The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all political opposition and consolidate its power.
On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the head of government, by the president of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, the head of state. The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe. The Third Reich, meaning 'Third Realm' or 'Third Empire', alluded to the Nazis' conceit that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government.
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945, was the German state between 19, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship.
