Adolf Hitler remembering the 21th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch in 1941 (GettyImages)
On November 8, 1923, Adolf Hitler attempted a coup labeled the "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich which failed. For two years leading up to the failed coup d’état of Bavaria, Hitler led his band of fledgling Nazis across Germany, gaining support. Obviously, anti-Semitic beliefs stood as a cornerstone of their “political party” along with “German Pride.”
More specifically, these war criminals in waiting were angered by the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty required Germany to pay for World War I, a war they coincidentally started. The foiled “Beer Hall Putsch” earned Hitler a five-year sentence in prison, but he only served one. During that time he famously wrote “Mein Kampf,” the bible for skinheads suffering from daddy issues everywhere. Here’s everything worth knowing about Hitler’s first failed try at dictatorship.
After prison, Hitler choose worked to gain power via legal political methods rather than force.
Adolf Failure
Like many angry young men, Hitler at age 34 was a complete failure. Graduating from high school remained beyond his meager capabilities as did painting anything worthy of his parent's refrigerator. His participation in WWI counted as his singular achievement and that ended without much distinction in a hospital bed. Once the war ended, he set his sights on “saving Germany.”
Nazis mobilizing during the Beer Hall Putsch. (USHolocaustMemorialMuseum)
Lack Of German Oversight
Despite owning the resumé of a troubled toddler, Hitler got work as a police spy. His mission was to infiltrate the German Workers’ Party and discern their aims. Unfortunately, young Adolf became swept up in the group’s nationalistic and anti-Semitic beliefs, as often is the case with the impressionable and uneducated.
Rather than do his job, he joined the party and quickly rose up through their pitiful ranks. Along the way, he met Dietrich Eckart who schooled him in public speaking and gained a predictable interest in an occultist group believing in racial purity.
French and Belgian forces occupied the German heavy industry, which helped Hitler's draw support.
Gaining Steam
By 1921, Hitler got the hang of espousing his hate speech and traveled from beer hall to beer hall, throwing his infamous tantrums. In Germany, beer halls were often used for political meetings and Hitler made use of them, drawing large crowds. By the summer of that year, the group changed its name to the National German Socialist Workers’ Party or Nazi Party and elected Hitler their leader.
In lessons heeded for future war settlements, the Treaty of Versailles caused massive inflation and wiped out the savings for millions. Suddenly, the man with the terrible mustache, screaming about inequity started to ring true to more than just disenfranchised losers.
Nazi working toward Hitler's ends. (Britannica)
The Plan
In 1923, Hitler and his band of merry men conceived a plot to seize power in Bavaria, hoping to spark a larger revolution against the leaders of the German Weimar Republic. The plan called for the kidnapping of Gustav von Kahr, the state commissioner of Bavaria, and two other politicians. He also roped in Erich Ludendorff, a right-wing general to March on Berlin and overthrow the government. Naturally, Hitler copied all this from the dictator playbook that Benito Mussolini used a year prior in Italy.
What started as a small insurrection grew into a holocaust and World War.
The Putsch
When Hitler learned that von Kahr was expected to speak at one of the biggest beer halls in Munich, he sprung his rather poorly laid plan. Along with a few hundred of his followers, the furor-to-be took over the beer hall, firing a shot and declaring a “national revolution.” That amounted to the high point for Hitler. General Ludendorff arrived and “convinced” his three abductees to give in to Hitler’s demands for a march on Berlin.
In classic dictator fashion, Hitler celebrated his failed coup each year after coming to power. (libraryofcongress)
Gutless Hitler
From there, things really went downhill. Ludendorff, after receiving pink promises from von Kahr and the two other politicians, allowed them to leave. Hitler also decided all was in order and left to deal with other “crises.” That’s when the military arrived and foiled the group’s attempts at seizing government buildings within Bavaria.
In an attempt to regain control of their “revolution” Ludendorff then led around 3,000 Hitler’s followers to the Bavarian Defense Ministry. That, too, was stopped by police. In the “chaos,” Hitler managed to fall and dislocate his shoulder before crawling along the pavement toward a waiting car. He then fled, abandoning his comrades.
They don't exactly look like the "master race."
More German Failures
Apparently, Hitler then hid in the house of Ernst Hanfstaengl for two days while others talked the frantic Nazi leader out of committing suicide. Eventually, he was tried and sentenced to five years. However, during the court’s proceedings, he gained massive popularity. His defense speeches were published in newspapers and more morons flocked to his side.
Somehow the German authorities decided that he should be sent to Landsberg prison, which amounted to a summer camp for the misguided. The man who attempted an insurrection was allowed visitors, fan mail, and a deputy to help the hapless Hitler to produce Mein Kampf, which translates to “my struggle.”
