The Beer Hall Coup was a pivotal development in the rise of Nazi Adolf Hitler to power. What happened on November 8 and 9, 1923 in Munich was to change the history of Germany – and with it the history of the 20th century.

April 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the trial that followed in 1924, when Hitler’s associate, General Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff, was acquitted.

At that time Hitler was just another extremist in Germany. Few could have imagined then that within a decade he and the Nazi party would dominate the country. How they would lead Europe into another world war and Germany into the extermination of millions of Jews and other minorities in the Holocaust.

The fateful day in Munich

On November 8, Hitler led around 2,000 supporters to the Bürgerbräukeller, a beer hall in central Munich. Members of the Bavarian government and prominent public figures had gathered to mark the anniversary of the 1918 revolution, which overthrew the constitutional monarchy and led to the Weimar Republic.

Hitler hoped to pressure the political leaders into fulfilling his own coup d’état ambitions at a time when Bavaria was at odds with the national authorities. A state of emergency had been declared and Governor Gustav von Carr ruled with absolute powers. If Hitler succeeded in achieving his goal, he could also have found the necessary support to advance to Berlin and replace the fledgling parliamentary democracy with a far-right dictatorship.

But those who were supposed to support him began to have second thoughts and “nothing went according to plan,” says Wolfgang Nies, historian and author of a new book on the Beer Hall Putsch.

After the all-night takeover of the beer hall, Hitler led the coup plotters to the Feldherrnhalle, an 18th-century memorial to the Bavarian army – but with “no particular purpose”, Nies adds.

As they advanced through the center of Munich, they were met by Bavarian military police forces. An exchange of fire ensued, in which at least 14 Nazis and 4 policemen were killed. Hitler was slightly wounded and a few days later he was arrested. Despite being sentenced to 5 years in prison for treason, he was released on parole within a year of the coup attempt.

Ideal conditions for Hitler’s coup

Hitler did not conquer Germany that day, but the failure did not deter him. During his brief imprisonment he began to write “Mein Kampf” (“My Struggle”), an autobiography in which he also unfolded his fascist vision. His party changed tack and instead of trying to seize power illegally, claimed it legally through the system. In the following years the Nazis gained electoral strength throughout the country.

And the coup attempt took place at a highly volatile time for Germany, when the central government was weak, officials were being assassinated, and state power was threatened by violent forces on both the right and the left. Hyperinflation had brought the economy to its knees and too many people were unemployed – especially war veterans who knew how to fight.

Memories of the national humiliation of Germany’s capitulation in World War I were still fresh. The Treaty of Versailles, which obliged Germany to pay war reparations, crushed the country’s prospects even more.

“Without the ‘helping hand’ of many monarchist, reactionary veterans, influential nationalists and political terrorists in the Bavarian metropolis, Hitler’s rise through the events of 1923 would have been impossible,” writes historian Daniel Siemens in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Although the Nazi party was banned right after the coup attempt, a similar party sprung up in its place. This won 30% of the vote in local elections in Bavaria the following year – and before long the Nazis were back and with Hitler at the helm.

The lessons for today

The coup d’état and the overall experience with the Nazis significantly influence Germany, its legislation and institutions to this day. And the danger remains. The right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is reaching record levels in the polls. In recent local elections in Hesse, western Germany, the AfD came second and could do even better in elections due to be held in the eastern states this year.

In Bavaria, which Hitler called home and where he orchestrated his rise to power, more than 30% of voters voted for the AfD or Free Voters – another nationalist, right-wing party. While the former is still characterized as a political pariah with whom the other factions refuse to cooperate, the latter supports the ruling Christian Social Party in the Bavarian government.

For some historians and political observers such cooperation is like a sad déjà vu with memories of the past. “If one knows what led Germany to disintegration about a century ago, then one must strengthen Europe and prevent a new catastrophe,” points out Juta Hofrich, a journalist who has dealt with Hitler’s coup attempt. “That is why it is important to take a closer look at what happened in 1923.”