I feel that the attempted coup failed for several reasons. The Bavarian army and police were never behind Hitler’s plans and would therefore resist if given orders to do so. Also claiming from inside the hall that the army and police barracks were contained and had been earlier seized was a mistake. This gave everybody a false sense of security and naturally you would proceed with a coup - if you thought that most of the resistance had been accounted for. Khar and Lassow, after appearing to back Hitler, were not present at the meeting in the hall overnight. Meaning that they could then obviously see for themselves that nowhere had been seized and make alternate plans.
In retrospect the whole attempt was a very good thing for Hitler. It created media frenzy during the trial; Hitler was never away from the front pages of the papers for twenty one days, across the entire country. This gave him a celebrity status which could only be an advantage to the party. Also while he was in prison he wrote ‘Mein Kampf’ and the proceeds from the book went straight to the party so that they could fund its propaganda programme. While he was in prison he also realised that he couldn’t topple the government using his previous methods. He decided that the way to win was to bring down the democratic system from within – he would use democracy to gain power – then once in power he would then discard democracy. A famous quote from Hitler backs this fact up “If we can’t out shoot them, we’ll out vote them”
Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser was a German war hero who was awarded the IC for bravery during World War One. He joined the Nazi party and took part in the Munich beer Hall Putsch and after its failure he was briefly imprisoned. Upon his release he became a member of the SA and eventually became an important figure with a following of his own. With this following, he developed and became the leader of a revolutionary wing of the Nazi party. Strasser was a socialist and opposed many of Hitler’s views including his policy of trying to win the support of Germany’s major industrialists. Strasser was also very outspoken and this caused a major rift between himself, Hitler and some of the parties other leaders. In December 1932 Hindenburg invited Strasser to become the chancellors deputy, Hitler challenged this move claiming it was an attempt by the government to cause a split within the Nazi party. With this in mind, Strasser resigned from the party and found work in a large chemical firm – but the damage was already done! In 1934 he was arrested by the Gestapo as part of the Night of the Long Knives operation. He was taken to Gestapo headquarters and shot in the back of the head. The Night of the Long Knives ended with over one hundred ex or existing members of the SA being executed, a percentage of the killings were payback for the members that spoke out aloud against Hitler’s views and plans.
The Bamberg Conference
The Bamberg Conference was held in February 1926 when Hitler restored unity to the party and introduced the Fuhrerprinzip (leader’s principle). The meeting he called was said to be a bit of a gamble because he didn’t want to encourage the members that preferred more of a socialist programme. To reach his targets he had to stage manage the proceedings to get Strasser and his delegates to tow the line. Hitler chose Bamberg because it was an area that had a very high nationalistic majority and therefore they were sympathetic to his views. He handled the delegates with ease and instead of the meeting being a debate; it ended up being a long rambling speech by Hitler. Within the crowds cheering he pleaded with Strasser to not forget the memory of the National Socialists and eventually brought the two sides together – although differences remained and the problems within the party were far from over.
This stage onwards saw the recovery of the Nazis lost ground. By mid 1926 Hitler was back in control of the Nazi party. Because of the dwindling membership and the lack of new recruits, Hitler decided that the parties’ image needed reviving. He set up an elite force responsible for his own protection, a bodyguard of men. They were to be known as the Schutzstaffel or SS and they would play a major role in Nazi rule over Germany in the future.
