The Death of Hitler & the End of the Third Reich (Edexcel IGCSE History: Paper 1: Depth Studies): Revision Note

Summary

• By early 1945, Germany faced defeat on two fronts with both Western Allied and Soviet forces advancing towards Berlin

  • Millions of German refugees fled westward to escape the advancing Soviet army

• On 30 April 1945, with Soviet forces fighting in Berlin itself, Hitler took his own life

• Germany surrendered unconditionally on 7 May 1945, bringing the Third Reich to an end

• Historians point to a combination of military defeat, economic collapse and the loss of Hitler's own leadership as the reasons the regime finally collapsed in 1945

Hitler's death, April 1945

Germany's final collapse

• By 1945, Germany was close to defeat

  • American, British, Canadian and French forces were advancing from the west

    • The Allies increased their bombing of German cities still further

  • The Soviet Red Army was approaching from the east

• It is believed that more German soldiers died in the last four months of the war than in the whole of 1942 and 1943 combined

• Huge numbers of refugees fled the cities to escape the bombing or the advancing Red Army in the east

  • Up to a million civilians died from hunger, disease and the cold

Hitler's last days

• On 29 April 1945, with Soviet forces fighting in the streets of Berlin, Hitler married his long-time partner, Eva Braun, in his underground bunker

• The next day, on 30 April 1945, Hitler shot himself

  • Eva Braun took her own life using cyanide

The end of the Third Reich

• Before his death, Hitler left control of Germany to Admiral Karl Doenitz, who became head of state

• Doenitz surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on 7 May 1945

  • The Third Reich, which Hitler had once boasted would last a thousand years, had come to an end after only twelve years

Why did the Third Reich collapse in 1945?

Military collapse

• Germany could not fight a war on two fronts forever

  • By 1945 German forces, though they fought fiercely, were simply overwhelmed

• Sustained Allied bombing had damaged German industry and transport

  • This made it harder to supply and reinforce German armies even where factories themselves kept producing weapons

Economic and social collapse

• 'Total war' measures had already stretched German resources and labour to their limit

  • By early 1945, rationing, refugee movements and the collapse of transport networks left many Germans facing real starvation

• Millions of refugees fleeing the Soviet advance placed further strain on a country that could no longer feed or house its own population properly

The loss of Hitler's leadership

• Hitler's suicide removed the one figure around whom Nazi Germany's entire system had been built

  • This made an unconditional and rapid surrender possible only days later

Conclusions

• The Third Reich collapsed because of the economic, social and political pressure of the Second World War

• Military defeat was the most significant cause

  • It was Germany's inability to win, or even hold, the war that made the economic collapse and Hitler's own downfall inevitable