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Challenges Challenges to the to the

Weimar Weimar RepublicRepublic

J. Marshall, 2009

Putsch 1

Putsch 2

Putsch 3

Problems from the Outset:

Versailles (ouch, my back hurts 231 times)

Democracy (slow to work/create changes/

weak/people used to autocratic authority) Economy (inflation and reparations)

Nationalism (where did the sun go?)

Reichstag (proportional rep = minority gov’ts) Revolution (attacks from R and L: communists +

monarchists/soldiers)

$

Putsch - “push” (coup d’état)Putsch - “push” (coup d’état)The Spartacist (communist) Putsch of Jan 1919 was the first challenge.

BERLIN

Demonstrations in Rhur

Rosa Luxemburg &Karl Liebnecht

Munich Soviet Republic

Put down by Freikorps - leaders jailed and then murdered

Not pro Weimar, but anti communist

(many were right-wing socialists = SDP)

Freikorps (militia/vets)

Freikorps (militia/vets)

Imperial & National Loyalty

Join the

Freikorps!

Dr. Wolfgang Kapp (extreme right winger)think: Kornilov Affair

General von Luttwitz and Lt Cdr Ehrhardt seize Berlin with Freikorps soldiers.

13 March,1920 - leaders declare Kapp Chancellor and Ehrhardt commander of the army.

President Friedrich Ebert flees with gov’t to Stuttgart.

Freikorps soldiers were mostly veterans - the army and police would not put them down!

Freikorps soldiers were mostly veterans - the army and police would not put them down!

Ehrhard’s men in action.

Police

Resist!Resist!Ebert encouraged the people to resist by

non-cooperation…bankersnewspaper printersbureaucrats, all…

REFUSED TO LISTEN TO THE KAPPISTS

AFTER 4 DAYS OF GENERAL STRIKE BY WORKERS & GOV’T OFFICIALS, THE PUTSCH WAS OVER!

Ebert encouraged the people to resist by non-cooperation…

bankersnewspaper printersbureaucrats, all…

REFUSED TO LISTEN TO THE KAPPISTS

AFTER 4 DAYS OF GENERAL STRIKE BY WORKERS & GOV’T OFFICIALS, THE PUTSCH WAS OVER!

Sorry Boys, the jig is up!Are you counting? That was 2.

Sorry Boys, the jig is up!Are you counting? That was 2.

#3: The Munich Putsch (the Beer Hall Putsch)

November 8-9, 1923 This was a botched job but it taught Hitler

a valuable lesson (and that’s why you should know it - think about Mussolini)

In politics sometimes a failure is a success

Early NAZI Party meeting in Hofbräuhaus, in Munich

Hitler burst into a political meeting in the beer hall and said:

Hitler burst into a political meeting in the beer hall and said:

“The national revolution has broken out! The hall is filled with 600 men. Nobody is allowed to leave. The Bavarian government and the government at Berlin are deposed. A new government will be formed at once. The barracks of the Reichswehr are occupied. Both have rallied behind the swastika.”

The arrival in Munich of troops supporting Hitler.

Hitler thought the army’s men would follow Ludendorf, a commander and war hero.

Many did:the S.A. grew ten-fold during the crisis!

Proclamation

to the German People!

Guess who

How Important is Momentum?How Important is Momentum?By second day, momentum was lost: city

counselors were hostages, many Jews arrested, but Hitler knew the putsch was dead – Ludendorf called 2000 SA “to march”

Met at Defence Ministry building by 100 soldiers under State Police leader.

Hitler and Goering shot + Hitler captured

Hitler leads the troops

(well, in the romanticized Nazi painting, anyway - his men actually threw him to the ground bodyguard-style as soon as the shooting started).

Hitler leads the troops

(well, in the romanticized Nazi painting, anyway - his men actually threw him to the ground bodyguard-style as soon as the shooting started).

He had already won the Iron Cross, 1st ClassHe had already won the Iron Cross, 1st Class

The leaders stand trial after local and state police stop the putsch.

Hitler in Jail 1923-1924Hitler in Jail 1923-1924 Given 5 years - mild conditions Lots time to think and write = Mein Kampf 1925 main thesis: “The Jewish Peril”

“Those fatal defects which finally led to Germany's downfall afford the clearest proof of how right we were in considering it absolutely necessary to set up programmatic aims which were sharply and distinctly defined. Because we recognized the defects above mentioned, we realized that a new conception of the State had to be formed, which in itself became a part of our new conception of life in general. ”

Vol 2, 1: Philosophy and Party

Paying homage to the 16 fallen Putschists (4 policemen also died)

Hitler worked within the existing political framework

to come to power legitimately.

END