Was the putsch successful

Answer 1

Although the Munich Putsch was not politically successful initially, it was deemed a success later. It put the Nazi Party on the national stage.

Answer 2

The failure of the Munich Putsch is crucial to an understanding of Nazi Policy from 1925 onwards. Whilst initially a disastrous setback that resulted in the death of sixteen Nazis and the banning of the Nazi Party, this failure woke Hitler up to the reality of 'legality' in pursuing the downfall of the Weimar Republic.

The Putsch was a clear failure in terms of achieving its aims, with von Seeckt commanding the army to defend the Republic that the Nazis felt its people did not want. Cornered and left bereft of options, Hitler was arrested and put to trial, but it is this trial of 1924 that is highly significant to an understanding of how the Munich Putsch eventually benefitted the Nazis. For the trial, lenient in its eventual sentencing, and ultimately a damning indictment of the Weimar judicial system, provided Hitler with an ideal stage from which he could assert his oratory brilliance, which woke people across Germany up to this tiny right-wing Bavarian party, with a leader whose anti-Versailles and anti-Weimar views were highly effective in grabbing the attention of a populace who had recently suffered the effects of hyperinflation. So it was that Hitler emerged from prison before Christmas 1924, having written Mein Kampf, with a rejuvenated sense of purpose for the Nazi Party. It is clear that in the boom years of the 1920s, that despite the Nazi vote floundering, Hitler was able to reap benefit from the lessons of the Munich Putsch in restructuring the Nazi Party (aided by Strasser), and that this trial was to provide the people of Germany with the lingering memory of the party, which was to be placed back into public consciousness by Hugenburg's 1929 media campaigns against the Young Plan.

What the failed Munich Putsch really did was cause Hitler to realize that control of Germany, and the army in particular, could only be found through legal or parliamentary means. Consequently, he readdressed the party's priorities and provided a clear structure for his aims which had been given clarity during his prison stint through Mein Kampf, another benefit that was the product of the Putsch. The structure of Gaue backed up by Propaganda and revolutionary methods of gaining support through legal means are by-products of the Munich Putscch, which provided Hitler with the impetus to change the Nazi Party; to provide it with the foundations which are so crucial to an understanding of how they seized power ten years after this failed Putsch.