What's the difference between a two-party system and a multi-party system

Multi party system:  

A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coalition. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally larger than two but lower than ten. In the vast majority of multi-party systems, numerous major and minor political parties hold a serious chance of receiving office, and because they all compete, a majority may not control the legislature, forcing the creation of a coalition. In some countries, every government ever formed since its independence has been by means of a coalition. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in parliamentary systems than presidential systems, and far more common in countries that use proportional representation compared to countries that use first past the post elections.

Party system :

A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate politics within a government. One of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referred to as the majority party while the other is the minority party. The term has different senses. For example, in the United States, Jamaica, and Malta, the sense of two party system describes an arrangement in which all or nearly all elected officials only belong to one of the two major parties, and third parties rarely win any seats in the legislature. In such arrangements, two-party systems are thought to result from various factors like winner takes all election rules. In such systems, while chances for third party candidates winning election to major national office are remote, it is possible for groups within the larger parties, or in opposition to one or both of them, to exert influence on the two major parties. In contrast, in the United Kingdom and in other parliamentary systems and elsewhere, the term two-party system is sometimes used to indicate an arrangement in which two major parties dominate elections but in which there are viable third parties which do win seats in the legislature, and in which the two major parties exert proportionately greater influence than their percentage of votes would suggest.

in 'popular history' of europe in america it's common to blame the rise of the nazis (and of coursewwii, too) mainly on the treaty of versailles. despite the harshness of the treaty and despite the inflation of 1919-23 germany did benefit from the economic buoyancy of the roaring twenties. in the general election in 1928, the nazis only managed to get 12 (out of about 584) seats in the reichstag. the nazis were widely seen as a laughing-stock led by a funny little man given to yelling and wild gesticulation. of all european countries, none was hit harder than germany by the stockmarket crash of october 1929. germany had borrowed very large sums from american banks, with much of the money repayable either on demand or at short notice. these loans were of course recalled, and bankruptcies in germany rose sharply from the start of 1930 (or earlier). unemployment rose sharply, too. the german constitution of 1919 contained much that was utopian, including the right to paid employment. the realities of the situation made a mockery of the weimar constitution. one of german's great weaknesses at the time was the lack of a broadly based, popular right-wing party comparable to, say, the republicans in the us or the conservatives in britain. the obvious candidate, the german nationalists (the dnvp), had lost its grip and was hopelessly out oftouch with many of its supporters especially in rural areas. germany became increasingly hard to govern.

from about the middle of 1930 onwards the new chancellor, br�ning, had to govern by decree. in the absence of mainstream right-wing party, the nazis - who ruthlessly exploited genuine grievances - suddenly became the largest single party in the reichstag. with the growing effects of the great depression, unemployment reached about 27% (or more) in 1932. acting on bad advice (from the dnvp) hindenburg dismissed brüning in july 1932. in the general election that followed, the nazis won 37% of the seats. the other party that did well was the communist party (kpd) with 14%. fresh elections were held in november 1932: the nazi vote fell slightly, but the communist vote rose to 17%. in the streets of berlin and other major cities violence between left and right and their paramilitary wings grew. by late 1932, the effects of the great depression in germany had passed their peak, but this wasn't obvious at the time. the steady rise in communist vote triggered panic among most of the mainstream parties. after trying various solutions to the political crisis, hindenburg again took very bad advice - again from the dnvp. on the basis of this advice, he appointed hitler reichs chancellor on 30 january 1933 who promised to form a coalition with the german nationalists (dnvp). he did so, but at the same time almost immediately unleashed the sa (stormtroopers) who started a reign of terror within two months germany became a dictatorship, complete with concentration camps. joncey

explanation:

c, because the american revolution was from 1765 to 1783.