The Munich putsch
Short term it was a disaster, Hitler was unable to successfully depose the government of Munich under Gustav von Kahr. He turned up at a beer hall where von Kahr was speaking stood on a table, fired a shot into the ceiling to silence the crowd and announced the Bavarian government was being overthrown and demanded that von Kahr surrender and hand over power. Hitler had 600 men surrounding the hall and a machine gun set up in the lobby.
Elsewhere in Munich Hitler had the SA under Ernst Roehm seize several key installations, however the Nazis were disorganised and after a battle between the army and the Nazis the latter backed down and the putsch disintegrated with Hitler being arrested and charged with high treason and later sentenced to five years in prison although he only served two years. Some of his fellow conspirators were arrested while others escaped to Austria (Hermann Göring, Ernst Hanfstaengl, Rudolf Hess). The Nazi Party headquarters were raided, and its newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter (The People's Observer), was banned.
The consequences were that Hitler and the Nazi party would from then on use legal methods to gain power and the trial, which was widely reported gave him national exposure and elevated him above the many other similar nationaist parties and politicians. Hitler moderated his stance at the trial claiming that his actions were to save the German nation from political weakness and restore it. Although he was sentenced to prison it was in the comparative luxury of Landsberrg Prison which gave him the opportunity to receive guests and he used the time to write Mein Kampf. As a result of the notoriety from the putsch and trial the book was well received and helped bolster his his image.
Elsewhere in Munich Hitler had the SA under Ernst Roehm seize several key installations, however the Nazis were disorganised and after a battle between the army and the Nazis the latter backed down and the putsch disintegrated with Hitler being arrested and charged with high treason and later sentenced to five years in prison although he only served two years. Some of his fellow conspirators were arrested while others escaped to Austria (Hermann Göring, Ernst Hanfstaengl, Rudolf Hess). The Nazi Party headquarters were raided, and its newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter (The People's Observer), was banned.
The consequences were that Hitler and the Nazi party would from then on use legal methods to gain power and the trial, which was widely reported gave him national exposure and elevated him above the many other similar nationaist parties and politicians. Hitler moderated his stance at the trial claiming that his actions were to save the German nation from political weakness and restore it. Although he was sentenced to prison it was in the comparative luxury of Landsberrg Prison which gave him the opportunity to receive guests and he used the time to write Mein Kampf. As a result of the notoriety from the putsch and trial the book was well received and helped bolster his his image.