What was the significance of the Munich Putsch for the development of the Nazi Party?

by vdshjffjdhgdfh (student)

What was the significance of the Munich Putsch for the development of the Nazi Party?

In the short term the effect on the Nazi party was very detrimental. The Nazis were completely humiliated because of Hitler’s false sense of power which led him to believe that he was more powerful than he actually was. The whole attempt, in which 3000 Nazis were overthrown by just 100 policemen, was poorly organised and had no chance of success from the outset. When the Putsch had been crushed, Hitler and some of his men were imprisoned which led to the collapse of the Nazi party due to the lack of strong leadership and direction that Hitler provided. In this Putsch, Hitler did not achieve his goal of overthrowing the Bavarian government, however, during his trial Hitler was given the platform to preach his ideas to a national audience. In this persuasive and influential speech Hitler gained notoriety and the party also gained some much needed publicity and support. The propaganda that could be used by the Nazis would appeal to the hearts and minds of German people and they could claim that nothing would defeat their strong party.

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His imprisonment, which due to his moving speech was only for a period of 9 months, was significant as, in this time, Hitler was able to reappraise his methodology and to construct what ultimately became the ‘Bible of the Nazis’, Mein Kampf, in which he outlined his political philosophy. Both Hitler’s speeches and Mein Kampf were prime example of propaganda which replenished Hitler’s image and made up for his earlier bad judgement of Kahr, who betrayed him to the police in the Munich Putsch. Hitler used the idea of propaganda to boost votes, and Goebbels, the minister of propaganda, undoubtedly helped the Nazi Party come into power. Although, in the short term, the Nazis had taken a serious setback, Hitler managed to reform the party so that he could take power, legally, in 1933.

Hitler realised that it would no longer be possible to take power by force. This meant that Hitler would have to change the direction of the party in order to take power legally by the ballot box and necessitated a complete overhaul of the structure of the Nazi party. Before 1923 the Nazi party was a paramilitary party but Hitler realised that this would have to change and stated that “we will need to hold our noses and enter the Reichstag”. Hitler’s plan was to gain power through democracy and use the powers given to him through democracy to destroy democracy. By 1926, Hitler has won the party round to democratic methods, although this alienated some of the original member in his party. For instance, he weakened the SA who had to undertake more mundane roles which created unrest in the party. Hitler also set up organisations with the sole purpose of gaining support of specific groups: Student Union and Farmers Union etc. He replaced the Nazi regional bosses with Gaulieters and set up the Hitler Youth which was to supply the party with members.

Although the short term effects on the Nazi party were undoubtedly harmful, I think that the true significance of the Munich Putsch was the implementation of a new party structure and direction which were a direct result of the failed Putsch. This change in the Nazi party was so effective that, only 10 years after the disaster of the Munich Putsch, Hitler became chancellor, having been voted in legally. This shows that, although the original negative effects for the Nazi party must be taken into account, it is clear that the overall effect on the Nazi party was very positive.

What was the significance of the Munich Putsch for the development of the Nazi Party?