2. Hitler appealed to the masses by presenting scapegoats for their problems
In his speeches, which were often delivered in beer halls, Hitler developed the style of speaking which hypnotized audiences, belittling perceived enemies and condemning the scapegoats which he said were the source of all the ills besetting Germany, including its defeat during the First World War. Former German fighter ace Hermann Goering joined the party, as did Rudolph Hess, who became Hitler’s deputy, and Ernst Rohm, who led the Party’s stormtroopers, known as the SA. During this time, as a reaction to White Russian exiles who conspired with the Nazis, Hitler began to link international Jewish capitalists to the Bolsheviks in Russia. The Nazis rejected capitalism as a tool of international finance in the hands of the Jews, and blamed the Versailles Treaty, which had treated Germany harshly, on the same anti-German international conspiracy. Hitler stressed “Germany First” in all things.
Hitler based much of his theories and actions on the Fascism of Italy’s Benito Mussolini, whom he greatly admired, and in 1923 he decided to emulate the Fascist March on Rome with an attempted coup of his own. With the help and added prestige of General Erich Ludendorff, who gained the support of Bavarian authorities, Hitler wanted to establish himself as the head of the important German state before challenging the national government in Berlin. Unknown to Hitler was that the powers in Bavaria wanted to establish a new national government, but without Hitler. Gustav Ritter von Kahr, with the support of the Bavarian police, envisioned himself in charge of the national government. When Hitler and his stormtroopers (the SA under Rohm) attempted their coup it failed.