Munich Putsch: November, 1923

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Munich Putsch: November, 1923

Causes

  • The Weimar republic was facing a crisis and ready to collapse
  • Hitler needed to find something for his stormtroopers to do, otherwise he would lose control of them.
  • He thought he would be helped by important Nationalist leaders from Bavaria
  • Hitler thought he had enough manpower to forcefully take control of the state
  • The Nazis were stronger than ever before, with over 55,000 members
  • He hoped to follow Mussolini's footsteps, who had led a march through Rome in 1922 and successfully come to power
  • The national strike in Sep. 1923 was called off by the government and now every German nationalist was furious at them

Effects

  • Hitler thought this would make it easy for him and his Nazis to take power
  • He surrounded the Munich beer hall, which had been holding a meeting with very important people just a few minutes earlier with his stormtroopers and told them nobody would leave unless he said so
  • He was not helped by Bavarian politicians. Kahr and Lossow changed their minds and refused to lead a march through Munich. This angered Hitler, and, waving a gun at them, forced them to agree to rebel - and then sent them home
  • Kahr told the police about the plan
  • The march through Munich happened the following day, on the 9th of November, but the Nazis were met by police forces. 14 Nazis were shot dead. Hitler was arrested.
  • While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, which later served as an important piece of propaganda
  • He was banned from speaking in public until 1927
  • The Nazis decided to take power using 'constitutional' means, so they organised Hitler Youth groups, propaganda campaigns, local party branches and worked with other political groups. This is what eventually brought him to power in 1936.

Overall summary

The Munich Putsch was a failure in the short term, as the Nazis were banned from holding public meetings and their leader was imprisoned. However, it allowed improvements to be made. Hitler's Mein Kampf helped the party spread its ideas and the party's 'legal' means of taking power were more effective than those by force.

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