historyWikipedia1923 · Munich, Germany
Hitler's first coup attempt was crushed in Munich in 1923
On the morning of 9 November 1923, Adolf Hitler and about 2,000 Nazi supporters marched through Munich in what became known as the Beer Hall Putsch. The plan, begun the evening before when Hitler burst into a Munich beer hall, was to seize power in Bavaria and then march on Berlin, copying Mussolini's march on Rome. Police opened fire near the Feldherrnhalle and government troops crushed the attempt; 16 Nazis and four police officers were killed. Hitler was arrested, tried for treason and sentenced to five years, but served about nine months in Landsberg prison. There he dictated Mein Kampf. He concluded that the Nazis should seek power through elections rather than force.
The failed coup gave the Nazis publicity and a martyr story and shaped their strategy of gaining power by legal means. It showed that a soft sentence for plotters against a democracy can have large consequences.
Failed coups that are followed by lenient punishment have often given plotters a platform; democracies' responses to such attempts have often decided how stable they stayed.
The Nazi movement later held an annual march to commemorate the putsch, and 9 November later became linked with Kristallnacht too.
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