Telegraph | Arts | How could Hitler happen?: "Most remarkable was the speed of the process. As late as 1929, the Nazis remained a fringe party. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was merely Chancellor of a coalition government, in a Reichstag still dominated by non-Nazi conservatives. By July 14, the one man sure of his purposes amidst a nation stricken by bewilderment, he had become ruler of a one-party state."