Background

Adolf Hitler was a German soldier during World War I. After the war, he remained in the army. In he 1919 was ordered to infiltrate a radical right-wing group known as the German Worker’s Party (DAP). However, Hitler liked what he was hearing from these people so much that he left the army and joined them. By 1921, Hitler would become the leader of the party, which was now known as the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP), which was soon simplified to the Nazis¹. The Weimar Republic, the German government during this time, was very unstable. Many radical groups were vying for power, including the NSDAP, various other nationalist groups, and communists. The nationalists were often made up of young men who felt that the older generation had betrayed Germany during the war. They wanted some chance to take action to “save” Germany from the weak Weimar government². Hitler would soon give these men that very chance.

One of the most important factors motivating the Putsch was the state of the German economy at the time. Massive unemployment, reduced trade with foreign countries, and war debts were primary causes of the downfall of the German economy³. Massive inflation ensued. By the fall of 1923, the mark, the German currency, was almost worthless. An American dollar was worth over 2 million marks. These circumstances caused many Germans to lose faith in the government, and they felt that it was up to them to change things.

The Putsch

In October 1923, Hitler and his officials, inspired by Mussolini’s March on Rome in the previous year, planned out a similar event. They planned to march on the Bürgerbräukeller, a beer hall in the city of Munich, the capitol of the region of Bavaria. Prominent members of the Bavarian government planned to be at the beer hall on November 8 holding an event. The Nazis would march into the hall, take those leaders hostage and force them to support a Nazi government. There was a particular interest in persuading Gustav von Kahr, the State Commissioner of Bavaria, as well as Otto von Lossow and Hans Ritter von Seisser, who collectively were known as the “triumvirate” to join them. Then they would use Munich and Bavaria as a base to take over the rest of Germany.

On the evening of November 8, Hitler and a couple hundred of his SA “brown shirts”, the equivalent of Mussolini’s black shirts, which included a few individuals would later become prominent members of the Nazi government, such as Rudolf Hess and Hermann Göring, surrounded the beer hall. Hitler entered the auditorium of the hall and fired and shot from a pistol into the ceiling, proclaiming his new government⁴. He then held Kahr, Lossow and Seisser at gunpoint and demanded that they support his new government. They initially refused to give in to any of Hitler’s demands. Despite being fairly radical far-right politicians, they had their own plans for the future of Germany, ones that did not involve Hitler. However the triumvirate would soon give in. After this, the Nazis allowed them to leave the beer hall, a strange decision that would prove to be a mistake⁵.

While the events in the beer hall were taking place, SA troops were active throughout the city. They attempted to take police, army and government installations, but would mostly fail. Often the SA troops were unwilling to commit to violence, and would give up trying to take a location if it was clear the occupants would resist. As an example, when army cadets who supported the putsch attempted to take the General State Commissariat building, the police met them. Both sides were armed with loaded and bayonetted rifles. The cadets did not initiate any violence and withdrew⁶. Despite these setbacks, the Nazis still felt optimistic about the whole ordeal, and perhaps relaxed their guard a bit too much.

During the night of November 8, Bavarian officials, police and the army scrambled to respond to what had transpired. They did not have enough manpower to repel the putsch. The triumvirate arrived at the General State Commissariat and began to help the police and army. While they had told Hitler that they would support him, they did not actually mean it⁷. The Vice Prime Minister of Bavaria, Franz Matt, took control of the situation and under his leadership the police and army began to organize themselves for a counterattack.

By the morning of November 9, the Nazis had not achieved much. The had seized control of neither Munich nor the Bavarian government. They also learned that the triumvirate were not actually going to support them. The Nazis then marched out of the beer hall some 2,000 strong ,although at this point they lacked any sort of true objective or purpose⁸. They were confronted by police and army in the city square, who were ready for them. The two sides clashed, resulting in the Nazis being defeated. Although the fighting only lasted for a few minutes, four police officers and sixteen Nazis were killed⁹. It is unkown who fired the first shot due to conflicting reports and testimonies. After this defeat, Hitler realized that the putsch had failed so he and the other Nazi leaders fled the city. The police caught up with Hitler two days later and arrested him.

Aftermath

Hitler was arrested and put on trail for treason. Hitler used his trail as a way to spread his name and message across Germany and was able to garner up some sympathy for what he had done. Still, Hitler was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. However, Hitler would only serve eight months and would get out on good behavior. During those eight months, Hitler wrote his infamous book Mein Kampf. Hitler would leave prison a far more popular figure than when he entered.

Timeline link: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1ZcVFtMUSAVj9xDuc8zPIJhLEeTiN7w-zCo8IuEh3S-4&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650 (embedding is not working)

Significance

The Failure

Why did the Beer Hall Putsch fail where the March on Rome succeeded? There are certainly a number of reasons. Mussolini was a far more popular figure in Italy at the time of the march than Hitler was in Germany during the time of the putsch. Mussolini had thousands of more men at his disposal. The March on Rome was the victory lap of a much larger event in Italy that saw the fascists take over practically every major Italian city. The Beer Hall Putsch was intended to be the starting point of a much larger movement. Another important factor was the willingness of the particpants to undertake in violence. In Italy, the black shirts were fully expecting and willing to fight, and did not hesitate to do so when they met resistance. In Germany, the SA and other supporters were often unwilling to fight. They gave up on taking places where the police and army refused to surrender to them. The fighting that did take place in the city square ended very quickly with the Nazis fleeing after a few minutes of gunfire. While Hitler was inspired by the March on Rome, he did not seem to understand what had made that event such a success for the fascists.

However could it really be said that the putsch failed? Hitler was relatively unknown throughout Germany before this, the putsch made Hitler known throughout all of Germany. He was able to get his message out, to let people know why he was doing this, and it would turn out that many would agree with him. On the tenth anniversary of the putsch, shortly after Hitler had become chancellor of Germany, he would say on the putsch:

“Well, we lost, but what mattered was that millions of Germans had been aroused to action and were given a new idea and a new flag around which to rally.”

Wireless to The New York Times. “Hitler Celebrates His Putsch Of 1923: Stresses To Nazi ‘Old Guard’ That Germany Is Now Prepared To Defend Honor. Explains Munich Uprising Chancellor Asserts He Had To Use Force To Win Support Of Courageous, Determined Men.” New York Times (1923-Current File), Nov 09, 1936. http://library.ramapo.edu:2048/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.library2.ramapo.edu:2443/historical-newspapers/hitler-celebrates-his-putsch-1923/docview/101670395/se-2?accountid=13420.

This is in all fairness a pretty accurate assessment of what happened. The Nazis would never have had become as popular as they did if the putsch did not happen. Their short-term failure breed long-term success.

Fitting into the 1920s

The Beer Hall Putsch demonstrates how events are not isolated to a single nation, especially in Europe. This event happened because the March on Rome happened. Much like the March on Rome, this happened due to the instability following World War I, and people wanting to act to change their governments. The Nazis are generally considered a World War II phenomena, and while they would not take power for another 10 years, here they are a mere five years after World War I in 1923 making substantial moves. The 1920s would continue to be shaped by unrest and violence, paving the way for the decades to come.

Citations

Bibliography

• Gordon, Harold J.. Hitler and the Beer Hall Putsch. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1972.
• Stachura, Peter D. “The Political Strategy of the Nazi Party, 1919-1933.” German Studies Review 3, no. 2 (1980): 261-88. Accessed March 23, 2021, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1429723.
• Wireless to The New York Times. “Hitler Celebrates His Putsch Of 1923: Stresses To Nazi ‘Old Guard’ That Germany Is Now Prepared To Defend Honor. Explains Munich Uprising Chancellor Asserts He Had To Use Force To Win Support Of Courageous, Determined Men.” New York Times (1923-Current File), Nov 09, 1936. http://library.ramapo.edu:2048/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.library2.ramapo.edu:2443/historical-newspapers/hitler-celebrates-his-putsch-1923/docview/101670395/se-2?accountid=13420.
• Featured Image: Hitler-Putsch, München, Marienplatz. November 9, 1923. Accessed February 16, 2021. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_119-1486,_Hitler-Putsch,_M%C3%BCnchen,_Marienplatz.jpg

Nicholas Buonocore

Nicholas Buonocore is a student at Ramapo College who toke the Discovering Digital History course in the Spring 2021 semester. He was a junior at Ramapo studying history while taking this course.

Post-WWI Italy and the Creation of Fascism

In the 1920s, Italy was still a new country, especially going by European standards. The various regions in the country all having different cultures, economies, dialects, and politics. Some of the biggest differences were between northern and southern Italy. The industrial north was home to many wealthy, educated people, while the agricultural south was home to many uneducated peasants, with about 80% of the southern population being illiterate¹. These differences caused the country to be very disunited. Italy suffered from economic problems after the war since hundreds of thousands of returning soldiers were now unemployed. People were becoming fed up with the ineffective Italian government. Some felt a similar revolution to the one in Russia needed to happen in Italy. More than ever, the country needed a strong, unifying figurehead. One returning soldier would soon believe that he was the man for the job.

Benito Mussolini was an editor for the Socialist Party newspaper before the war. The Socialist Party expelled Mussolini for him supporting Italian entrance into World War One². Mussolini was then drafted into the army. During the war, Mussolini became more nationalistic and moved away from socialism. After the war, on March 23, 1919, Mussolini founded the fascist movement, with most of its original members comprising of war veterans. The movement was nationalistic, anti-liberal, and anti-communist. As to what the movement actually wanted, that would change often. He at first called for a republic with universal suffrage, then he endorsed the monarchy and the church and did not want elections, before finally settling on dictatorship³. In the end, he did not seem to care what the movement was, as long he could get more people to follow him. And get more people to follow him he did, with Mussolini gaining 10s of thousands of supporters by 1922.

The March on Rome (and Other Cities)

Mussolini and his supporters soon schemed a way to seize power. On the night of October 27-28, 1922, thousands of Mussolini’s “black shirts”, the fascist militia, would descend upon many Italian cities. The plan was to seize post offices, telegraph offices, railway stations, police stations, and government buildings. This would cripple the weak Italian government and ensure they could not mobilize and effective response to the main event: Rome itself. In Rome, the black shirts would confront the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III. They would demand that he make Mussolini the prime minister of Italy. The current prime minister, Luigi Facta, knew that the fascists were planning a coup. Despite this did not believe that it was a serious threat ⁴.

The black shirts were ready for a fight, with some of them armed with rifles and hand grenades⁵. They however did not find much of a fight, with the black shirts being able to seize cities such as Pisa, Florence, Venice, Rovigo, and Bologna, and many more, without a fight. Only in the city of Cremona did law enforcement put up any sort of resistance. This fighting resulted in the deaths of four black shirts and seven police officers before the fascists were able to seize the city⁶. In a few hours, Mussolini supporter’s had taken over most of the infrastructure and communication in Italy. Now they had their eyes set on Rome, with the first black shirts moving on the city in the early hours of October 28.

Once the Italian government had learned of what had transpired, Facta and the loyal generals had to scramble to come up with a way to protect Rome and the King. They wanted to declare a state of siege (the equivalent of martial law in the United States), and succeeded in doing so. However, the King would refuse to sign it, and would have it revoked⁷. It is not completely known why the King made this decision. The only explanations from him that exist are statements that he made in 1945 after the death of Mussolini and the end of World War Two. These are unreliable as he made them in retrospective to serve a propaganda purpose⁸. There is evidence to suggest that the ineffectiveness of the Italian parliament upset the King, but even then that would not be enough for him to give the country to Mussolini with no resistance. The most likely theory is that the King had heard the reports of violence that had occurred in other cities, and was fearful that if he allowed the state of siege it would cause a civil war. It is also likely that the King doubted the loyalty of the army. Many fascists were ex-soldiers and there were plenty of fascists sympathies in the army⁹. Mussolini would then become the youngest Prime Minister in Italy’s history.

Italy itself received the March on Rome rather well . Many were glad that their was some form of strong and stable leadership in Italy, after years of weak government. Even in the government itself, many were not too bothered by Mussolini. Many government officials underestimated him and believed they could influence him with ease¹⁰. The entire world felt Mussolini’s coup, and was likewise received rather well. Countries like Britain and the United States would rather have seen fascist coups happen over communist revolutions. The success of the March on Rome would then inspire other people to try similar coups in other countries, including Hitler in Germany.

Significance

This event, like many things in the 1920s, was a product of the First World War. Specifically, how countries were unable to recover from the war which led to people resenting their governments. In Italy’s case, even though it was a supposed “victor” of the war, the economic and political problems the country had before the war only became worse after the war. The core of the black shirts were made up of disgruntled World War I veterans who felt that their government had done them a disservice. This was a sentiment felt in many countries, especially in Europe. The March on Rome would end up inspiring many across the continent. Mussolini went from a figure known only in Italy to becoming known worldwide in only three days.

The build up to World War Two happened the second that World War One ended, and the March on Rome demonstrates this. Not even four years after the end of the war, the government of a major European power was toppled, with a new ideology taking over. Fascism would soon spread and take root in other European countries. The success of the March on Rome would directly inspire Hitler to undertake the Beer Hall Putsch. These fascist leaders would all have their own ambitions and the result would be Europe once again plunged into conflict.

Citations

Bibliography

• Albanese, Giulia. The March on Rome: Violence and the Rise of Italian Fascism. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2019.
• Lyttelton, Adrian. The Seizure of Power: Fascism in Italy, 1919-1929. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.
• Delzell, Charles F. “Remembering Mussolini.” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 12, no. 2 (1988): 118-35. accessed March 2, 2021, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40257305
• Sprigge, C.J.S. “WHEN MUSSOLINI LED THE MARCH ON ROME: The Dramatic Scene of Fifteen Years Ago is Described by an Eye-Witness of the Event.” New York Times (1923-Current File), Oct 31, 1937. http://library.ramapo.edu:2048/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.library2.ramapo.edu:2443/historical-newspapers/when-mussolini-led-march-on-rome/docview/102144926/se-2?accountid=13420.
• Featured Image: Quadriumviri e Mussolini a napoli. Illustrazione Itlaiana, October 24, 1922. Accessed March 2, 2021. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quadriumviri_e_mussolini_a_napoli.JPG.

Nicholas Buonocore

Nicholas Buonocore is a student at Ramapo College who toke the Discovering Digital History course in the Spring 2021 semester. He was a junior at Ramapo studying history while taking this course.