Trial of Adolf Hitler - The Beer Hall Putsch and the Rise of Nazi Germany

Sixteen years before the Second World War, Adolf Hitler had already begun his plan to take over the world. With the help of nine close conspirators and a few hundred followers, he staged his first attempt at an overthrow of the German government. That night, Hitler stood on a table in the middle of Munich’s crowded Bürgerbräu Beer Hall, fired his revolver into the air, and shouted ‘The National Revolution has begun!’ Although they managed to kill nineteen people, including four policemen, the attempt was far from a triumph. Cuffed and behind bars, Hitler and his accomplices, including Germany’s most prominent war hero, found themselves accused of high treason; if found guilty, they would face deportation, or worse, life in prison.
But the trial, which began on 26 February 1924, did not go as the prosecution had planned. Few in the courtroom that morning anticipated that General Erich Ludendorff, the leading defendant, whose risky offensives during the First World War doomed Germany to defeat, would soon be eclipsed by the private first class at his side. Before the trial, Hitler was only a minor, if ambitious, local party leader. Yet once the proceedings began, his days of relative obscurity were over and he had soon turned the trial into the single greatest opportunity of his life. Frustrating the prosecution and deftly enforcing his position under the eye of a sympathetic judge, Hitler’s flamboyant rhetoric, combined with his timely populist message, won him many admirers in the courtroom – and in the world’s press.
Including never-before-published sources, this richly informed, day-by-day account shows how Hitler metamorphosed into a mesmerizing demagogue and used his trial as a stage for Nazi propaganda. Chilling in the hypothetical questions it raises, The Trial of Adolf Hitler illuminates our understanding of Hitler’s path to power.

About the author

David King is the New York Times bestselling author of Death in the City of Light, Vienna 1814 and Finding Atlantis. A Fulbright Scholar with a master’s degree from Cambridge University, King taught European history before becoming a full-time writer. His books have been translated into several languages, including Chinese, Turkish, Polish, Korean, Italian, Swedish and Russian. Film rights have been sold in Death in the City of Light.

Summary

The hitherto untold story of the scandalous courtroom drama that paved the way for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
On the evening of November 8, 1923, the thirty-four-year-old Adolf Hitler stormed into a beer hall in Munich, fired his pistol in the air, and proclaimed a revolution. Seventeen hours later, all that remained of his bold move was a trail of destruction. Hitler was on the run from the police. His career seemed to be over.
In The Trial of Adolf Hitler, the acclaimed historian David King tells the true story of the monumental criminal proceeding that followed when Hitler and nine other suspects were charged with high treason. Reporters from as far away as Argentina and Australia flocked to Munich for the sensational four-week spectacle. By its end, Hitler would transform the fiasco of the beer hall putsch into a stunning victory for the fledgling Nazi Party. It was this trial that thrust Hitler into the limelight, provided him with an unprecedented stage for his demagoguery, and set him on his improbable path to power.
Based on trial transcripts, police files, and many other new sources, including some five hundred documents recently discovered from the Landsberg Prison record office, The Trial of Adolf Hitler is a gripping true story of crime and punishment - and a haunting failure of justice with catastrophic consequences.

Foreword

The gripping - and little-known - story of the courtroom drama that precipitated the rise of the Nazi party.

Product details

• Authors: David King, King David
• Publisher: Macmillan
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.05.2017
• EAN: 9781447251125
• ISBN: 978-1-4472-5112-5
• No. of pages: 480
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); Non-fiction book > History > 20th century (up to 1945)