Topic summary
Beer Hall Putsch
About a dozen injured
Many captured and imprisoned
Several wounded
The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch, was a failed coup d'état led by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, General Erich Ludendorff, and other Kampfbund leaders in Munich, Bavaria, on 8–9 November 1923, during the Weimar Republic. Inspired by Benito Mussolini's March on Rome, Hitler's goal was to use Munich as a base for a march against Germany's national government in Berlin.
The putsch began on the evening of 8 November, when Hitler and a contingent of approximately 600 Sturmabteilung (SA) members marched on the beer hall Bürgerbräukeller, where Gustav Ritter von Kahr — the Minister-President of Bavaria who had banned some of Hitler's previous planned gatherings — was delivering a speech. As the SA surrounded the hall, Hitler entered, fired a shot into the ceiling, and claimed that the Bavarian government had been overthrown and that the national revolution had begun. The following day, approximately two thousand Nazis marched on the Feldherrnhalle, in the city centre, but were confronted by a police cordon, which resulted in the deaths of fifteen Nazis, four police officers, and one bystander. Hitler escaped immediate arrest and was spirited off to safety in the countryside. After two days, he was arrested and charged with treason.
The putsch brought Hitler to the attention of the German nation for the first time and generated front-page headlines in newspapers around the world. His arrest was followed by a 24-day trial, which was widely publicised and gave him a platform to express his nationalist sentiments. Hitler was found guilty of treason and sentenced to five years in Landsberg Prison, where he dictated Mein Kampf to fellow prisoners Emil Maurice and Rudolf Hess. On 20 December 1924, having served only nine months, Hitler was released. Once released, Hitler redirected his focus toward obtaining power through legal means rather than revolution or force, and accordingly changed his tactics, further developing Nazi propaganda.