The Munich putsch was a failure as the Nazis failed to gain power and their leader was put in prison. The Nazi party was banned and Hitler was prevented from speaking in public until 1927. Hitler was put on trial with other Nazi leaders. When he was on trail he used it as an opportunity to gain support through the use of propaganda. When Hitler was in prison he began a new strategy for the Nazis by realising that he wouldn’t gain power by rebellion but by standing in the elections.
When Hitler was released from prison in December 1924 after serving only 9 months of his sentence he decided to change the whole structure of the party.
The Bamberg conference was held on Sunday the 14th February 1926. The conference was held in Bamberg in upper Franconia in Germany which was a nationalist area. Hitler’s decision to call the meeting was a gamble. It included some sixty members of the leadership of the Nazi party. His aim was to restore some resemblance of the party unity and agree a future programme. Hitler put Ernst Von Salomon in charge of the image of the party. Hitler tried to bring both Nationalist led by Streicher and Socialist led by Strasser sides under control as they had got out of control when Hitler was in prison. This also stopped opposition.
Hitler also reorganised the party. From the Nazi Munich headquarters, Hitler planned a new framework for the party. For reasons of organisation Germany was divided into 35 regions known as Gau. These Gau was led by a Gaulieter. Districts were divided into Kries. The Kriesleiters took control of them. Each Kries was divided into even smaller units known as Ortsgruppen and supervised by Ortsgruppenleiters, each covered a city or town. Cities and towns were divided into districts known as Zellen under Zellenleiters and groups of houses and flats also called Blocks were placed under Blockleiters. To enforce discipline within the party the Nazis developed a system of courts which was also known as Uschla. The party developed a new strategy which was Fuhrerprinzip which meant the party was run by one leader. They also created a new symbol which was called the Swastika. The Nazi party adopted a salute. This was an outstretched right arm to the sky. These helped the organisation of the party and they also helped to growth of the party supremely. The reorganisation gave the party more stability as a political group and gave them more support.
Propaganda also helped the Nazis rise to power. In 1929 Hitler made Joseph Goebbels minister of propaganda. This gave him control of newspapers, radio, film, art and books. This helped the control grow from strength to strength as they could censor what then people heard and did.
The SA was under the new leadership of Franz Von Salomon. It was used to cease street hooligans and to spread Nazi propaganda and organising demonstrations against Jews and Communist. The SA also known as the stormtroopers/Brown shirts were reduced in numbers to create the SS which were known as the Black shirts in 1926. The SS was Hitler’s bodyguard service which was an elite force. In 1929 Heinrich Himmler became its leader. It was used to protect Hitler and gain support.
In conclusion the Munich Putsch’s failures was significant in the Nazis rise to power in the period of 1923-1933, however there were other factors that contributed to the rise in power like the Bamberg conference of 1926, the party organisation, the SA and SS and the use of propaganda. However it can be said that these other factors may not have happened if it wasn’t for the failures of the Munich Putsch in 1923 and Hitler going to prison.
