Hello and welcome to the World War II podcast I'm Angus Wallace. So September

2018 marks the 80th anniversary of the Munich Agreement where the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to meet Hitler in an attempt to avert war.

He famously returned with an agreement which he believed would deliver peace in our time.

It got me thinking about Hitler's rise of power.

In 1933 he joined the government one of only three Nazis in it. Five years later

he is dominating European foreign policy as he pushes forward with his agenda.

So in this episode I thought we'd look at Hitler's rise to power

from the end of the First World War through to him joining the government in 1933.

Joining me today is Professor Matthew Stibby of Sheffield Hallum University.

He has written an excellent chapter in the New Oxford Illustrated History of the Third Reich

looking at the rise of National Socialism.

But just before we get to that I could use your help.

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On to the main feature, Matthew.

Thanks for joining me.

I wonder if our starting point should be to look at the National Socialist German Workers Party, the NSDAP. Where did it come from?

Was it spun off from a pre-war party?

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