2. Why Did The Nazis Not Do Better Before 1930?

355 Words2 Pages
Between 1924 and 1929, after the Munich Putsch in 1923, the Nazis had very little political success. After the Putsch, when Hitler spent nine months in prison, he decided to try and fain power through the democratic system which was in place, before overthrowing this system. However, this new approach was not successful before the 1930's. There was no electoral breakthrough for the Nazi party, and they remained a small Bavarian party. For many years they were the smallest party in the Reichstag, having even less seats than the Communists. One important factor in the Nazi's lack of success was the failure of the Munich Putsch. In the Munich Putsch, Hitler had attempted to take power and overthrow the government, first by bursting in on a meeting of the Bavarian government - surrounding the hall with his army, the SA, and announcing that he was taking over. However, this attempt was unsuccessful, and when he tried again the next day, by marching on Munich, he was met by armed policemen, who broke up the march and later arrested Hitler. The failed Putsch gave the Nazis the appearance of being violent revolutionaries and law-breakers. They appeared to promote street violence - not popular with most people, who supported law and order. Another affect of the Putsch was that Hitler was no longer able to give public speeches - this was part of his sentence. Hitler's speeches had been one of the main attractions of the Nazi party - he was seen by many to be a very powerful orator - so without his speeches the party lost a lot of power. Another problem was that Hitler's image and ideas were unpopular in this period, decreasing the appeal of the Nazi party. Many people thought that he looked comical, and his appearance was often compared to that of Charlie Chaplin, because of his moustache. His voice was harsh, having been damaged by mustard gas in the First World War, and to
Open Document