Claim: Nazi Germany was afflicted with major military defeats.

Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945 , when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party -LRB- NSDAP -RRB- . Under Hitler 's rule , Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over nearly all aspects of life . The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Großdeutsches Reich -LRB- `` Greater German Reich '' -RRB- from 1943 to 1945 . The period is also known under the names the Third Reich -LRB- Drittes Reich -RRB- and the National Socialist Period -LRB- Zeit des Nationalsozialismus , abbreviated as NS-Zeit -RRB- . The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945 , ending World War II in Europe .   Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933 . The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all political opposition and consolidate its power . Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934 , and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery and Presidency . A national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer -LRB- leader -RRB- of Germany . All power was centralised in Hitler 's person , and his word became above all laws . The government was not a coordinated , co-operating body , but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitler 's favour . In the midst of the Great Depression , the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy . Extensive public works were undertaken , including the construction of Autobahnen -LRB- motorways -RRB- . The return to economic stability boosted the regime 's popularity .   Racism , especially antisemitism , was a central feature of the regime . The Germanic peoples -LRB- the Nordic race -RRB- were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race , and were therefore viewed as the master race . Millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust . Opposition to Hitler 's rule was ruthlessly suppressed . Members of the liberal , socialist , and communist opposition were killed , imprisoned , or exiled . Christian churches were also oppressed , with many leaders imprisoned . Education focused on racial biology , population policy , and fitness for military service . Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed . Recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program , and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage . Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film , mass rallies , and Hitler 's hypnotic oratory to control public opinion . The government controlled artistic expression , promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others .   Beginning in the late 1930s , Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands , threatening war if they were not met . It seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939 . Hitler made a non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939 , launching World War II in Europe . In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers , Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940 and threatened Great Britain . Reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas , and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland . Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned , murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps , or shot .   Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 , the tide gradually turned against the Nazis , who suffered major military defeats in 1943 . Large-scale aerial bombing of Germany escalated in 1944 , and the Axis powers were pushed back in Eastern and Southern Europe . Following the Allied invasion of France , Germany was conquered by the Soviet Union from the east and the other Allied powers from the west and capitulated within a year . Hitler 's refusal to admit defeat led to massive destruction of German infrastructure and additional war-related deaths in the closing months of the war . The victorious Allies initiated a policy of denazification and put many of the surviving Nazi leadership on trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials .