In the 1920s, Germany faced social and economic problems. The Weimar Government was unpopular and faced opposition from both left and right. The Nazis were able to gain wide support and rise to power.
The German Government had agreed to sign the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919 to make peace. This action was very unpopular in Germany. Enemies of the government used the treaty to claim that it had ‘stabbed Germany in the back’ by ending the war.
The terms of the Treaty were very damaging to Germany:
The link to the armistice and Treaty of Versailles had serious repercussions for the Weimar Government.
The Weimar Government was associated with failure in World War One since it had signed the Treaty of Versailles that had ended the war. Many nationalists believed the government had sold Germany out to its enemies by ending the war too early.
The November Criminals
and the legend of the Stab in the Back
were phrases used in many of Hitler’s speeches.
Ideas that the Treaty was signed by anti–patriotic left wing politicians (the November Criminals), and that these same politicians were responsible for the 'stab in the back' of the army that led military defeat in 1918, discredited the Weimar Government.