The Cause of the Munich Putsch

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The Cause of the Munich Putsch

It can be argued that the Munich Putsch had been inevitable since the

"November Criminal" signed the armistice that ended the First World

was in 1918. From then on, a series of events encouraged Hitler's

perception of a nation at odds with its government (the Weimar

Republic). This meant that Hitler (leader of he national Socialist

German workers' Party, NSDAP) eventually thought that such unrest

would help him to overthrow the Weimar government.

The most important long term cause of the Munich Putsch was probably

nit the signing of the armistice but the signing if the Treaty of

Versailles in 1919. The treaty was humiliating for Germany (especially

the clauses about war guilt and those which removed territory from

German rule) and Hitler was under the impression that he could take

advantage of the consequent unrest caused by the Treaty's harsh terms.

In addition to this, Hitler had reason to believe that he would have

the support of the German army and the Bavarian state government if he

did attempt to take advantage of German disillusionment with the

Weimar government. Hitler's close friendship with the old army

general, Ludendorff, led him to believe that military support would be

attainable as Ludendorff might persuade the army to desert the

government and side with the Nazis. Furthermore, the Bavarian state

government was right wing and thus had similar political ideas as the

fascist NSDAP. Hitler therefore believed that in the event of a

putsch, he would have support from these two groups and therefore

gained more confidence to attempt a rising.

More short-term causes of the Munich putsch relate to the "Year of

Crisis", 1923, the same year as the attempted putsch itself. German

workers in the Ruhr went on strike when French troops occupied the

areas and the government began to point more money in order to pay the

strikers. This, couple with the rapid devaluation of the German mark

caused enormous economic difficulties on the form of hyperinflation

which Hitler, again thought he could take advantage of.

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