The Failure of the Munich Putsch in November of 1923

The Failure of the Munich Putsch in November of 1923

I believe that the military failure of the Munich Putsch was quite

insignificant, since the party made a serious of political gains as a

result of the putsch.

At the time of the Putsch the Nazi Party was growing and had over

55,000 members. It was in he unique position of having both Socialists

and Nationalists under the same political banner. The Rhur crisis had

gained the Nazis a lot of support, and with effective propaganda they

became a leading force in anti-allie occupation politics. However it

would be wrong to state hat they enjoyed positive election results,

and in fact they won very few seats in the many elections that were

held over that period.

The Putsch had many obvious failures, such as the imprisonment of

Hitler who the party greatly relied on, and the gun battle following,

in which 16 Nazis were killed. Also division ripped through he party

while Hitler was in prison. But the benefits, hidden from view at the

time, were multiple. Hitler's oration at his trail was a more obvious

plus for the Nazis. Hitler used his defence to get across his views,

and it won him many supporters and admirers. Most importantly the

judges in his trial were supporters of Hitler and thus instead of

receiving the death penalty which he could well have been given for

his crimes of treason, he received the minimum five year sentence of

which he served only a few months. Furthermore his time in prison was

spent writing 'Mein Kempf' which became the basis for future Nazi

Party policy.

Hitler also realised after the Putsch that he would have to follow the

road of democracy instead of violence, if he was to give himself any

realistic possibilities of holding power. This change in direction was

the main reason why the Nazis found themselves in power in the mid

1930s. It is almost certain that the party would not Hitler speakinghave

gained power if hey had continued with their campaign of violence.