20th 1933 Kurt von Schleicher missed his best chance to remain in office. Wilhelm Frick, the acting Nazi leader in the Reichstag, proposed that the Reichstag go into recess until the next budget could be presented (April - May 1933). Schleicher decided against the move, and made the Reichstag recess as short as possible, until January 31st. But what if Schleicher had accepted Frick's offer?

By mid spring the public works schemes begun at the beginning of Schleichers Chancellorship were coming to fruition, and the economic situation seemed to be easing. The Nazi party was suffering from internal divisons, with many members dissapointed that Hitler had been unable to obtain the chancellorship the previous November.

In November 1933 Schleicher persuaded Hindenburg to call a new election, hoping to weaken the Nazis position in the Reichstag and make them more reliant upon influence in a Schleicher led government. The gamble paid off, with Nazi support dropping to 26% but still remaining the single largest party in the Reichstag.

In the aftermath of another electoral faliure, Nazi SA tactics became more and more violent, with those like Ernst Rohm - who called for a violent overthrow of the government - gaining more influence within the party. Public mood began to swing against the Nazis.