By the time the Munich Putsch happened in 1923 Germany had been facing a lot of problems, these had mainly started in 1918 at the end of the first world war. They had lost their leader Kaiser Wihelm 11 and the country had been unstable with both the right and the left wingers wanting to take control of the country, the communists and the facisists just couldn’t decide on a leader or a stable government.
The country’s economical system was in severe doubt and by the time the Munich Putsch occurred in 1923 the country was in Hyperinflation, the cost of a loaf of bread was 201,000,000,000 marks.Most Germans people’s savings had become worthless. Middle class people had their savings wiped out and the Upper class people only had very little left. Many working class people had no jobs.
The rate of unemployment was getting worse everyday. This was mainly due to the fact that all the men that had been at war had now come back and they needed jobs that just weren’t there. This was not helped by the Treaty of Versailles where they made the German army only have 100,000 men, even with the private army the Free Corps, may many men had no jobs to go to.The Treaty of Versailles had also knocked the national pride a great deal the German people really resented the November Criminals who had signed it.
By November 1923 when the Munich Putsch occurred, the Germans had only paid one instalment of the reparations given to then by the winning sides in the Treaty of Versailles which they had scrapped together with things including gold, coal, Iron and wood. They couldn’t pay the next instalments, they just didn’t have the money.The French didn’t believe the Germans so they invaded the Ruhr Valley and took control, they said they were taking what they were owed. The German government said this was an outrage and that it was a huge violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the government told the workers to refuse any orders given they did this and it was known as passive resistance.
The French took drastic measures to control this they opened fire and expelled people who didn’t co-operate with them. The following 8 months they killed 132 people and expelled 150,000 people from their homes.This did the German Government no good as they had to home the people who had been expelled as they had ordered the Passive resistance. This is now meant that that the Germans richest part was no longer producing goods, so no money was made.
The German Government thought that to solve the problem they would print large amounts of paper money, but this didn’t help it made things worse because the more money that the Government printed the faster the prices in the shops went up. These problems had reached their worse by 1923. This year became the year of Hyperinflation.This was one of the main reasons that Hitler and the Nazis decided to launch the Munich Putsch then.
The Nazi party had dramatically increased in size between 1920 and 1923 their private army the Storm Troopers was also increasing in size. The Nazi Party had a lot of aims as to what they wanted to do theses include the union of Germany and all German speaking people, the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint Germain. No one but German blood may be a member of the German Nation. This was mainly saying no Jews were allowed in the German Nation.
This was especially the people that the Nazis and Hitler blanned for all the problem that was occurring for Germany. This was mainly because many people in the Government were Jewish and the politicians that signed the Treaty of Versailles the November Criminals were Jewish. Hitler and his party didn’t have huge political support, their only hope of support came from the south. As I see it this was one of the main reasons why Hitler decided to attack in 1923 there was just no sign of him or his party getting into the government by people voting him in, he just didn’t have enough support.
So in November 1923 when the country was at it’s lowest mainly due to Hyperinflation Hitler decided to attack, his decision was given a great boost when he found out that Stresemann had just given in to the French by ending passive resistance campaign. Hitler was know sure people would back for their pride. He believed that the Nazis were strong enough to overthrow the government. His plan was to march to Bavaria and take control there he would then have a great deal of support so he could march on to Berlin at the head of the Storm Troopers and attack the Government and win.
He believed that people were sure to join him and overthrow the Government which had done nothing for them but cause hardship. Hitler as an individual was furious with the November Criminals and wanted to get his revenge. He blamed Ebert for his Countries problems, he wanted to make Germany great once again and reverse the Treaty of Versailles. Just before Hitler’s great plan was about to take place Stresemann brought a new currency the Rentenmark, he was sure this was going to solve Germany’s economical problems.
This was more of a long term solution than the one that he German people needed.So on November 8th he broke into a meeting being held by three leaders of the Bavarian Government he had 600 Storm Troopers outside to back him up. So Hitler held a gun to the head of one Bavarian Leader and the three of them tell the audience that they supported him. Then General Ludendorff, a great German hero also proclaimed his support to Hitler and the Nazis.
All this support seemed to convince the audience. But by the next day things weren’t looking good the three had gone back on their word and ordered the army to attack the leader of the Storm Troopers Ernst Rohm and the Storm Troopers.Ludendorff, Hitler and 2000 Nazis set off in intention to rescue Rohm but this did not succeed. I think that there were many reasons as to why the Putsch didn’t succeed these included the huge problem that Hitler and the Nazi party did not have the support of the Police and Army.
Without their support they could get nowhere. All the Nazis had was the Storm Troopers these men didn’t have nearly enough weapons to take over Bavaria let alone Germany. Hitler simply hadn’t come up with a good enough plan. It was unlikely that Hitler would have ever taken control of the whole of Germany as the west had never of heard of him or his party.
Another reason why the Putsch didn’t succeed was because Hitler lost the vital support of the 3 leaders that had promised their support without this couldn’t get anywhere. I think the main reasons why the Putsch didn’t succeed was because they just weren’t a big enough group, they had very little support many people didn’t know who they were let alone their aim. They couldn’t get the vital support of the police force or the army without this they had nothing to back them up. When Ludendorff and Hitler went back to help Rohm they marched towards the centre of Munich.
But in a narrow street they faced the Police Force who opened fire and killed 16 Nazis. Ludendorff was unhurt but Hitler dislocated his shoulder. Hitler’s dream and the Putsch was over. Hitler and Ludendorff were charged with high treason.
Hitler got off quite easy he was only sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with the chance of parole after 6 months. Ludendorff got of free. There were some goo points to both the Putsch and the trial afterwards. Hitler became very famous and many many Germans now know about him and his ideas.
Hitler had also learned his lesson and decided he would never seize power by force again, and he never did.
