Early 1920s and Hitler’s Rise to Power

The Rise of Hitler 1. Why did so many German people join the Nazi Party? In the early 1920s, Germany was especially hard-hit during the Great Depression after the first World War, mainly because of the Treaty of Versailles, which made Germany go into an extreme hyperinflation. People could not buy anything with a reasonable price. In 1922, a loaf of bread costed 163 marks. In September 1923, it would have costed 1,500,000 marks and in November of that same year which was the peak of the hyperinflation, the loaf of bread would be worth 200,000,000 marks.

Prices were going up faster than people could spend their money. Naturally, workers were unhappy with the social and economic conditions in Germany. Then came Adolf Hitler, who formed a party known as the Nazis which promised many things that the workers and the people of Germany wanted and implemented his ideas through his propaganda. Hitler told people that he would make sure everybody got a job and that he would help the peasants. These ideas were implemented into his propaganda and proved to be very effective. . Why did the Munich Putsch 1923 fail? The Munich Putsch of 1923, also known as the Beer Hall Putsch was Adolf Hitler’s attempt to overthrow the Weimar government of Ebert and establish a nationalistic one instead in its place. The Munich Putsch failed because of several factors. First, Hitler had only about 35,000 supporters at that time so there was a shortage of rebels. Second, the Kahr had called in army and police reinforcements and 16 Nazis were killed.

Hitler was threatening to shoot anyone that left the Beer Hall and didn’t rebel so not everyone was happy about participating in it, so when the police and army reinforcements came, most of them fled since they didn’t even want to be there in first place. Overall, the reason for the Munich Putsch failing is because the Nazis, despite not having enough supporters at the time, tried to force itself into power against superior military and political forces. 3. Why did Hitler receive such a light sentence at his trial for treason?

What were the consequences of his trial and time spent in prison? In 1923, after being arrested for participating in the Munich Putsch, Hitler served a fairly light sentence of 5 years and a 200 mark fine after being accused of high treason. Hitler actually only served 9 months of those 5 years in prison. However, the usual consequence of high treason was death. The question is, why didn’t Hitler get executed? In the courtroom at the time of the trial, Hitler used that time to make another one of his speeches, causing more people to join his cause.

This also made the judge like him, so the judge gave him a particularly light sentence. However, even if the judge didn’t like him, he would have gotten a lighter sentence anyways. This is because there were many more German people supporting Hitler now and if the judge sentenced Hitler to death, then that might have caused an uprising or a protest. Therefore, the judge decided to send him to pay a 200 mark fine and serve a 5 year prison sentence, although he would be eligible for parole after 9 months.