Saturday, June 7, 2014
1923-11-8 Beer Hall Putsch 1923-11-9
24-6-17 Life Under Adolf Hitler: The First Years Of Nazi Germany - War Stories > .
23-8-21 A Democracy Without Democrats: Weimar Republic Explained - Used > .
1925-7-18 Adolf Hitler publishes first volume of 'Mein Kampf' - HiPo > .
Rise of the Nazis - doc | BBC Select > .
The Beer Hall Putsch was conceived at a time when the Weimar Republic was politically, socially and economically crippled. Hyperinflation had reached its worst level since the occupation of the Ruhr, and many ‘patriotic associations’ sought to emulate Mussolini’s successful March on Rome that had taken place the previous year in order to wrest control away from the seemingly useless Weimar government.
Having led a group of approximately 600 brown-shirted Nazi stormtroopers from their meeting point in the Bürgerbräukeller, Hitler burst into a meeting at which Gustav von Kahr, the state commissioner, was speaking. Threatening him at gunpoint, Hitler demanded support for the putsch.
Having made a speech that was met with uproarious approval from the 3,000 members of the audience, Hitler then called on Ludendorff to further press Kahr to support the coup. The state commissioner eventually agreed, and he and his fellow politicians were allowed to leave. They immediately alerted the police and army who began to move against the putsch.
Sixteen Nazis and four policemen were killed in a brief firefight the next day. Hitler was injured and escaped capture, but was arrested two days later and put on trial for high treason. He got revenge on Kahr eleven years later when he ordered his murder as part of the Night of the Long Knives.
Having led a group of approximately 600 brown-shirted Nazi stormtroopers from their meeting point in the Bürgerbräukeller, Hitler burst into a meeting at which Gustav von Kahr, the state commissioner, was speaking. Threatening him at gunpoint, Hitler demanded support for the putsch.
Having made a speech that was met with uproarious approval from the 3,000 members of the audience, Hitler then called on Ludendorff to further press Kahr to support the coup. The state commissioner eventually agreed, and he and his fellow politicians were allowed to leave. They immediately alerted the police and army who began to move against the putsch.
Sixteen Nazis and four policemen were killed in a brief firefight the next day. Hitler was injured and escaped capture, but was arrested two days later and put on trial for high treason. He got revenge on Kahr eleven years later when he ordered his murder as part of the Night of the Long Knives.
The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch, Hitlerputsch, Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch, Bürgerbräu-Putsch or Marsch auf die Feldherrnhalle ("March on the Field Marshals' Hall"), was a failed coup d'état by the Nazi Party (NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler—along with Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff and other Kampfbund leaders—to seize power in Munich, Bavaria, which took place on 8–9 November 1923. Approximately two thousand Nazis were marching to the Feldherrnhalle, in the city centre, when they were confronted by a police cordon, which resulted in the deaths of 16 Nazi party members and four police officers.
Hitler, who was wounded during the clash, escaped immediate arrest and was spirited off to safety in the countryside. After two days, he was arrested and charged with treason.
The putsch brought Hitler to the attention of the German nation and generated front-page headlines in newspapers around the world. His arrest was followed by a 24-day trial, which was widely publicised and gave him a platform to express his nationalist sentiments to the nation. Hitler was found guilty of treason and sentenced to five years in Landsberg Prison, where he dictated Mein Kampf to his fellow prisoners Emil Maurice and Rudolf Hess. On 20 December 1924, having served only nine months, Hitler was released. Once released, Hitler redirected his focus towards obtaining power through legal means rather than revolution or force, and accordingly changed his tactics, further developing Nazi propaganda.
Hitler, who was wounded during the clash, escaped immediate arrest and was spirited off to safety in the countryside. After two days, he was arrested and charged with treason.
The putsch brought Hitler to the attention of the German nation and generated front-page headlines in newspapers around the world. His arrest was followed by a 24-day trial, which was widely publicised and gave him a platform to express his nationalist sentiments to the nation. Hitler was found guilty of treason and sentenced to five years in Landsberg Prison, where he dictated Mein Kampf to his fellow prisoners Emil Maurice and Rudolf Hess. On 20 December 1924, having served only nine months, Hitler was released. Once released, Hitler redirected his focus towards obtaining power through legal means rather than revolution or force, and accordingly changed his tactics, further developing Nazi propaganda.
1923-10-15 Rentenmark
.
15th October 1923: Rentenmark, Weimar Germany, hyperinflation crisis - HiPo > .23-8-21 A Democracy Without Democrats: Weimar Republic Explained - Used > .
The French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr that began on 11 January 1923 had been met with a policy of passive resistance by the German government. Although this succeeded in frustrating the occupying powers who sought to extract reparations payments in the form of natural resources, it also brought the economy in the Ruhr to a shuddering halt.
As the strike had been called for by the government, the strikers and their families were eligible to receive income support. However, falling tax revenues due to the lack of trade meant that the government struggled to keep up with payments. In response they began printing money despite there being no product to base it on. The Papiermark went into freefall as hyperinflation took hold, and the cabinet resigned in favour of a new one formed under Gustav Stresemann.
Stresemann’s finance minister, Hans Luther, introduced the Rentenmark to replace the crisis-hit Papiermark in a plan devised jointly with Hjalmar Schacht at the Reichsbank. Schacht later went on to be the Minister of Economics in the early years of Hitler’s rule.
The new currency was backed by land that was used by businesses and agriculture, and was introduced at the rate of one Rentenmark to one trillion Papiermarks. With the currency now tied to something with physical value, hyperinflation was stopped in its tracks. The more commonly known Reichsmark was introduced the following year at the same value.
As the strike had been called for by the government, the strikers and their families were eligible to receive income support. However, falling tax revenues due to the lack of trade meant that the government struggled to keep up with payments. In response they began printing money despite there being no product to base it on. The Papiermark went into freefall as hyperinflation took hold, and the cabinet resigned in favour of a new one formed under Gustav Stresemann.
Stresemann’s finance minister, Hans Luther, introduced the Rentenmark to replace the crisis-hit Papiermark in a plan devised jointly with Hjalmar Schacht at the Reichsbank. Schacht later went on to be the Minister of Economics in the early years of Hitler’s rule.
The new currency was backed by land that was used by businesses and agriculture, and was introduced at the rate of one Rentenmark to one trillion Papiermarks. With the currency now tied to something with physical value, hyperinflation was stopped in its tracks. The more commonly known Reichsmark was introduced the following year at the same value.
1923-9-26 Stresemann, Ruhr
.
26th September 1923: Gustav Stresemann ends passive resistance in the Ruhr - HiPo > .23-8-21 A Democracy Without Democrats: Weimar Republic Explained - Used > .
The 1921 London Schedule of Payments had set out both the reparations amount and the timetable over which Germany was expected to pay for its defeat in the First World War. However, from the very start of the payments Germany missed some its targets. Failure to provide the full quota of coal and timber in December 1922, provided the excuse for France and Belgium to occupy the Ruhr on 11 January 1923.
Occupation was met with passive resistance and the striking workers were paid with money printed by the government. This contributed to the rampant hyperinflation that had begun to cripple the economy from before the occupation began. Gustav Stresemann was aware that the situation was unsustainable and, despite having been Chancellor for only six weeks, called off passive resistance and started to pay reparations again.
By ending the strikes and restarting reparations payments, Stresemann was able to slow down the economic crisis that was enveloping the country and show that he accepted the international realities of the new era. This marked the start of Germany’s international rehabilitation, although within Germany it was met with opposition from both Left and Right extremists. For that reason, Stresemann asked President Ebert to announce a state of emergency under Article 48 of the constitution on the same day.
Despite the anger from some Germans, Stresemann’s actions laid the foundation for the economic recovery that Germany experienced up until the onset of the Great Depression.
The 1921 London Schedule of Payments had set out both the reparations amount and the timetable over which Germany was expected to pay for its defeat in the First World War. However, from the very start of the payments Germany missed some its targets. Failure to provide the full quota of coal and timber in December 1922, provided the excuse for France and Belgium to occupy the Ruhr on 11 January 1923.
Occupation was met with passive resistance and the striking workers were paid with money printed by the government. This contributed to the rampant hyperinflation that had begun to cripple the economy from before the occupation began. Gustav Stresemann was aware that the situation was unsustainable and, despite having been Chancellor for only six weeks, called off passive resistance and started to pay reparations again.
By ending the strikes and restarting reparations payments, Stresemann was able to slow down the economic crisis that was enveloping the country and show that he accepted the international realities of the new era. This marked the start of Germany’s international rehabilitation, although within Germany it was met with opposition from both Left and Right extremists. For that reason, Stresemann asked President Ebert to announce a state of emergency under Article 48 of the constitution on the same day.
Despite the anger from some Germans, Stresemann’s actions laid the foundation for the economic recovery that Germany experienced up until the onset of the Great Depression.
1923-1-11: French Occupation of the Ruhr
.
1923-1-11: French & Belgian troops march into Germany, occupy the Ruhr -HiPo > .By 1923 the German government was bankrupt, having spent all its gold reserves in WW1. In addition, the Treaty of Versailles had eliminated government revenues from previously lucrative areas, such as the coalfields in Silesia. Reparations to the allies exacerbated the German government's fiscal woes.
Although the French leader Raymond Poincaré was initially reluctant to occupy the Ruhr, he had grown increasingly exasperated by Germany’s regular defaults and the lack of international support for sanctions as a way to persuade the government to pay. He argued that the reparations themselves were not the issue, but rather that allowing Germany to defy this part of the Treaty of Versailles could lead to further attempts to undermine the Treaty at a later date.
It was Germany’s failure to provide the full quota of coal and timber in December 1922 that provided France and Belgium with the excuse to occupy the Ruhr on 11 January 1923. They established the Inter-Allied Mission for Control of Factories and Mines to ensure that goods payments were made, but the Germans responded with a campaign of passive resistance that stopped production. Tensions were high between the occupiers and Ruhr locals and, by the time Gustav Stresemann’s new government called off the strikes in September, approximately 130 German civilians had been killed by the occupying armies.
The occupation enabled France and Belgium to extract reparations, but it was Germany that won international sympathy. The last occupying French troops finally left the Ruhr on 25 August 1925.
The Occupation of the Ruhr (Ruhrbesetzung) was a period of military occupation of the Ruhr region of Germany by France and Belgium between 11 January 1923 and 25 August 1925.
France and Belgium occupied the heavily industrialized Ruhr Valley in response to Germany defaulting on reparation payments dictated by the victorious powers after World War I in the Treaty of Versailles. Occupation of the Ruhr worsened the economic crisis in Germany, and German civilians engaged in acts of passive resistance and civil disobedience, during which 130 were killed. France and Belgium, facing economic and international pressure, accepted the Dawes Plan to restructure Germany's payment of war reparations in 1924 and withdrew their troops from the Ruhr by August 1925.
The Occupation of the Ruhr contributed to German re-armament and the growth of radical right-wing movements in Germany.
..
The Ruhr region had been occupied by Allied troops in the aftermath of the First World War. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which formally ended the war with the Allies as the victors, Germany was forced to accept responsibility for the damages caused in the war and was obliged to pay war reparations to the various Allies. Since the war was fought predominately on French soil, these reparations were paid primarily to France. The total sum of reparations demanded from Germany—around 226 billion gold marks (US $917 billion in 2020)—was decided by an Inter-Allied Reparations Commission. In 1921, the amount was reduced to 132 billion (at that time, $31.4 billion (US $442 billion in 2020), or £6.6 billion (UK£284 billion in 2020)). Even with the reduction, the debt was huge. As some of the payments were in raw materials, which were exported, German factories were unable to function, and the German economy suffered, further damaging the country's ability to pay.By late 1922, the German defaults on payments had grown so regular that a crisis engulfed the Reparations Commission; the French and Belgian delegates urged occupying the Ruhr as a way of forcing Germany to pay more, while the British delegate urged a lowering of the payments. As a consequence of a German default on timber deliveries in December 1922, the Reparations Commission declared Germany in default, which led to the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in January 1923. Particularly galling to the French was that the timber quota the Germans defaulted on was based on an assessment of their capacity the Germans made themselves and subsequently lowered. The Allies believed that the government of Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno had defaulted on the timber deliveries deliberately as a way of testing the will of the Allies to enforce the treaty. The entire conflict was further exacerbated by a German default on coal deliveries in early January 1923, which was the thirty-fourth coal default in the previous thirty-six months. Frustrated at Germany not paying reparations, Raymond Poincaré, the French Prime Minister, hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922 and opposed military action. However, by December 1922 he saw coal for French steel production and payments in money as laid out in the Treaty of Versailles draining away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
sī vīs pācem, parā bellum
igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...
