What was the Beer Hall Putsch

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A.� An attempt by the Nazis to seize power at a rally in one of Munich's large beer cellars in 1923. A putsch is an uprising.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� A bit of background first

A.� OK. The Nazis grew in power after Germany began to collapse financially. In April, 1921, the victorious Allies of the First World War demanded $33 billion from the Germans as reparation for starting the war. Germany couldn't pay and the German currency, the mark, slipped drastically in value - from four to the US dollar to 400 by 1922. In January, 1923, the French Army occupied the German Ruhr.

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Q.� A bad move

A.� The Germans felt humiliated. The German mark kept tumbling and by November 1923, it took 4,000 million marks to exchange for a dollar. Most German people were ruined. Weekly shopping cost billions and food riots broke out. The time was ripe for revolution ... and the Nazis were ready.

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Q.� So what did they do

A.� Adolf Hitler, who led the Nazis, plotted to kidnap the leaders of the Bavarian government and force them to accept Hitler as their leader. Then, with the aid of a famous general, Erich Ludendorff, they would win over the German Army, and bring down the democratic government in Berlin.

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Q.� So where did Hitler get his troops from

A.� He used the Brown Shirts - or the SA.

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Q.� What were they

A.� Nazi storm troopers, initially led by Ernst Roehm. Not to be confused with the Black Shirts, who were Oswald Mosley's nasty bunch of British fascists. (Or the Black Shorts, Sir Roderick Spodes's equally odious bunch of yobs, in P G Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels).

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Q.� So what happened

A.� On 8 November, 1923, the Brown Shirts, led by Hermann Goering, surrounded the beer hall. Hitler and the storm troopers burst into the beer hall and he fired a pistol shot into the ceiling. They forced their way to the podium where Hitler shouted: 'The National Revolution has begun!' The three highest officials of the Bavarian government were then forced into a back room: State commissioner Kahr, police chief Colonel Hans von Seisser and Army commander General Otto von Lossow. Hitler demanded that they join a Nazi revolution to form a new government.

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Q.� Did that work

A.� Not at first. Then General Ludendorff arrived and Hitler asked him to persuade the other three. This he did - apparently. The other three then went back to the stage and announced their support - to wild cheers from the crowd. Things were going Hitler's way - but then came word that an attempt by the storm troopers to take over several Army barracks had failed. Hitler left the beer hall to resolve the problem.

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Q.� A bad idea

A.� Yes. In his absence, the three Bavarian leaders hurriedly left after lying to Ludendorff that they would remain loyal to Hitler. Hitler returned to find he revolution had fallen flat. The next morning, Kahr ordered the Nazi party and its forces to be broken up. Roehm and his SA troops were surrounded. Hitler took desperate action. He agreed to Ludendorff's idea to march on Munich and take over the city. That morning, they set off with 3,000 Nazis but soon encountered

armed police. Shots were fired in a scuffle that lasted only a minute. Sixteen Nazis and three police were killed.

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Q.� And Hitler got away

A.� Goering was hit in the groin. Hitler suffered a dislocated shoulder. Hitler's bodyguard, Ulrich Graf, managed to shield him from the fire. Most of the Nazis were arrested but Hitler escaped and went into hiding. He presumed he would be shot but after his arrest, on the third night, he was amazed to hear that he would get a public trial. He was jailed for five years for treason. You know the rest.

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Was Hitler gay A new book says he was. Click here for details

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And click here for a feature about the life, death and bizarre resting place of Goering's wife

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By Steve Cunningham