How do dictators take over?

[abaris]

Oh, I know he fell to a Long Knife. But wasn't his intrigues in Dec of '32 that set up the whole mess?

I would have to look up the details, but I remember he was between a rock and a hard place. He was appointed by Hindenburg to follow Papen as chancellor and could only rule through the backing of Hindenburg who made full use of his presidential powers, issuing executive orders by the numbers. Schleicher trusted Hindenburg, being a former general an all, but from all I do remember, he was installed as being the fall guy (if that's the correct term). I don't think he set anything in motion to lead to Hitler. At least not willingly and knowingly. That was largely Papen's doing, supported by a group of very influential Conservatives and nationalists. Among them the Murdoch of Germany, Alfred Hugenberg, who used his papers to incite the public.

Edit: I looked it up. He tried everything to prevent Hitler from taking over. Using dubious means, that's for sure, since his last idea was to dissolve the Reichstag without announcing new elections. So kind of a dictatorship, ruling only by issuing executive orders without parliamentary support. Hindenburg refused. Before that he tried to unite all parties against the Nazis, which didn't work either. After both attempts failed, he resigned, two days before Hitler got appointed. The fault for Hitler certainly doesn't lie with him.