Beer Hall Putsch

The Beer Hall Putsch of November 8–9, 1923 was a semi-farcical attempt by the Nazi Party to seize power first in the German state of Bavaria and then Germany. Led by Adolf Hitler and the First World War General Erich Ludendorff, the Nazis sought to seize power in Munich and then, by emulating Mussolini's successful March on Rome of 1922, to 'March on Berlin' and gain power nationally.

This attempted coup d'état was named the Beer Hall Putsch because much of its drama centered on the Bürgerbräukeller, a Munich beer hall, where the Nazis held at gunpoint and attempted to extort support from the Commissioner of Bavaria, Gustav von Kahr, who had been addressing a meeting there. The following day, the putsch falling into disarray, armed conflict broke out between the Nazi stormtroopers and local police units. A march led by Ludendorff and Hitler on the Bavarian Defence Ministry broke up into street fighting, with four police and sixteen Nazis being killed. Ludendorff continued to march forward into the hail of fire, and he subsequently disdained any contact with Hitler, who he believed had fled in a cowardly manner. However, Hitler and Hermann Goering were both wounded in the clash.

Hitler was arrested three days after the collapse of the putsch, and was tried in 1924 for high treason. Along with Rudolph Hess he was sentenced to five years imprisonment. Ludendorff was acquitted. Hitler served just eight months in prison, in comfortable surroundings at Landsberg Prison, during which time he wrote Mein Kampf.