Political Situation and Ideological Background in Bavaria on the Eve of the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determinate the ideological platforms of various political forces in Bavaria in 1923 before the Hitler putsch. The study considers movements of an all-German nature, rooted in the situation of 1918/1919, and local South German initiatives related to the peculiarities of the geographical location of the region and contradictions with the federal center. The novelty of this study lies in a clear categorization of various political groups with the creation of conditions for a thorough study of the process of participation of military circles in the vicissitudes of the state crisis of 1923. The complex of existing contradictions manifested itself most clearly in Bavaria, which became a refuge for a large number of paramilitary organizations, the legitimacy of which was in question. Tensions were also observed in relations between the regional and all-German Reichswehr, which were formally a single structure. The involvement of archival materials allows us to make a conclusion about the strong regional isolation of Bavaria and the orientation of local political groups towards neighboring countries.