History glossary
Gleichschaltung
the Nazi process of bringing German institutions under party control.
- Category
- Political process
- Region
- Germany
- Date range
- 1933–1934
What it means
Gleichschaltung means coordination or bringing into line. In Nazi Germany it described the forced reshaping of political parties, unions, regional governments, courts, culture, schools, and professional bodies so that independent institutions were absorbed into or subordinated to Nazi control.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The Mughal Empire
From Babur's victory at Panipat to the sack of Delhi, the Mughals built a wealthy Indian empire whose power rested on conquest, administration, elite integration and court culture before central authority fractured.
The Meiji Restoration
From Tokugawa order to imperial restoration, conscription, industrialisation and military victory, the Meiji era transformed Japan into a modern imperial power.
The Maurya Empire
From Chandragupta's overthrow of the Nandas to Ashoka's edicts and the empire's fall, the Mauryas created the first imperial state to unite much of the Indian subcontinent.
The Hundred Years War
From Edward III's claim to Joan of Arc, Agincourt and Castillon, the Hundred Years War reshaped England, France and medieval warfare.
The Holocaust
From legal discrimination to genocide, the Holocaust traces twelve years of escalating persecution that killed six million Jews and millions of others across Nazi-occupied Europe.
Nazi Germany
From Weimar collapse to WWII, Nazi Germany imposed totalitarian rule, expansion, and genocide.
The Roman Republic
From the expulsion of Rome’s kings to the rise of Augustus, the Roman Republic built a powerful mixed constitution, expanded across the Mediterranean, and ultimately collapsed into civil war and one-man rule.
The American Revolution and Early Republic
From colonial tensions to independence, this traces the birth and early struggles of the United States of America.
