Why did Germans begin to look to extremist leaders during these times of political and economic
trouble?

They promised big things and seemed like they could make it happen. Thats on top of the fact that they grew rabid fan bases that would ignore the fact that they were actively hurting them instead of helping them.

Explanation:

in 550 b.c.e. cyrus the great, the leader of the persians, conquered the medes and united the iranian people under one ruler for the first time. cyrus became the first king of the persian empire and went on to establish one of the largest empires in world.