As the new Weimar Government had recently signed the harsh Treaty of Versailles which was demeaning to Germany as it blamed them for the War and forced them to pay all reparation costs. In 1923 the French had moved into the Ruhr, which was Germany’s main industrial source, and were taking Germany’s resources. This caused the Germans to strike which meant the economy sunk lower still, although it allowed the German people to keep a weakened sense of pride. It was the act of the German Chancellor Stresemann calling off the strike in the Ruhr that triggered the idea of the Munich Putsch, because Hitler and the Nazi Party believed they would gain more support after this ‘demeaning’ action made by the Chancellor. The Nazi Party were now able to challenge the Weimar Government with more hope of success.
On the 8th of November 1923 the Nazi Party took action by way of the Munich Putsch. This was a direct challenge of authority where Adolf Hitler attempted to overthrow the Weimar Constitution. The Nazi Party now had 3000 members, all of whom were involved in the Putsch along with 600 Stormtroopers (Nazi Army.) The group walked into a beer hall in Munich where the Bavarian Prime Minister and some officials were having a meeting. Here, Hitler took the Prime Minister and the officials into a side room and held them at gun point while he persuaded them to support him in overthrowing the Reich Government.
In order to overthrow the Reich Government, Hitler organised a march through Berlin. He expected civilians to join the Nazi Party and the Stormtroopers although no one joined the march. The Bavarian Prime Minister did not attempt to stop the march, however he told the Berlin Government of the plan and so they were able to organise the army and crush it before they reached the parliament. Shots were fired from both sides and 14 Nazis were killed, Hitler dislocated his shoulder and escaped although he was arrested soon after.
The consequences of the attempt to overthrow the Reich Government were severe. Nazism became even more popular after the Munich Putsch because Hitler used his court trial to speak about Nazi ideas, Hitler became an icon. While in prison, Hitler decided to change Nazi tactics and use the democracy system rather than force to destroy the Weimar Constitution.
Between 1924 and 1933, there was an enormous rise in Nazi popularity. Nazism became very well known and supported throughout Germany. Votes rose from 2.6% in 1928 to 43.9% in 1933, this was partly because the Nazi’s focussed winning over the working classes and the middle classes which made up the majority of German public. An event which helped to propel the Nazi Party was the Great Depression. Because Germany had such high reparation payments to make, the Government began printing more money, until the German dollar became virtually worthless. The extremely low economy in Germany weakened the Weimar Government further and they lost yet more support. German people started to support the extremist parties like the Nazis and the Communists as a consequence of the Depression. This added to the strength which Nazism and the Nazi Party had gained from the Munich Putsch.
On the 27th of February the Reichstag was set on fire. This action was taken by the Communists who were arrested; they also lost a large amount of support. Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree which ultimately removed all freedom and privacy from German people and increased the use of the death penalty. This destroyed the Communist Party and made the idea of Nazism stronger still.
Because of this rise in Nazi popularity as well as the loss of support towards the communists, the Nazi Party became the largest party in Germany. Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933 and instantly insisted on a new set of elections, determined to gain an absolute majority vote for the Nazis. He organised the intimidating of voters and terrorising opposition, but still, the Nazi Party were unable to gain the necessary amount of German votes to have absolute power. Hitler then decided he needed to create an Enabling Act, which would put Hitler into power by allowing him to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag. In order for this law to be passed Hitler needed two thirds of the Reichstag seats to vote in favour of it. He banned the Communists from the Reichstag and intimidated the other Parties into voting for the law. The Enabling Law was passed on March 24th and was probably the most vital key to Nazi success.
President Hindenburg died in 1934 and Hitler made himself the undisputed leader of Germany ‘Der Fuhrer.’ Germany was now effectively a totalitarian state, run by the Nazi Party. This all came to be from Nazism as a force challenging the authority of the Reichstag government by way of the Munich Putsch.
Nazism was now the way of Germany. The 25 Point Programme had become the German bible and Hitler was considered God. Hitler used Nazi ideas to run Germany and put many new laws into place. Hitler had successfully destroyed the Weimar democracy system and created a one party state with a single strong leader.
Hitler led Germany using the Nazi ideas of terror and propaganda. Terrorisation of those who opposed Nazism often led to murder of the opposition. Churches were eventually morphed into Nazi churches where German people practised Nazism as a religion. Communists and other left wing parties were banned and many main members were killed. Hitler created youth camps were young children went to practise Nazism in order to continue Nazi ruling in generations to come. Hitler had ultimate control and he now turned his attention to creating an Aryan Race.
An Aryan Race was considered a superior race. German speaking people with blonde hair and blue eyes who were both mentally and physically healthy and supported Nazism were Aryans and Hitler aimed to create an Aryan Germany. Gypsies, homosexuals, handicaps, Blacks and Jews were all considered inferior and were put into concentration camps where they performed hard labour. Once they became ill from the poor working conditions most of these groups were murdered. This became known as the holocaust. Six million Jews were killed, mainly using gas chambers which were cleverly disguised as showers at ‘death camps.’ This was presumably the main consequence of the rise of Nazism.
The force of Nazism influenced the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler to challenge the authority of the Reichstag Government by way of the Munich Putsch. The consequences of this action were many and they were fatal. Over six million people were killed because of the Nazism movement. The rise of Nazism between 1920 and 1945 was huge and had a great impact on Germany as a country and also as a population, the initial prompt being the failed Munich Putsch.
