On November 9, 1923, Adolf Hitler entered a beer hall in Munich and shot a pistol at the ceiling in the first step he planned to overthrow the German democratic government. The attempted coup, known as the "Beer Hall Coup", failed almost immediately. Hitler was arrested and imprisoned, several followers were killed, and the Nazi Party was outlawed.
However, Hitler's failed coup d'état, far from causing him a catastrophic setback, fueled his perverse ambitions. As Hitler himself later said: "The failure of the coup d'état was perhaps the greatest luck of my life".
Germany in chaos after World War I
After World War I, Germany was plagued by food shortages, violent uprisings by political factions, and frustrated national pride. Benjamin Carter Hett, a professor of history at Hunter College, said: "Add to that the deaths of at least 1.7 million German soldiers, and basically every family is mourning their loved ones. ”
By 1923, hyperinflation had collapsed the economy. At the lowest point of the currency, 4.2 trillion Deutsche marks were worth only one dollar, leading to a largely reverted barter system to the state, with the savings of the middle class going up in smoke. To make matters worse, when Germany stopped paying reparations, as required by the Treaty of Versailles, France and Belgium sent troops
In this chaotic environment, Hitler leaped to his feet. The Austrian-born future dictator served in the German army in World War I and later joined the Nazi Party. In 1921, he took over the leadership of the party and gave speeches throughout Munich in which he attacked the Treaty of Versailles and wrongly blamed the Jews for Germany's defeat.
Beer Hall Coup Plot
Influenced by Benito Mussolini's march into Rome in 1922, Hitler hatched a plan to seize power in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, at a time when Munich was "a real hotbed of fringe political activity," Hurtt explained. Once successful, Hitler next planned to infiltrate what he called the "godless Tower of Babel" in Berlin, overthrow the Weimar Republic, and bring himself to power.
On November 8, 1923, Hitler held a mass rally of around 3,000 people at the Bürgerbräukeller beer hall in Munich, at which he put his plans into action. When Bavarian Commissioner Gustav von Kahr addressed a packed audience, Hitler burst in, jumped on a chair, shot his pistol at the ceiling, quieted the crowd, and in a sweaty state he announced that "the national revolution has begun." At the same time, his men surrounded the beer hall and blocked the main entrance with machine guns. They also took several Jewish hostages, robbed two printing shops, and destroyed an opposition newspaper.
After being taken to a secret room in a beer hall and threatened, Karl and two military leaders agreed to join the attempted coup. However, although they were also opposed to the Weimar Republic, as soon as they were free, they betrayed Hitler and denounced Hitler's plot to the army and the national police. Hitler's men also failed to hold some key buildings, including barracks and telephone offices.
Seeing that the plan was shattered, Hitler and his accomplices staged a mass march in Munich on November 9. But they were intercepted by a Bavarian state police contingent, and an exchange of fire ensued, killing 15 of Hitler's men, four policemen and one bystander. Hitler dislocated his shoulder in the scuffle, and the Nazis next to him were shot in the chest.
Hitler was arrested
After the failed coup, Hitler went into hiding for two days until the police found him and dragged him to Landsberg Prison, west of Munich. At first, the future Führer was so depressed that he didn't even eat. German authorities banned the Nazi Party, closed its newspaper, and arrested most of its leaders. To many, Hitler seemed to be a wasted man. The New York Times declared: "The Munich coup undoubtedly eliminated Hitler and his National Socialist followers".
However, Hitler gradually realized that there were also advantages to going to prison. First, it prompted him to change tactics, he no longer trusted anyone outside the party, and he had helped prosecute Nazi war criminals. In addition, the beer hall coup proved to Hitler that the regime could not be overthrown by a direct attack, and that it had to be sabotaged from within. From then on, Hitler would seek power primarily through democratic procedures rather than violent revolutions.
Hitler and the nine co-defendants were charged with treason, and the failed coup d'état and subsequent trial also received extensive media coverage and made Hitler a national figure. Hitler gave a long speech at court, portraying himself as a savior and patriot who worked only for the good of Germany. He seized the opportunity, and he was chattering in public about German nationalist grievances that many Germans, even Jews in Germany, would share.
Eventually, Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison and six months later to be eligible for parole. In addition, the court refused to deport him to Austria, where he was still a citizen, on the grounds that he had served in the German army and considered himself German. "In general, the penalty was so light that the courts did not have jurisdiction to make this [expulsion] decision, but they did it anyway, and Hitler's deportation at the time could really change history," says historian Haidt. ”
Reinvigorated, Hitler returned to Landsberg prison and began writing the first volume of Mein Kampf, his pseudo-scientific manifesto that foreshadowed the Holocaust of the Jews and the invasion of Eastern Europe. Hitler later said that without being imprisoned, there would have been no Mein Kampf.
After the trial, Landsberg was flooded with visitors, and Hitler's room was filled with gifts such as letters, flowers, and candy. He was allowed to wear his own clothes, sit on comfortable wicker chairs, and even had his bed made.
Back on the political stage
In December 1924, Hitler was released after only about a year in prison. After being released from prison, Hitler was full of self-confidence, convinced of his greatness, his popularity throughout Germany was greatly increased, and he was about to become a published writer, his worldview was deeply ingrained, and he had a new plan to seize power. Upon his return to Munich, he gave his first post-prison speech at the Bürgerbräukeller beer hall, where the coup took place, declaring himself the supreme leader of the reorganized Nazi Party.
Although the Nazi Party still had only a small share of popular support, their rise had already begun. They never won an absolute majority, receiving only 37% of the vote in the July 1932 parliamentary elections. But Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, thanks in large part to infighting on the left and supporters of the conservative wing of the establishment, who believed that Hitler could be controlled in a coalition government.
Nazi Germany brought unprecedented catastrophe to human history. Under Hitler's leadership, Germany provoked World War II, which brought great suffering and destruction to Europe and the world. Nazi Germany also committed the heinous Holocaust, in which at least 6 million Jews were killed. Hitler's madness and crimes left an eternal wound and lesson for Germany and the whole of humanity.
Throughout Hitler's life, the "beer hall coup" was undoubtedly a key juncture. This failed coup d'état not only exposed Hitler's accumulated influence in German society, but also forced him to adjust his strategy and seek power through legal channels. In this sense, without the "beer hall coup", there would have been no Hitler's later rise.