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On June 24, 1922, two months after the signing of the Treaty of Rapallo, Rathenau

was assassinated in a plot led by two right-wing army officers (aided and abetted by

others) linked to Organisation Consul: Erwin Kern and Hermann Fischer.[4] On that

morning, he was driving from his house to Wilhelmstrae, as he did daily (and

predictably). During the trip his car was passed by another in which three armed men

were sitting. They simultaneously shot at the minister with machine guns and thenquickly drove away. A memorial stone in the Koenigsallee inBerlin-Grunewald

marks the scene of the crime, which was officially (with flags legally at half mast) but

not necessarily fervently mourned in Germany. After the Nazis came to power in

1933, they declared Rathenau's assassins as national heroes and designated June 24 as

a holiday of celebration. One of the assassins was the future writerErnst von Salomon

he had provided the car but was not present at the shooting. Curiously, he

managed to stay out of theNazi partyand had a Jewish wife, whom he managed to

protect throughout the Nazi years largely because of his credibility with the Nazis in

having facilitated Rathenau's assassination. His anti-American book after the war,

Der Fragebogen ("The Questionaire"), about the history ofGermany between 1918 to

1946, was one of the bestsellers in West Germanywhile simultaneously beingbannedin U.K. schools for being anti-British.[5] The other assassins, Erwin Kern and

Hermann Fischer, committed suicide when surrounded by the police in the turret of

Saaleck castle, nearKoesen. The driver of the car, Ernst Werner Techow, was

captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison. At his trial he claimed that he had acted

under duress, as Kern has threatened to kill him when he tried to withdraw from the

murder plot.[6] Upon his release from prison for good behavior in 1927, he volunteered

for the French Foreign Legion. During the Second World Warhe helped save

hundreds of Jews in Marseilles, apparently as penance for his crime.[7]

Some believe that Rathenau's assassination may have significantly influenced the

long-term political, economic, and social development of Europe (or was the result of

such development, particularly the development of leftward-trending parties, class

consciousness, nationalistic feelings, and antisemitism). It was certainly an early sign

of the instability and violence which were eventually to permeate and destroy the

Weimar Republic. The British writerMorgan Philips Price wrote:

In June 1922 Walter Rathenau, a big Jewish industrialist and progressive economist, was

assassinated by gangsters of the extreme Right who were the heart and soul of the Freikorps. I

was present at the memorial service in theReichstag and noted an extraordinary outburst of

enthusiasm among the workers of Berlin, as expressed in their trade union leaders and

socialist parties, for the Republic and for President Ebert. The rank and file of the Majority

Social Democrats were now thoroughly aroused...first Communists, then Socialists, and nowa big industrialist were murdered for having Liberal views and, in the last case, for being a

Jew. The situation in Germany was becoming more and more sinister.

Others, such as historian Erich Eyck, argue that the murder of Rathenau may have

been the singular event that set into motion the period of extreme hyperinflation in

Germany during 192223:

But as great as was the impact of Rathenaus death upon German domestic politics, it left an

even greater mark upon the economic scene. Now the tumble of the mark could not be

stopped. The dollar, still under 350 on the day of the murder, climbed to 670 by the end of

July, to 2000 in August, and to 4500 by the end of October.
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Albert Einstein later commented that he was "greatly disturbed" by Rathenau's

assassination, since he saw it as early proof of an immense anti-pacifist and anti-

semitic presence in Germany.[

Erhardt Naval Brigade

The Marinebrigade Ehrhardt was a Freikorps group of around 6,000 menformed by KorvettenkapitnHermann Ehrhardt in theAftermath of World WarI, also known as II Marine Brigade or the Ehrhardt Brigade. It took part in thefighting for the cities of central Germany and the northwestern ports, in

addition to participating in the Kapp-Lttwitz Putsch. The designation ofFreikorps (German for Free Corps, i. ...

The Brigade was formed from formerNaval personnelin the area ofGeneralkommando des Garde-Korps (Berlin). It was commanded by theconservative Nationalist Hermann Ehrhardt and fought alongside theFreiw.Landesschtzenkorps under General von Roeder in the retaking ofNorthwest German ports such as Bremen, Cuxhaven and Wilhelmshaven inearly 1919. After the defeat of the northern revolutionary forces the Brigademarched to the industrial cities of central Germany (along with the

Freiw.Landesjgerkorps, I Marine Brigade, Freikorps Hlsen, FreikorpsGrlitzand Freikorps von Oven) to defeat the local communist uprisings.Location of Berlin within Germany / EU Coordinates Time zone CET/CEST(UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE3 City subdivisions 12boroughs Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD) Governing partiesSPD / Left. ... Cuxhaven beach at sunset Cuxhaven is a town in LowerSaxony, Germany, with about 55000 inhabitants. ... Wilhelmshaven is a townin Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common yearstarting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...

After the defeat of the uprisings, the Brigade went on to fight the BavarianSoviet Republic during the spring of 1919. It made up only a small fraction ofthe total Freikorps forces, which totaled to around 30,000 men. At the end ofApril the Freikorps closed in on Munich. The Red Guards began arrestingsuspected "counterrevolutionaries" and onApril 29, eight men, including thewell-connected Prince von Thurn und Taxis, were executed as right-wingspies. Soon after, on May 3, the Freikorps attacked and defeated theinsurgent forces after bitter street fights in which over 1,000 communistfighters were killed. About 800 men and women were arrested and executedby the victorious Freikorps. Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year startingon Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Munich (German: ,pronounced ; Austro-Bavarian: Minga [1]) is the capital of the GermanFederal State of Bavaria. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year (120th in leap
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irresolute and indecisive East Prussian civil servant, though a ferventnationalist. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... TheReichswehr (help info) (literally National Defense or Imperial Defense)formed the military organization of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when the

government rebranded it as the Wehrmacht (Defence Force). ... Monarchismis the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of amonarchy. ... This is not the Friedrich Ebert involved in the founding of theGDR, but rather his father. ... Noske and Ebert Gustav Noske (July 9, 1868 -November 30, 1946) was a German administrator. ... March 13 is the 72ndday of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... WolfgangKapp (July 24, 1858 - June 12, 1922) was an East Prussian civil servant andjournalist. ... East Prussia (German: Ostpreu en; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie;Russian:

Vostochnaya Prussiya) was a province of Kingdom of Prussia, situated on theterritory of former Ducal Prussia. ...

The Reichswehr, under orders from Chef der HeeresleitungGeneral Hansvon Seeckt, one of the Reichswehr's senior commanders, did not try toconfront the rebels, but their only other support came from some smallFreikorps groups, and the only one that made a serious move was the IIIMarine Brigade, under Von Lwenfeld, in Silesia, who took the regionalcapital, Breslau. The government issued a proclamation calling on Germany'sunions to defeat the putsch by means of a general strike. The strike callreceived massive support and by March 18, the Putsch had been a massivefailure. Hans von Seeckt Hans von Seeckt (22 April 1866 - 27 December1936) was a German soldier. ... Wrocaw ( ; German: ; Czech: ; Latin:Wratislavia or Vratislavia) is the capital of Lower Silesia in southwesternPoland, situated on the Oder River (Odra). ... March 18 is the 77th day of theyear in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ...

After the Putsch, the Marinebrigade Ehrhardtwas ordered to be disbanded byGeneral von Seeckt, but it continued to function under different covers such

as Bund ehemaliger Ehrhardtoffiziere, Organisation Consul and SportvereinOlympia. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
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Hitler's Early Years

Hitler was born in 1889 into a lower-middle class family on the Austrian side of the

German-Austria border. His father was a customs officer and his mother was his

fathers niece. His father was a bully and Hitler had a poor relationship with his

father. His father died when Hitler was young (about 8) and Hitler was not upset. His

mother died when he was 17 or 18. His mother was very protective of him when he

was a boy.

Hitler decided to attend Art College in Vienna, but when he got there he was refused

entry, Jews ran the university, and it is possible that this also added to his dislike of

the Jews. Vienna was a very multi-cultural city and contained a large Jewish

population. Anti-Semitism was rife in the citys politics and the Mayor; Carl Luger

was a noted anti-Semite.

Hitlers rejection by the Vienna art establishment was a large blow to his self-esteem,

and made him bitter, although he tried to deny that it had ever been that important to

him. Hitler had a feeling of superiority over the working classes and he felt that entry

into the art school would affirm this. Hitler was determined not to slip down the social

scale, and become associated with the working classes, and so he avoided doing any

manual work or any job that would associate him with that class. Some people who

met Hitler described how he would show a picture of his father in his customs

uniform to emphasise in a rather insecure way - his middle-class background.

Hitler enjoyed operas by Richard Wagner, which showed the battle between good and

evil in an eternal struggle. Hitler also believed in the German nationalism, which waspreached on street corners and present in cheap pamphlets. Hitler saw life as a battle

between the Jewish Demons and the German Superheroes. It was whilst Hitler was a

young man, before the first world war, that he began to believe firmly in the two

central ideas of his life racialism and nationalism.

Hitler did not put himself forward to do his compulsory national service in the

Austrian army in the summer of 1909 and in the autumn of 1909 he lived rough,

mainly sleeping on park benches. It is not known exactly why he had to do this, but it

is possible that his inheritance had run out, or that he knew he was eligible for

conscription and was trying to avoid it. After his time in Vienna Hitler claimed that

there had been two people who had had a great influence on his political awakeningin Vienna: George von Schoenerer, leader of the Pan-German Nationalist Party, and

Karl Luger, the leader of the Christian Social Party. Schoernerer was deeply anti-

Semitic and he demanded special anti-Jewish laws to prevent the growth of Jewish

influence in Austrian society. Hitler said that Schoenerers major fault, as a politician

was his inability to gain support for his political ideas from the powerful institutions

of the state, the army, church and bureaucracy.

In Luger, Hitler admired his great oratory abilities and his pragmatic approach to

political problems. He was willing to exploit ideologies, even ones he did not believe

in, in order to gain support. Hitler was very impressed with Lugers ability to reach

the ordinary voter through powerful slogans such as We must do something for the

little man! In August 1914 Hitler joined the German army and he spent most of the

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war on the Western Front as a dispatch runner, not a soldier. Hitler very much

enjoyed his time in the army fighting for the country he loved. He received the Iron

Cross (1st and 2nd class) and was considered a good soldier. In 1916 Hitler was

injured and sent to a hospital in Berlin. After his discharge he noticed people

boasting of their own cowardice and a general atmosphere of defeat in the city. On a

visit to Munich he noticed that every clerk was a Jew and he became infuriated byJews, Politicians and Journalists who constantly talked of defeat. He believed that

these people were undermining the war effort. In October he was hospitalised after a

mustard gas attack and it was here that he found out about Germanys loss.

Hitler returned to Germany to Munich in 1918, maybe to attend Art College there.

When he arrived he found the city in a state of crisis. The Bavarian monarchy had

been toppled and the Bavarian Peoples Republic, made up of socialist revolutionaries

promised government by kindness. A number of the leading politicians in the new

government were Jewish intellectuals who were strongly attached to Marxist ideas.

His anti-Semitism continued to increase as he saw the prominent position Jews played

in the revolution there. Hitler began to believe that there was a Jewish conspiracy todestroy civilisation. Hitler tolerated the new government for the simple reason that he

wanted to stay in the army. This is one of many examples of Hitler compromising his

so-called unshakable-principles to do what he wanted.

[edit]

German Politics to 1920

In 1914 the largest party in the Reichstag was the Social Democratic Party of

Germany, which claimed to represent the increasing working class. There was a lot of

tension between the socialists who supported abolishing the monarchy and turnGermany into a real democracy and the elite who felt threatened by the party who

talked of revolution and Marxism. By 1914 the party was much less revolutionary but

still wanted political change and was a threat to the Kaiser and the army.

The war seemed at first to solve the internal problems, uniting the politicians. The

SPD rallied to the war effort, believing that the war had been forced on Germany by

an envious coalition. This spirit of pride and unity was something the Nazis tried to

capture after the war. As the war dragged on and the causalities increased the spirit of

unity began to unravel. The British blockade of Germany caused great suffering and

starvation. Germanys loss saw morale in the army drop, there were numerous strikes

in Germany, and the Kaiser was advised to appoint a new liberal government to seekpeace.

Many Germans thought that generous peace would be offered by the Allies, but later

felt tricked by the harshness of the treaty that was offered in 1919. There was a belief

that the revolutionaries and strikers had stabbed Germany in the back. Jews were said

to have paid an important part in this. It was easy to blame the defeat on the foreigners

and politicians, those later described by Hitler as the November Criminals

After the revolution the Kaiser fled to Holland and a republic was declared. For many

the republic was associated with national humiliation. In January 1919 a group of

extremist socialists tried to seize power. The uprising was crushed by the freikorps.Whilst a similar uprising occurred Munich a new German constitution was formed.
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To avoid the uprising the delegates met in the nearby town of Weimar. The

constitution stated that the president would be elected every 7 years, and the president

appointed the chancellor who would head-govern the Reich. There would be elections

every four years, with the result based of proportional representation. This encouraged

the formation of a large number of political parties.

[edit]

People to note up to 1920:

FRIEDRICH EBERT was moderate socialist and leader of the SPD. He was the first

president of the Weimar Republic. Cooperation with the army in 1919 helped to crush

the extreme left-wing uprisings.

FIELD MARSHAL PAUL VON HINDENBURG was a professional soldier who

became a national hero after defeating two Russian armies. Was president until his

death in 1934.

GENERAL ERICH VON LUDENDORFF was a professional soldier. After the war

he was associated with various right-wing causes and drifted into alliance with Hitler

in 1923. He escaped prosecution for the Munich Putsch and criticised Hitler as he

became suspicious of him.

[edit]

Society During the Rise of the Nazis

The first four years of the Weimar Republic were beset with many problems. Manysaw it as a disaster. Many of the army officers disliked the new republic, and

preferred to keep to the traditions of the empire. Judges, civil servants and professors,

for the most part, wanted a return to the monarchy.

The new republic was constantly threatened with revolt. In 1920 a group of ex-army

officers, under Luttwitz, tried to seize power but were defeated by a General strike. At

the same time a communist group of workers tried to seize power in the Ruhr, the

army crushed this uprising. A year later there were new revolts in Hamburg and

central Germany, although at the same time many property owners were terrified that

Germany would end up the same as Russia, where the Bolshevik government was

consolidating its power.

The German government was having trouble paying the reparations, gold and

currency reserves were exhausted and in desperation Germany even resorted to

paying with telegraph poles and coal, but the British already had enough of the latter,

and French demand for the former was limited. In 1922 Germany had no choice but to

declare that it could no longer pay.

The French took action when the telegraph poles promised to them were not delivered

on time and the delivery of coal was also delayed. The French P.M. sent 100,000

French troops to collect the coal themselves in the Ruhr (the industrial heartland of

Germany.) They faced no military opposition but the workforce they met did back agovernment policy of passive resistance. The workers refused to work for the French,
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but the French brought in their own workers. This led to a great deal of hostility and

frequent outbreaks of violence. On one occasion German workers tried to stop French

soldiers taking vehicles belonging to a German business. 13 workers were killed in

the gunfire.

The striking workers created problems, as there was no one to pay them. Thegovernment treated it as their responsibility and paid out millions of marks to the

workers. Meanwhile, tax revenue from the Ruhr decreased as did coal supplies. The

government had the option to raise taxes bus chose to print more money, causing a

rise in prices and a dramatic fall in the value of the mark.

The country suffered from hyperinflation, and many people saw their savings ruined

to nothing. In November 1923 one US dollar was worth 42,000,000,000,000 marks .

This economic situation brought disaster for the people, but for the government it

meant that the vast amount of debt had decreased. The new currency brought in

November 1923 helped to bring stability, but did not help those who had already been

ruined by the previous events.

[edit]

The NSDAP from 1920 to 1924

In January 1919 Anton Drexler founded a party called the German Workers Party, or

DAP. Drexler felt that other parties lacked patriotism and social conscious. The small

group of core activists met in the back rooms of beer halls and the members had a

strong nationalist, anti-Semitic and anti-capitalist tone. The party had a democratic

constitution with members voting for members of the executive committee and

discussions took place on party issues.

Hitler returned from the war in 1919 to see the German Bolsheviks attempt to seize

power. He remained with the army as a political intelligence officer, and Hitler was

sent to observe Drexlers meetings. Hitler was not initially impressed with the party.

It was little different from many of the other Volkisch national groups in Munich at

the time. What really attracted him to the party was the pamphlet given to him by

Drexler that described Drexlers idea of creating a new party by combining

nationalism with some socialist ideas and ultimately weakening the appeal of

Marxism among the working classes. He joined in September, and Hitler left the army

in March 1920. According to Hitler he was the 7th member of the party, although

when his membership card was found it gave his number as 515.

Hitlers motivations for joining the party must be treated with caution. He claimed to

have wrestled with doubts over joining the party, although this seems highly unlikely

when his armys bosss account is considered. He said Hitler was ordered to join so

the party could be used as a propaganda vehicle for the army and to bolster its drive to

weaken the appeal of socialism among the workers. It also seems that army funds

were also given to the party, to finance the hire of venues and newspaper

advertisements. In fact between September 1919 and April 1920 Hitler still received

his army salary and stopped his surveillance on other parties, suggesting Hitler had

been planted in the DAP to build up its popularity.

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Hitler managed to transform the party, as chief of propaganda. In October 1919 111

people attended a public meeting. Hitlers speeches at meeting helped to increase the

profile. It was Hitlers manner when he spoke which separated the party from the

numerous other right-wing hotheads. In his speeches Hitler presented himself as

alienated and bitter towards the new-Germany. He inspired the audiences to share

his bitterness and frustration and inspired them to support his plans to rescueGermany from those who had betrayed them. Every soldier who fought in the war

could relate to Hitlers loathing against the November criminals who had stabbed

Germany in the back. Hitler speeches built towards a hysterical climax often ending

with There is only one defiance and hate, hate and again hate.

Hitler also managed to make the party more business-like. He rented an office for

them and installed a telephone, safe, filing cabinet and typewriter. A rubber stamp

bearing the party name was also made and cards bearing the party name were

purchased. He was involved in the designing of the striking red posters and leaflets

for the party that appeared around Munich. In 1920 the partys largest meeting to date

was attended by 2000 people. At the meeting the 25-points were outlined and not longafter the party changed its name to the NSDAP that became the Nazi party and which

adopted the swastika.

The 25 points of the party were declared as unalterable although they were mostly

ignored when Hitler came to power. The nationalist elements of the party included

plans to reverse the Treaty of Versailles, unite all German speakers into a greater

Reich, and exclude all Jews from German citizenship and to take control of the press.

The socialist parts were plans to nationalise trusts, abolish land rents, restrict interest

on loans, introduce profit sharing in industry, confiscate profit made be industry

during war and create a peoples army. The Nationalist polices were not dissimilar

from many other nationalist parties at the time, but what distinguished the party from

the many others was the socialist and anti-capitalist policies. Many members of the

party liked the socialist policies but to Hitler they were only there to attract the

dumb workers to the party. This is reinforced by Hitlers failure to implement many

of the policies after 1933.

By the end of 1920 party membership had risen to 3000 and in December 1920 the

Nazi party bought a local newspaper for 180,000 marks, renaming it the racial

observer soon afterwards. The money for this purchase came from Eckart, a poet and

publicist, so prominent Munich conservatives and secret army funds. By this time

Hitler had created the nucleus of the party. Alfred Rosenberg was the self-styledphilosopher who created the racial theories of the party, especially the anti-Semitic

views. Max Amann, Hitlers old army sergeant who was publishing manager. Earnst

Roehm who recruited thousands of ex-soldiers and members of the paramilitary

Freikorps into the Nazi SA. Rhoem and Goering were very useful at introducing

Hitler to important figures in Bavarian society. Manny ex-soldiers were involved in

the Nazi party and it was more like an army propaganda unit supported by a private

army than a political party. Hitler pressed for the committee structure to be replaced

by a command structure with a single leader. Under this proposal members wanting to

challenge the leaders views would immediately be expelled. Drexler claimed that

Hitlers desire for strong leadership was a disguised bid for leadership of the party and

Hitlers proposal was rejected.

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The Munich Beer Hall Putsch

In 1923 the partys membership was 20,000 but during this year of hyperinflation

membership rose to almost 55,000. The invasion of the Ruhr increased nationalist

support. In Bavaria an anti-republican government came to power and Hitler became

convinced that he and other right wing supporters in Bavaria could lead a successfulmarch on Berlin and seize power. He assumed that the army and the Bavarian

authorities would support him as they were both sympathetic to the right-wing cause.

Stood together Hitlers supporters were a powerful coalition. In August 1923, a plan

to overthrow the republic started to take shape. The intention was to overthrow the

Weimar government and to establish an authoritarian nationalist regime that would

allow Bavarian complete autonomy. Ammunition, weapons and transport were

collected together in preparation for what was seen as an inevitable showdown with

central government. Following orders, large numbers of armed conspirators would

march north to the capital. The march was given further momentous when Gustav von

Kahn was appointed state commissioner in Bavaria with dictatorial powers. Kahr

refused ban Volkischer Beobackter as he was requested to, and this suggested to

Hitler that he had Kahrs support.

By October 1923 the plans to overthrow the government had been finalised, but by

early November problems were starting to arise. Some key figures in the army in

Berlin had told high-powered conspirators that they would defend the elected

government and this caused some conspirators to have second thoughts. On the third

of November General Otto von Lussow, the commander of the army in Munich, told

Kahr that any march on Berlin would be futile. On the sixth Kahr told representative

of leading paramilitary organisations that the Bavarian government, the army and the

police would not support the violence intended to overthrow the state. After this Kahrrefused to meet with Hitler when Hitler requested.

Hitler had staked his political career on the march going ahead. The armed men who

had supported Hitler for the last year were keen for the move to go ahead. Hitler was

still unsure as to whether he had Kahrs support, but deciding that his political career

would not recover if he suffered the humiliation of abandoning the march, went ahead

with now seemed as hopeless. On the 8th November Kahr was due to address a group

of government officials in a beer hall in the centre of Munich. Hitler thought that Kahr

was going to use the opportunity to announce his own march on Berlin due to his

lack of communication with Kahr and misunderstanding kahrs motives. In fact, Kahr

had already long abandoned the project, but had just not informed Hitler. Hitlerentered the beer hall at 8:30pm, accompanied by SS men, and fired a bullet from his

revolver towards the ceiling. He then announced that a national revolution had begun,

and a provisional Reich government had been formed. Kahr was led to the state

police and Lossow to a small room to discuss the national revolution. Kahr did not

take the situation seriously, but Hitler offered him the post of regent of Bavaria, but

the politician replied Herr Hitler, you can have me shot, or shoot me yourself.

Whether I die is of no matter. Hitler began to realise that things were not going to plan

so asked that general Ludendorff be brought to the Beer Hall, hoping that his presence

might sway Kahr. When Ludendorff did arrive he told Kahr he supported Hitler and

this appears to have impressed Kahr to some extent. However, Ludendorff was

surprised to see that he was leader of the army, and Hitler was dictator of Germanyin the new fictional government.

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The events that followed are disputed. In court, Hitler claimed that Kahr Seisser and

Lussow all agreed to the conspiracy, but others say that Kahr did return to the

platform to say he would support the Putsch, but only because he was forced to at

gunpoint. Kahr, Seisser and Lussow later said that they all intended to suppress the

revolt as soon as they were free to do so. What they did not mention in court was that

they had all planned a conspiracy in the precious months, just abandoned it at theeleventh hour. Ludendoff even went as far as to say he was taken by surprised at

Hitlers action.

Hitler left the beer hall at 10:30 to calm down a clash between the SA and troops that

had erupted at a local barracks. Once he had departed Kahr took measures to suppress

the uprising. He moved the Bavarian government to Regensburg and issued a

proclamation which claimed his support for Hitler had been given at gunpoint. He

also announced that the Nazi party and the paramilitary Kampfbund were now banned

organisations. Meanwhile the Nazis had failed to take control of any important

buildings or army barracks. At around midnight Hitler conceded that his attempt to

overthrow the government had been a failure. This was mainly due to the failure ofsupposed partners failing to support him. As a last attempt Hitler agreed to a

demonstration through Munich on the 9th of November in the hope this would

encourage the army to support the march on Berlin. Hitler led the demonstration

along with 2000 Nazis, including 300-armed SA men. He intended to match to the

War Ministry building and seize it but along the way they found there armed police

blocking their route. Both fired several shots, and at the end of this short exchange

(under two minutes) four police officers and fourteen Nazis were dead. In the middle

of the mayhem Hitler fell and dislocated his shoulder. Once standing Hitler ran away

leaving the dead and wounded behind, and escaped in an ambulance. Hitler later

claimed he left because he thought that Ludendorff was dead, although surely this was

a reason to stay. Some years later he managed to start a new story, that he had carried

a child away to an awaiting ambulance. After it was all over, Hitler was arrested at the

house of a wealthy friend and taken to Landsberg prison on 11th November to await

trial for his charge or treason.

The Munich Beer hall Putsch was an embarrassing failure for the Nazi party. It failed

because he had allowed his party to become to much of a paramilitary organisation

and it had become subsumed in conspiracy with other right-wing forces over which

Hitler had no control. Although Hitler has been seen of the instigator of the

conspiracy, in reality it was the Bavarian right, composed of the government, the

army and the state police who had flirted with the idea or a rebellion but finally pulledout when they found they had no support from the army high command. Hitler had

never really been taken into the centre of the conspiracy, but had still whipped up his

supporters into a state of frenzy over the potential overthrow of the government.

Hitlers insignificance is seen in that they did not consider him important enough to

inform him of their change of heart. By November 1923 it seemed as though Hitlers

days as an extremely colourful politician were over.

[edit]

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More Important People

HERMANN GOERING - joined the Nazis in 1922. He had been an officer in the Air

Force in WWI, achieving fame. In 1923 he became head of the SA, but was severely

injured in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. In 1933 he was appointed to Hitlers Cabinet

(as prime minister and interior minister.) Throughout much of the 30s he was one-man-down from Hitler.

ERNST ROME was a captain in WW1 and joined the Nazis shortly after Hitler. He

enjoyed violence and helped to develop the SA in its early days. After the Munich

Putsch he fled abroad but returned to be made commander of the SA in 1930. Rome

wanted the SA to be merged with the army, but Hitler disagreed and ordered a purge

of many SA leaders, including Rome who was murdered in the Night of the Long

Knives in 1934.

[edit]

Nazi Ideology

Nazism built its support by tapping into the negative feelings if certain sections of

German society towards things such as the Versailles treaty, high inflation, the

instability of the government, the growth of a communist movement and the

economic position of Jews in German society. Nazis pointed out the enemies in

Germany, the communists, Jews and then suggested that they needed to be removed

to restore Germanys powerful position.

Nazism has often been described as fascism,; although a specific description for

fascism is harder to find. Firstly. No great philosopher came up with such a thing asfascist ideology, hardly surprising as Fascism prides itself on being against rational

and intellectual thought. Mussolini offered the explanation that a fascist was a fervent

patriot for whom the preservation of the state is most crucial. An alternative

description of Fascism was put forward by the Italian writer Antonio Gramsci (who

was executed by the fascists) who suggested that capitalism in Europe was going

through a crisis in the early part of the twentieth century, in which the dominant upper

classes were finding it hard to manipulate the masses and were concerned that

communism might take over in mass revolutions. In these circumstances fascism

became one way of destroying the potential power of communism and the principles

of mass democracy.

Seymour Lipsey, in his study A Political Man, described fascism as a revolt of the

middle classes who felt trapped between the growth of big business and the

revolutionary politics of workers and who felt that the liberal parties could not pull

them out of the economic distress post-1918. Lipsets interpretation has been

discredited by some studies of German voting behaviour between 1918 and 1933 that

showed that the Nazis did not gain votes from disaffected liberals, but gained support

from small right-wing fringe parties, prosperous members of the middle class and a

significant number of votes from agricultural workers who had previously not voted.

A definition for fascism is made more complicated by the presence of the concept of

totalitarianism, which argues that the communist and fascist leaders were two sidesof the same coin. Totalitarian regimes of the communist or fascist variety made that

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masses conform to their rule or face dire consequences. A problem with the

totalitarianism model is that is downplays the many difference between the Nazism

and Bolshevism in failing to see the fundamental ideological differences, the real

economic differences and the class relationships within the different societies. If is

hard to come to a general description for fascism, as no single theory can describe all

the characteristics of the regimes and parties that described themselves as fasciststhrough Europe in the interwar period. Italian fascism and Nazism exhibited many

differences, race being a central feature of Nazism but of comparatively little

significance in Mussolinis Italy.

[edit]

History of Nazism

a man who has no sense of history is like a man who has no eyes and ears

The Nazis frequently claimed to be indebted to past influences, shown in a famousNazi postcard shows Hitler alongside Frederick the Great, Bismarck and Hindenburg.

Hitler also claimed that the third Reich represented continuity with the first Reich

(holy roman empire) and the second Reich (Bismarck).

Many of Hitlers supposedly unique policies turn out to in fact be no so novel. The

living space concept had infact been mentioned very frequently in pre-1914 pan-

German league pamphlets. German dominance of Eastern Europe had also been a key

aim of Frederick the Great in the eighteenth century, and also an aim of the Kaiser

during WW1. Most conservative groups in Germany, even during the Weimar period,

advocated most of Hitlers foreign policies. Other ideas such as nationalism and social

Darwinism were ideas imported from outside of Germany.

[edit]

Philosophical Routes of Nazism

Many of Hitlers ideologies were borrowed from other members of the party. An

important figure in this aspect is Dietrich Eckart, a poet and playwright who was

known to be a rather serious alcoholic. Hitler desciribed him as a fatherly friend.

Hitler claimed to have been greatly influenced by this man who regularly told his

fellow party members to keep your blood pure. Eckart wrote many early Nazipamphlets from which Hitler drew inspiration., including That is the Jew a bitter

attack on the Jews. His anti-Semitism and his eugenic theories had a profound affect

on Hitler. It seems that Hitlers ideologies were found through second-hand hearing of

ideas, rather than through deep philosophical reading.

The German historian, Heinrich von Treitschke, influenced Hitler through his view

that war was the highest expression of a man, Another man to influence Hitler was

Neitzsche, a nineteenth century German philosopher who was deeply disturbed by the

pace of change in European society and predicted that it would end in the death of

God. What Hitler liked about his writings were his criticisms if democratic forms of

government, his praise of violence and war, and his prediction of the emergence of a
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