Hitler's "Beer Hall Putsch": how a poorly planned farce failed but became a launchpad for the Nazis.

Just over 100 years ago, events unfolded in Munich that, upon their conclusion, mostly elicited smiles and even ridicule among the political elite of the Weimar Republic. However, it soon became clear that the completely failed "Beer Putsch," which took place on November 8-9, 1923, on the streets of Bavaria's capital, would serve as a significant springboard for the upcoming triumph of the then-marginalized National Socialist Party.

As the saying goes, a bad example is contagious. On October 28, 1922, a victorious march of Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini took place in Rome. The authorities were unprepared for such a turn of events and simply handed power to the "blackshirts." Although royal Italy was among the victors of World War I, public dissatisfaction and a portion of the elite’s discontent with the redistribution of "spoils" at Versailles, coupled with an economic crisis, led to the rapid victory of the once marginal fascist party.

Exemplary punishment of the "main arsonists of the war"

At the end of the war, the situation in Germany was extremely complex and volatile. On November 9, 1918, during the revolution, the Hohenzollern monarchy fell, and the republic was proclaimed. Two days later, an armistice was signed in the Compiègne Forest between the Allies and Germany, marking the latter's crushing defeat in the First World War, even though not a single enemy soldier was on the territory of the former German Empire.

The ultimatum conditions imposed on the defeated at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, were excessively harsh. British historian Norman Davies wrote in his book "Europe: A History": "...the international atmosphere after the conference was still unhealthy. A mix of revenge and cynicism, evident in the actions of the victorious Allies, did not bode well. Eastern Europe, the original source of conflicts, remained unregulated. The ink on the signed treaties had barely dried when many began to reconsider them."

Germany faced enormous and painful territorial losses in Europe (Alsace and Lorraine, parts of Schleswig, West Prussia, Memel, and Danzig, which became a free city), and over the years, the occupation of the Saar, demilitarization of the Ruhr, and complete loss of colonies in Africa and Asia added to these losses. This foreshadowed an impending economic and political crisis in a state that became known as the Weimar Republic. It was now required to pay a staggering sum in reparations, which was announced in 1921 after lengthy negotiations – 132 billion gold marks; today, this is equivalent to approximately 440 billion US dollars (by the way, the last payments for reparations were sent in 2010!).

It was difficult to find people in Germany who did not criticize the democratic government, whose representatives signed documents in Versailles. The country, having lost not only territory but also several million of its citizens on the battlefields, almost immediately found itself in the role of a pariah. The powerful army was demobilized, and the Reichswehr was formed with a meager 100,000 soldiers, with heavy weaponry being destroyed. The navy was interned – most of it was scuttled by the Germans themselves in Scapa Flow harbor in Scotland on June 21, 1919.

After the exemplary punishment of the "main arsonists of the war," a permanent economic crisis began, and hyperinflation in Germany reached unprecedented heights. In 1922, workers were paid their wages and had to rush to stores to buy some food. Germany was unable to make reparations payments. By the beginning of the following year, the value of the German mark had fallen to a thousand times less than it was before the start of World War I. By the fall of 1923, one US dollar was worth four trillion marks. Famine began to spread across the country. During the occupation of the Ruhr Valley by French and Belgian troops, more than a hundred civilians were killed in clashes. Even the government declared passive resistance to the occupiers. Both the Berlin authorities, supported by Social Democrats and Centrists, and the right-conservative parties suppressed a potential coup in October 1923, which the communists were preparing with the help of the Kremlin in Thuringia and Saxony.

The Versailles system was under constant attack from virtually all political parties in Germany. The National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), founded in February 1920, was an active critic of the peace treaties established under the Versailles system from its inception and borrowed its model from Mussolini's fascists. It found itself on the far-right flank of the political spectrum in the republic. The main enemies of the democratic regime were indeed the Nazis and representatives of the far-left political spectrum – the Communists. Their mutual hatred for Versailles united them, and these parties often voted in solidarity in the Reichstag...

However, by 1923, the Nazi Party was still completely marginal, refusing to participate in the Reichstag elections (the Nazis first appeared there with a mere 12 representatives out of 491!) in 1928. Even in their victorious year of 1933, during the March elections, they did not achieve an absolute majority, bringing only 288 deputies to parliament out of 647.

Hitler went all-in, copying the October Revolution of 1917

By the fall of 1923, the NSDAP was more of a regional Bavarian party. Its leader, Adolf Hitler, decided to go all-in, somewhat mirroring the Bolsheviks' actions during the Petrograd revolution in October 1917. The Nazis planned to carry out a local coup in Bavaria and then extend their power throughout Germany. Interestingly, the Minister-President of this largest state, Gustav von Kahr – a monarchist who enjoyed significant popularity – harbored similar hopes. It is difficult to say whether he thought of all of Germany or was merely trying to seize the moment to achieve the independence of Bavaria alone. However, it is known that on November 8, 1923, von Kahr was supposed to announce Bavaria's independence at the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbräukeller" — this information was relayed to the Nazis by their supporter in the police, Wilhelm Frick.

Thus, Hitler decided to seize the initiative. The Nazis even conducted a dress rehearsal for the coup in one of the local beer halls. During it, Hitler jumped onto a chair to deliver his speech but stumbled, and he was caught by the burly driver Emil Maurice. On his second attempt, the NSDAP leader "appointed" himself and the famous, very popular World War I general, 58-year-old Erich Ludendorff – the author of the concept of "total war" on land and sea – as the leaders of free Bavaria. He was also one of the founders of the theory of the "stab in the back," which claimed that the German Empire was undermined in November 1918. However, the general was not even aware of the planned coup.

That very evening, on November 8, 1923, upon learning that the officials and high military and police officers of Bavaria had arrived at the aforementioned beer hall, a large squad of stormtroopers from the veteran organization Kampfbund surrounded it. Hitler, along with a group of armed Nazis, stormed into the crowded hall just as Gustav von Kahr began his speech. Hitler jumped onto a chair, pulled out a revolver, and fired into the ceiling, declaring the beginning of a "national revolution" and a forthcoming march on Berlin to oust President Friedrich Ebert, a representative of the Social Democratic Party. All of Bavaria's leadership at that time was arrested, but they were treated politely. In a small room nearby, von Kahr and his subordinates agreed to cooperate with Hitler, while the audience in the beer hall soon began ordering beer for the stormtroopers.

The second-in-command of the Nazi Party, World War I ace pilot Hermann Göring, went to fetch Ludendorff. A few minutes later, the general entered the hall to applause from those present and even expressed his dissatisfaction at being drawn into this adventure. However, he soon agreed to cooperate with the Nazis, and Hitler, believing that the matter was settled, released von Kahr and other Bavarian officials late that evening on personal guarantees. He even promised von Kahr the position of regent of Bavaria, while he "reserved" the post of imperial chancellor for himself.

Before that, he had already celebrated "victory" on the streets of Munich, taking the arrested officials on a "tour," pointing out trees in the woods, hinting at their fate in case of disobedience and betrayal. To jump ahead, it’s worth noting that Gustav von Kahr was killed during the "Night of the Long Knives" on June 30, 1934, during a major purge in the SA; several of Hitler's political opponents were also shot. He was quite the performer – let us not forget that Adolf Aloisovich was originally from the artistic bohemia and was an artist.

However, the very next day, November 9 (exactly five years after the start of the November Revolution of 1918, which the Nazis considered a disgraceful date in German history), everything changed. Hitler, throughout the